Folk - Customs in TamilNadu

The book Folk-Customs in Tamil Nadu reveals the customs of different community people of (old) South Arcot district and (old) Thanjavur district. The book consists of two parts: first is the analysis part and second is collection part.

The first part of the book consists of five-chapter, viz., Folk-customs - Sociological point of view; Anthropological point of view; Caste variation; Regional variation; and Rural and Urban area differences. Second part of the book contains the collection of Folk-customs from different community people and consists of the seven chapters, viz., introduction, customs connected with child birth and childhood days; customs regarding Sacred Thread Ceremony and Puberty Rituals ; Marriage customs; Customs during first pregnancy; Sashtiyapthapurthi and Sadhabhishegam ; and Death customs.

Different customs and habits are collected in the field. More than fifteen community people s customs are collected by primary data collection through direct interview method using Questionnaire. Respondents gave full co-operation during the data collection. All the collected data are given in the second part of this book with full details. I hope that this book will provide the full and proper details about different community people for the younger researchers in this field.

Born in Annamalai Nagar, Dr. (Mrs.) G. Shanthi is the Professor and Head in the Department of Folklore, Tamil University. Her father, Dr. V. Ganapathy Iyer (D.Sc.) was a well-known Mathematician, worked as the Head of the Department of Mathematics, Annamalai University for 22 years. This made the author for undertaking-Mathematics in her degree level. She completed B.Sc. (Mathematics) in Annamalai University during 1972.

Then she continued her Master's degree in the Department of Linguistics, Annamalai University. She did her doctorate in the same department during 1977 under the topic "Linguistic Analysis of Tamil Folksongs". This Ph.D., degree made her to continue her future work in Folklore. She completed two Post-doctoral works in various topics of Folklore in the Department of Linguistics, Annamalai University. Also completed one post-doctoral work and one research associate ship work in Tamil University.

She was appointed as Lecturer in the Department of Folklore, Tamil University during August, 1987.

She has eight books in English and Tamil and more than eighty papers in Regional, National and International journals in the disciplines Linguistics and Folklore to her credit. She has completed nine projects in different aspects of Folklore in English and Tamil.

"Customs and traditions are group accepted techniques of control that have become well established, that are taken for granted and that are passed along from generation to generation" (Bogardus, E.S., "Sociology"). Custom can be considered as a broad term embracing all the folkways and mores. In day-to-day life custom is used as synonymous with habit, but there are vital differences between the two. Habit is a personal phenomenon while custom is a social phenomenon. "A custom is formed on the basis of habit gaining the sanction and the influence and therefore, the social significance which is peculiar to it" (Maclver, Society). Customs are social habits which through repetition beCome the basis of an order of social behaviour. They are long established habits and usages of the people. A peculiar characteristic of custom is that it exists only as a social relationship and has for the individual an external sanction. The social character of custom is revealed by those customs which cannot be practiced but collectively, for example, the various celebrations on the occasion of birth, marriage and death etc. when people come together and by participating in a common occasion stimulate the social consciousness of one another. According to Davis, Kingsley in "Human Society", the term "custom" is "closer to folkways than to mores, but it tends to convey the traditional, automatic and mass character of both of them."

Customs create habits-though custom is the result of habit, however, there are many customs which may give rise to habits and be supported by them. Thus, customs create habits and habits create customs. Thus, the two, though distinct, are intricately related in social life. The process of custom determining the habits and the habits in turn determining customs is a significant aspect of social organization. When the customs and habits are compared, former is a social phenomenon, socially recognised, is normative, has got great social significance, maintains social order, is inherited, has an external sanction whereas the latter is an individual phenomenon, is not socially recognised, is not normative, is more personal importance, facilitates individual activity, is learnt and has no external sanction. A customs is traditional practice-a mode of individual or a habit of social life-that is transmitted by word of mouth or initiation, then ingrained by social pressure, common usage and parental or other authority. "A custom may be either peculiar to a single family or it may be common to a group of families, the common bond of union being regencies in a particular locality or unity of tribe or caste or unity of creed" (Heramba Chatterjee Sastri "The social background of the forms of Marriage in Ancient India"-Volume II). Folklife refers to the full traditional lore, behaviour and material culture of any folk group, with emphasis on the customary and material categories. Hindu customs and ceremonies are the pillars upon which the entire edifice of Hindu civilization is established. "The Hindu customs and ceremonies are as ancient as the mightily Himalayas; yet it is equally as modern as atomic era. It spirit of modernity extends from the inner man to his outer science, from his unsuspected self to the produce of his intellect and reason. In this sense, science is not the enemy of Hinduism but a preparation for it" (B.N. Banerjee, "Hindu Culture, Custom and Ceremony").

Alexander H. Krappa in his book 'The Science of Folklore' divide the body of customs and rites into three classes viz., (1) rites connected with definite days and seasons of the solar year; (2) rites observed on definite occasions such as birth, marriage, death etc; and (3) special rites of aversion and avoidance. First one is compared with the Hindu festivals, function, celebration within a year. Second one is compared with the custom, ceremonies, rituals etc. of the Hindu caste people (this project work is the same as above). Third is compared to superstitions. Social customs have a new dignity and value to those who regard them as the expressions of the communal will and the crystallizations of the communal experience. Folk-customs are the social customs. Customs and folk-customs are one and the same, since in every Folk's life their culture, tradition etc. are reflected through their customs, habits etc. Mostly, custom includes celebrations, ceremonies and rituals connected with a human life cycle. In "Hindu" religion we can find customs far each and every moment of a life cycle. P.V. Dagadisa Ayyar in his book "South Indian Customs" points out that "Not even a single one of the Hindu customs, however unimportant and simple, is without a religious basic or principle behind it." Therefore, the Hindus hold that their customs and usages are inviolable though they appear to be meaningless and unintelligible at the present valiant in the land are, in the opinion of the "Hindus", "as sacred as religion itself."

Caste System India is a country containing innumerable caste people. The basic Hindu social institution is caste (B.N. Banerjee "Hindu Culture, Custom and Ceremony"-In Part-II viz., "Hindu Custom"). The division of labour in the socio-economic development came to be known as caste systems.

**Contents and Sample Pages**