Kalyan Chakraborti

Date-palm and Date-lore of Bengal: Folklore Based on Toddy Palm of Bengal and Bangladesh with Illustration Kalyan Chakraborti

Folklore, in fact, is the 'Language of Root' and the 'Song of Soil', that is originated in the ceop fields and meadows, in the trees and creepers and in the minds of human beings. This unknown, unlighted life culture and mind culture is mostly agriculture based. The tremendous riches of folk knowledge on agriculture is unrevealed under the cover of scientific wisdom. The culture allied to procurement of food is 'Farmlore'. It is the base, and different super structures are created on it. Language, religion, superstition, ritual, dress, art, song, dance, festivals, etc are originated based on ground production. There is a close-set linkage between knowledge and farmlore. both farmlore and indigenous knowledge are the traditional-bound resources of the folk people, so these are seen to be integrated in an unique fashion. Dr. Monanjali Bandyopadhyay and Dr. Kalyan Chakraborti, well known couple in the field of Folklore research, had traveled in the riches of farmlore pertaining to date-sugar-palm of Bengal through participatory rural folk appraisal. This treatise is the joint harvest of them through their direct and integrated field investigation among the Seuli-folk of Bengal.