‘PUTHI’ IN THE WAKE OF NATIONALIST MOVEMENT
Before the advent of modernism in undivided South Asia, puthi was the only source of entertainment. Be it a feudal lord or a farmer, the mesmerising recitation of a sing-song puthi would make one cry, laugh and dream about faraway lands.
The narration would have an emblematic representation of a society that would connect people with their existing traditions. In many cases the local translator or the facsimile copy would intentionally place his or her own cultural elements into the story. Even today, a puthi is recited or sung with the same fervour.
A puthi usually comprises of chronicles of the Arab peninsula or narrations of religious elements - which did not originate from our culture. The stories reached Bengal via a traveller's journey and a trader's accounts. Tales also reached the region through wars and warfare. Because of the religious value, the stories became a part of our own.
However, the emergence of the print capital in Europe in the 15th century, proliferated by a capitalist market place, has had a unique impact on the oral tradition of storytelling. The revolutionary change also hit the Indian sub-continent in the middle of the 18th century, contributing a lot to the changes of the pattern of the oral information-dissemination-system.
As a result, hand-written copies of the puthi were replaced by the printing press. The oral tradition of the puthi path survived for a while but started to decay from the beginning of the 20th century. However, the national conscience that began to develop with the help of the print capital and with other modern forces, formed a drive to collect puthis to define its national cultural identity.
In his life time, the iconic puthi collector Munshi Abdul Karim Sahitya Bisharad, widens his efforts to define our cultural identity as he says, "Puthi represents a clear picture of a nation."
Reference:
1. Nera Battolai Jai Kawbar by Gautam Bhadra.
2. Abdul Karim Sahitya Bisharad Rachanabali 2.
3. Bangali Mussalmaner Mon by Ahmed Sofa.
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