Rhymes and Riddles in the Texts and Contexts of Folk-Games in West Bengal: An Ethnographic Study

Abstract

Folk-games are one of the important indigenous elements of expressive folkculture of West Bengal till the advancement of culture under globalization. These games, being orally transmitted tradition, are part and parcel of the pastime recreation of the rural children. The variegated patterns of folk-games can be broadly categorized as chasing, rhyming, chance, jumping, counting and so on. Some game texts, consisting of rhymes, riddle, couplets, etc often express certain cognitive as well as historical aspects of age old Bengali culture of West Bengal. These may also be considered as the vital elements of folk-literature, too. Now-a-days due to the impact of urbanization, industrialization mass media influence as well as modernization, the folk as well as indigenous elements in the game texts are changing rapidly. A very time has come to let them survive and revive from their probable extinction in near future from the wider gamut of folk culture of the Bengali core. Folklorists, anthropologists and historians should have the responsibility to study those vital elements of folk culture of West Bengal in the era of globalization.