Two Tracks: Stories of the Destinies of Two Performative Oratures

The two case studies in this paper foreground the complex relationship of oratures with modernity and history. The first case is that of Muslim Jogis of Alwar, Rajasthan, who have been performers of an oral version of the epic Mahabharata and of the songs of Shiv-Parvati’s married life. By their own account their tradition is seven hundred years old. I have been following a family of Muslim Jogis: the current young performer is the grandson of a man who gained extraordinary heights as a performer, and a father who took that yet ahead, but passed away suddenly a few years ago. We can see how the world of their performance and of their oral texts has changed over time. The second case is that of the genre of Dastangoi, which was considered almost extinct until recently. It has been revived by the efforts of a learned man who is himself a writer, poet, novelist, editor and translator. He and his nephew, also a renowned writer, decided to revive this tradition of Urdu storytelling in 2005. This form was based on the narration of written ‘dastans’ (stories) and has a rich repertoire of old texts, to which new texts have been added. The performers are urban and educated individuals who are not compelled to be performer-narrators. They are not conditioned by family tradition; they choose to perform and revive a form of orature. This paper is a comparative analytical view of the two cases: one of traditional performers determined by traditional status and resources, and the other of urban, educated individuals choosing to revive a traditional form of storytelling. This analysis will let us see how there is no one destiny for the oratures in the modern world, and what are the factors that govern their becoming or not becoming part of world literature.