In Quest of Folk Literature- A Book About the Methodology of Folklore Fieldwork with Some of its Expeditions

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For the author, it is not merely a work of collection of folk materials, but it is really a quest of passing through the minds, hearts, manners, beliefs, lifestyles and environment of the villages who are the lifeblood of our rural culture.
The writer, throughout this book, arrests our attention and makes us participate with him in the knowledge of fieldwork and its varieties. His rare rural experi ences, his relations with the people of the soil, his individuality in unfolding the hidden treasures of the village people are simply fantastic and praiseworthy.
This book serves as not merely an able guide to the beginners in the field of folklore, but also as a valuable companion to the folklorists who are really interested in digging the hidden wealth and indigenous and backward 'rural folk.
I congratulate, as a student of folklore, heartily both the author and the translator for their useful and com mendable venture.

I am really delighted to write a few words about the book In Quest of Folk Literature. Unlike other books about folklore, this is an unusual kind of literary piece penned by an eminent folk researcher of Kannada, Mr. Kyatanahalli Ramanna of Mysore University. He is a silent worker in the department of Kannada in the above university which is a citadel of traditional and modern knowledge. Mr. Ramanna who entered the newly created department of Folklore studies has done yeoman service as a leading researcher, under the stewardship of great administrator and literary figure of a remarkable standard, Prof. D. Javare Gowda. Mr. Ramanna himself being a creative writer, he has dedicated his whole life in unearthing various kinds of folk-literature and folk-knowledge of the Kannada land and people. He has published many books about folk-stories, folksongs, folk-ballads etc., with scholarly introductions which explain the language, life, knowledge and the creative quality of the village life and people. For this purpose, he has toured the length and breadth of Karnataka, met various people of divers occupations and cultures and thereby uncovered the hidden treasure of the native folk with honest effort and a scholarly background. During his extensive fieldwork he has faced many odds and also many thrilling experiences. Being a person born and bred in a village, unlike the armchair scholars, he naturally involved himself with the abundant treasure of folklore around his native and far off places. As a fruitful result of his decade long hard work and dedicated research, he has written many valuable books pertaining to folklore.
The present book, In Quest of Folk Literature is a unique one in the area of folklore. I felt immensely happy to go. through this rare book. There are many books which deal with the various principles of folklore and its significance. But there are only a few works which narrate the rare experiences of fieldwork depicting the innerside of the heterogeneous lives and beliefs of the folk, which is the real cradle of their creative faculty. This book is a harmonious blending of a moving travelogue, a thrilling autobiography of a serious learned and devoted field worker of the first order and an authentic and artistic account of folk literature and folklife.
Unlike many arm-chair folklorists, this writer has travelled through the length and breadth of his native land facing heart-warming and peculiar experiences. He has identified himself with the narrators of different natures, different vocabulary and different experiences excavating their inbuilt traditional songs, stories, proverbs, riddles, customs, beliefs etc., independently and with his like minded friends. This book honestly and beautifully unfolds the hazardous and at the same time exciting task of fieldwork in the area of folklore of Karnataka. Every page of this book bears testimony to the author's serious and sincere effort in digging their memory and hearts to unveil their hidden talent and knowledge which is the mother soil of their culture.
For the author, it is not merely a work of collection of folk materials, but it is really a quest of passing through the minds, hearts, manners, beliefs, lifestyles and environment of the villages who are the lifeblood of our rural culture.