AESTHETICS OF JACKAL’S JUDGEMENTS IN THE FOLKTALES OF TRIBAL COMMUNITIES OF JHARKHAND

 

M. Ramakrishnan ¹, Shalini Pallavi ²

 

¹ Assistant Professor of Folklore, Department of Anthropology & Tribal Studies, Central University of Jharkhand, Cheri-Manatu, Ranchi – 835222, India

² Research Scholar, Department of Anthropology & Tribal Studies, Central University of Jharkhand, Cheri-Manatu, Ranchi – 835222, India

 

“If someone reads me his poem or takes me to a play that in the end fails to please my taste, then he can adduce Batteux or Lessing, or even older and more famous critics of taste, and adduce all the rules they established as proofs that his poem is beautiful…. I will stop my ears, listen to no reasons and arguments, and would rather believe that those rules of the critics are false … than allow that my judgement should be determined by means of a priori grounds of proof, since it is supposed to be a judgement of taste and not of the understanding of reason.” Kant (2000/1790), 165)

“Understanding other moral codes and the ways of life in which they are embedded is not to see them as alien and incomprehensible but in some respects familiar and in other respects constituting a challenge to our own codes and ways of life. Since we ourselves are complex and ambivalent moral beings, we are able to see that at least some other codes and ways of life may just as reasonably be adopted by decent and informed human beings as our own.” Wong (2006), 20

 

1. INTRODUCTION

Jharkhand is known for its rich natural resources and it is also known for its linguistic and cultural diversities. The demographic structure of the state stands for its mixed population with a harmonious life with festivals, celebrations, rituals and other cultural fests that are unique to each social and cultural group. The languages spoken in the state can be grouped under Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, and Austroasiatic language families. The vibrant and vivid culture of the state is the composition of cultures that can be seen under the dichotomous categories of tribal and non-tribal communities which seem to be treated as convenient since it is not the clear-cut demarcation because there are evidences that show the presence of cultural intersections as well as exchanges. Despite the diversities, the state has always been known for projecting its collective entity, or semiosphere, that represents the kaleidoscopic identity which is transcendental and inclusive in all respects. Created on 15^th November 2000, sharing its borders with the states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and West Bengal, with its typical climatic conditions and beautiful landscape, the state is officially declared a tribal state not due to the political uprising but because of the demographic composition, interestingly, consisting of a good number of tribal communities whose development is seen as inevitable thus it is been part of collective and political agenda of the state Shalini Pallavi and M. Ramakrishnan. Another reason to focus on the oral literature of the tribal communities of the state is that in spite of having a vast collection of folklore materials by the tribal communities, one could find less number of studies that have the objective of either deciphering the meaning or interpreting their cultural materials. Being considered marginalized, the tribal communities living in the state have a rich resource of cultural materials that are studied under the popular categories of folklore such as oral tradition or oral literature, material culture, performing arts, social customs and beliefs, and undoubtedly, these materials are important for understanding their culture, philosophy, moral and ethical framework, worldview, etc. In fact, as per the 2011 census, there are four major tribal communities and twenty-eight minor tribes (Shalini Pallavi and M. Ramakrishnan). It may not be an exaggeration that the tribal identity is more or less synonymously represented through the aesthetics associated with the socio-cultural and spiritual life of the people. However, more than their social life, their cultural life plays a vital role in giving shape to their outlook. As mentioned, the aesthetic life of the people of Jharkhand can be contemplated through the collective contributions of both tribal and non-tribal communities and the medium used by both groups include oral traditions, material culture, performing arts and social folk customs and beliefs. Within art and craft traditions, Jharkhand has always displayed a great sense of aesthetics in terms of its design, finishing, colour, themes, motifs and the materials used, and they are always local in representing the flavour of the soil. The items produced with the help of wood and bamboo materials are considered the identity of the state apart from their aesthetic reflections. Among the art traditions, both the tribal and non-tribal communities equally possess different painting and carving traditions that are now promoted globally for their representational value and functioning as cultural identity. The original skills displayed by the confluence of all the communities can be witnessed in craft and painting traditions. Equally, sculptures of Jharkhand are more ancient than recent and they are of different types. These sculptures, being part of the antiquities of the state some of them even from 9^th century onwards, have never failed to reflect the different religious traditions of the state such as Buddhism, Jainism, Sarna, Hinduism, etc. Moreover, the raw materials used for making sculptures such as semi-precious stones, terracotta, metal, etc., are considered examples of the preservation of the cultural identity of the state. Similarly, the architecture practices of the state by both the tribal and non-tribal communities also form the cultural identity of the state and the designs, materials and technologies used for architecture reflect the aesthetics as well as local knowledge systems of the traditional communities. Even house interiors are considered as unique and reflect certain aesthetic values. Colorful festivals, melas, food festivals, fairs, displays of local cuisine, and gatherings that are some of the events are important sources where one can find the reflections of aesthetics of people living in the state.

Within the tradition of performing arts, Jharkhand is always known for the display of beauty, aesthetics and cultural identity of different communities living in the state. Many of the dances are known for the display of traditional tools and weapons such as swords, bows and arrows, spears, shields, etc. that reflect the aesthetic beauty of their tradition. The beads, bangles, bells, ankles, colorful, etc., worn by the performers of traditional dances, as part of their costumes, are considered attractive and aesthetically enticing. Dances associated with the worships and rituals of tribal communities are known for the display of their marvelous aesthetic combination of costumes, dance movements and music and they are vibrant as well as meaningful in the sense that they are best known for spatial transformation. Another vibrant dance of the state of Jharkhand is Seraikella Chhau performed in the Seraikalla region, and it is best known not only for its aesthetic display but also for its display of martial dance movements, sophistication and appealing features. Finally, literary aesthetics can be explored from a vast amount of oral literature available with the tribal and non-tribal communities. While tribal literature reflects their aesthetics as well as their eternal relationship with the environment and its various elements, the literature of other communities is also having wonderful literature, both oral and modern, that can be studied for having a holistic view of the aesthetics of people of Jharkhand.

Since a good amount of folklore and cultural materials have already been collected from these major tribal communities, there is an enormous amount of responsibility for the collection of these materials from the other minor tribes of the state, and it could be one of the reasons that this study has primarily referred to the oral literature available in print that belongs to the major tribal communities. The oral literature, or the folktales used in this study, with sources duly acknowledged and cited, has fine storylines with two important aspects that are being taken up for discussion: first is the themes of dispute settlement and the second is the presence of animal characters. Both elements have something that facilitates and entices serious dialogues on the notion of aesthetics which promises to provide the lead in this direction. That is, in the contemplation of aesthetics of folktales of tribal communities, two elements have been singled out for delineating their logic and justification and with those two elements whole narrative paradigm is described keeping in mind the view that the aesthetic approach is inclusive and involving in a way even to critically handling the concepts under discussion. One must remember the Kantian perspective of aesthetic attitude as a way of distancing from practical concerns and also the “Psychical distance” of Bullough (1912). However, Kant’s perspective had expressed a satisfactory formulation and according to him, the recipients of aesthetic experience are not distanced rather they are disinterested which means that the object of aesthetics is not “either the vehicle of curiosity or as a means to an end” Munro & Roger Scruton (2023, Oct 19). The contemporary notion of aesthetics can be seen as involving a few things such as judgements, experiences, concepts, properties, or words Zangwill (2023). However, aesthetic judgement is treated as central in this article and the discussion is made around this central notion which enables to have description of folktales in terms of aesthetic morals – in a puritanical way to uphold the purpose of the folktale as a form that has been created by humanity for their betterment. Importantly, the aesthetic moral is established and insisted through the medium of oral literature by disparaging the establishments that are there merely for the sake of art.

The role of aesthetics, as being used in this study, is to connect and link everyday life experiences with art and literature which offer ample scope for understanding not merely the conceptual structures or concepts or messages but also the structural elements and their relations that are projected differently. It can be mentioned that to some extent, it is the aesthetics that gives art and literature a more consummatory aspect. This consummatory aspect can be well understood if we consider “every person is capable of an artist, living an artful life of social interaction that benefits and thereby beautifies the world” Dewey (1987), 3, then it confirms that all are in some respects consumers of art and aesthetics. Here, whether the production or consumption, a moral purpose associated with the art and literature cannot be ignored and at the same time, it cannot also escape from the aesthetics inherent to our experience. Indeed, whether in art or literature, aesthetic recognition is essential for consumption which can move beyond qualities and properties. However, according to Clercq (2002), 168 recognition of aesthetics is realized as follow in the following ways: sensory properties shape, line, texture, value, colour, space, and scale); formal qualities (sense of unity, balance, movement, and dominance); technical properties (appearances of shapes, values, colours) and expressive properties (feeling of fear, loneliness, joy, and ideals) Clercq (2002), 168. The purposes for which the arts are created have been listed out by June K. McFee and they are follows: “aesthetic, amusing, artistic, cathartic, commemorative, commercial, cultural, decorative, economic, educational, entertaining, experimental, expressive, historical, hypnotic, instructional, magical, moral, persuasive, political, practical, propagandistic, psychological, religious, satirical, sensitizing, social, spiritual, stimulating, and therapeutic” (June K. McFee 2007, cf. Rager (2008)). However, cultural context and situation can be seen as playing a vital role in determining the aesthetic form, and it is equally true for the consumption of aesthetic forms too. Here aesthetics becomes a descriptive tool by moving away from the fold of philosophy. Thomas Munro mentions that “now widely recognized that aesthetics is no longer a branch of speculative philosophy … but part of the descriptive inquiry which seeks to find out and state the facts about works of art as a kind of observable phenomena, in relation to other phenomena of human experience, behaviour and culture” (Munro (1956), cf. Passmore (1968), 47-48). The aesthetics in this study is used as a broad framework to accommodate some of the features of oral literature.

 

 

 

 

2. Aesthetics and Judgemental Aesthetics

Considering the nature of the complexity of the notion of aesthetics, defining it in a clear term is a difficult task, and particularly, “self-definition has been the major task of modern aesthetics” Munro & Roger Scruton (2023). However, no one is free from the acquaintance of aesthetics in their daily life, and it is a subliminal and integral part of perception, and to an extent, it can be said that it shapes our experiences by providing binary options within the realm of qualitative experience. The aesthetic framework that facilitates and enhances the way people look at things is not without any substance; rather it is governed by underlying principles. These principles have become part of the characteristics of aesthetics for people to engage themselves in their dialogue with literature, folklore, and cultural forms with the varieties of impressions and expressions, that is, the aesthetics cannot be merely limited to the judgement of beautiful and ugly. In other words, these principles are important not only for defining the nature of aesthetics but also for understanding the nature of taste people have beyond their good and bad, or beautiful and ugly, like binary judgements. Arguing that the judgement of taste has ‘universal validity’ Kant describes that “…if [anyone] pronounces that something is beautiful, then he expects the very same satisfaction of others: he judges not merely for himself, but for everyone, and speaks of beauty as if it were a property of things. Hence, he says that the thing is beautiful, and does not count on the agreement of others with his judgement of satisfaction because he has frequently found them to the agreeable with his own, but rather demands it from them. He rebukes them if they judge otherwise, and denies that they have taste, for he nevertheless requires that they ought to have it; and to this extent, one cannot say, “Everyone has his special taste”. This would be as much as to say that there is no taste at all, i.e. no aesthetic judgement that could make a rightful claim to the assent of everyone” Kant (1790/2000), 5: 212–213 [2000: 98]; see also 2000: 164–166–139). Importantly, as for Kant, judgement needs agreement from others, that is, our judgement is ought to be shared or accepted by others, and we blame them when they disagree with our decision. Unlike these cases which indicate a narrow and unclear way of dividing the world with limited subjective experience, aesthetic experience is much more complex and involves a set of beliefs as underlying principles to motivate their judgements as well as the display of or representation of an attitude on different states of affairs. Further, in conveying or driving home the message, in oral literature, for example, a signifying effort is being exerted through the mechanism of imposing certain linguistic special features that coordinate with other elements harmoniously. It could be considered as the main reason why aesthetics never stops with the binary expressions of human experience, which is understood from the multiple functions of representation of other concepts that are beyond the beautiful and ugly. As mentioned, to study the literature (oral literature included), two elements have been singled out the first is the thematic and the second is associated with characters. In this study, judgement is treated as an important tool in two aspects. Though the judgement is a thematic element in this study, it helps to introduce a category that classifies, or even critically also, an art or literary work, to specify an art or literary form, to handle the art or literary form in general, and to assign a peculiar philosophical category or critical comments to the art or literary works. Among these, the third point refers to the aesthetics that perceives art as “having a beginning, a middle, and an end” and it also treats the beauty of art as it lies in its organic structure Passmore (1968), 48-49. An aesthetic approach to art or literature cannot escape from employing criticism and critical theory, and of course, literary theory will be an added advantage for defending the judgements on art or literature. Interestingly, both critical theorists and aestheticians have something to share with the philosopher on the notion that the truth value of art lies when it is true to life. Here the artistic truth strives to relate the form with the content – Aristotle’s (Poetics) ‘improbabilities’ and ‘impossibilities’ in tragedies may be remembered here. Exploring the beauty of an art as well as certain properties of it has been the subject-matter of aesthetics in its historical sense Passmore (1968), 54. Does the study of art offer the same framework to appreciate or judge the excellence of all arts? Confidently, no can be said as the answer. There is a gradation with the genres of art, or different kinds of arts are given different interests and appreciation. Though nature or landscape and plastic arts are quite similar in judgement, we prefer one over the other, that is, landscape is less appreciated than art. In this, John Passmore refers to Oscar Wilde who mentions in The Decay of Lying that “My own experience is that the more we study Art, the less we care for Nature. What Art really reveals to us is nature’s lack of design, her curious crudities, her extraordinary monotony, her absolutely unfinished condition” Passmore (1968), 62. 

The modern notion of aesthetics provides the option to accommodate aesthetics concepts as well as literary concepts of representation and expression for describing the human experiences that are manifested in the concepts and the use of the characters in ways that are more denotatively aesthetic. To some extent, it also makes it possible to include other features of a text such as style or form or sentiments apart from emotions, attitudes, and mind responses. However, to go by Immanuel Kant, in understanding or having an experience of aesthetics, there is a disinterested attitude shown by people towards the objects on which they have to take a stand which is separate from our scientific interests and practical purpose. And, another important feature that explains the purpose of having aesthetic orientations is that the object is considered as belonging to a special class or having something to get the attention Munro & Roger Scruton (2023). And these characteristics discussed here play a vital role in identifying the aesthetic objects by which a research task can be initiated, and the associated meaning could be well narrated. The aesthetic objects are not free from ambiguous status as they depend on the interpretation by which there is an intrinsic aspect of expressing the ‘intentional’ experience with the aesthetic objects or the experience associated with the ‘material’ object. And these objects may not expect to have similar countenance. Considering these options, as far as this study is concerned, it treats both elements primarily as intentional objects of experience that must be explored. If Kantian disinterested pleasure facilitates locating the aesthetic value, then Schopenhauer’s will-less contemplation (disinterested attention) is considered as the locus of aesthetic value. Our ordinary and practical life is not free from the bondage of our desire, and for Schopenhauer, it gives pain as well as cognitive distortion which leads to the restriction of our attention that is required for fulfilling or thwarting our desires Schopenhauer (1819), 196. Therefore by seeing aesthetic contemplation as “both epistemically and hedonically valuable” that allows “a desire-free life”, Schopenhauer says that “when, however, an external cause or inward disposition suddenly raises us out of the endless stream of willing, and snatches knowledge from the thralldom of the will, the attention is now no longer directed to the motives of willing, but comprehends things free from their relation to the will …Then all at once the peace, always sought but always escaping us … comes to us of its own accord, and all is well with us” (1819: 196, cf. SEP 2017).). Conversely, there are aesthetic attitude theories proposed by Bullough (1995) and Stolnitz (1960), influential during the 20^th century that had different perspectives. While for Stolnitz, “aesthetic attitude is a matter of attending to it disinterestedly and sympathetically,” which means to “accept it on its own terms” without any preconceptions Stolnitz (1960), 32–36, cf. SEP 2017), it is the “psychical distance”, for Bullough, then the disinterest that is needed for aesthetic appreciation (Bullough (1995), cf. SEP 2017). Aesthetic appreciation is achieved, for Bullough, to put it in his terms, “by putting the phenomenon, so to speak, out of gear with our actual practical self; by allowing it to stand outside the context of our personal needs and ends—in short, by looking at it ‘objectively’ …by permitting only such reactions on our part as emphasize the ‘objective features of the experience, and by interpreting even our ‘subjective’ affections not as modes of our being but rather as characteristics of the phenomenon” (Bullough (1995): 298–299, cf. SEP 2017). This dispassionate detachment considered as a requirement for the appreciation of aesthetics has been easily criticized, and for instance, Goldman mentions that “[w]hen we cry at a tragedy, jump in fear at a horror movie, or lose ourselves in the plot of a complex novel, we cannot be said to be detached, although we may be appreciating the aesthetic qualities of these works to the fullest…. We can appreciate the aesthetic properties of the fog or storm while fearing the dangers they present (Goldman (2001), 264, cf. SEP 2017). Criticism of Bullough’s ‘psychical distance’ is to overlook the subtlety of his view to claim that “aesthetic appreciation requires a distance between our own self and its affections” (Bullough (1995), 298, cf. SEP 2017).

To further the discussion on aesthetic objects, by not seeing them as specific arts but as free objects whose aesthetics is not conditioned or influenced by any polluting intermediary concept, the attention is on the aesthetic recipient. In fact, the process of appreciating aesthetics of art/object, beyond the intentional experience, tells something about the contemplation of forms that to be rational beings there must be an esthetic experience, i.e., being a rational one must have and explore the aesthetic experience that is founded on the moral judgement which is an integral part of moral beings. However, it does not mean that the aesthetic experience is solely associated with human beings, and it points out the fact that aesthetic experiences are distributed beyond the human race. There is no doubt that nature is always a representation and inherently associated with the objects found in nature, and rational beings show their disinterest which is considered as the passionate form of interest. Hence, human beings cannot be separated from their aesthetic impulse which is due to the mental life that differentiates human beings from animals. And here, by its true nature, all human beings are, by default, are capable of making an aesthetic judgement about objects on the one hand and function as the recipient of what is an unintentional aesthetic experience on the other hand. Aesthetic experience is debated and discussed by a variety of scholars with the help of a number of contrasting theories. Internalism and externalism, for instance, are two theories, considered parallel to phenomenal and epistemic conceptions. Internalism advanced by Beardsley (1958), 527 proposed three features such as focus, intensity, and unity that are common to all aesthetic experiences, in which, according to Beardsley, focus refers to the attention firmly fixed upon its object; and unity means both the coherence (elements properly connected) and completeness (elements of “counterbalance” or “resolve” – “whole stands apart from elements without it”) (Beardsley (1958), 527, cf. SEP 2017: 12-13). However, externalism along with empiricism located the ‘features that determine the aesthetic character of the object’ – while the externalism located these features within the object, the empiricism located the features within the experience. It can be given in the words of Godman who says that “Aesthetic experience … aims first at understanding and appreciation, at taking in the aesthetic properties of the object. The object itself is valuable for providing an experience that could only be an experience of that object…. Part of the value of aesthetic experience lies in experiencing the object in the right way, in a way true to its non-aesthetic properties, so that the aim of understanding and appreciation is fulfilled" (Goldman (2006), 339–341; see also Iseminger (2004): 36, cf. SEP 2017:14).

The aforementioned discussion can offer a different dimension for understanding the texts belonging to oral tradition, and the same can also apply to other texts produced in different media. Treating both characters and concepts found in texts as objects of aesthetics is advantageous as one needs to negotiate with the object of sensory experience to the imagined one – which gains its importance as there is a requirement of contemplation of these objects not for their intrinsic properties but for the significance and value that are inbuilt in the objects. Conversely, in dealing with the aesthetic experience and aesthetic judgement, the post-Kantian approaches have emphasized it “in terms of synthesis of the sensory and intellectual, that is, they highlighted the point that aesthetic experience requires a special synthesis of intellectual and sensory components which give both peculiarities and its value” Munro & Roger Scruton (2023). Interestingly, as noticed by Kant, an idea can emerge into paradox, called by him antimony, which can lead to the production of different ideas that may conflict with conflicts, and it means that the aesthetic judgement cannot be the same as aesthetic (‘expression of what is enjoyed) and judgement (universal assent). It is explained in other words that the pleasure we draw from an object is nothing to do sometimes from the pleasure we draw from the object (though the object does not own anything) and other times, we express pleasure by judgement – therefore, in both the cases, pleasure is immediate even without having any foundation of reasoning and analysis. Further, it is also clear from Kant that aesthetic judgement is “free from concepts, and beauty itself is not a concept” Munro & Roger Scruton (2023). This point is understood as having inconsistency because of the reason that ‘aesthetic judgement itself is a form of a judgement, that is, we are merely without any involvement or without reason. One of the conceptions of aesthetic experience, another discussion can also be mentioned here and it is now on the relationship between form and content. If form goes by its individuality, then the content may contradict it, and in the case of allotrope carbon and its form as diamond and graphite. Imagination is another component that is vitally associated with the experience shaped by and conditioned by aesthetics, that is, aesthetic experience. Linking the role of imagination enables one to unite though with the human experience, that is, in the discourse of aesthetic experience, the role of imagination has not been omitted by modern philosophers. For Kant, imagination is useful on two accounts of ‘ordinary thought and perception’ on the one hand and ‘in aesthetic experience’ on the other hand Munro & Roger Scruton (2023). The intuition (seeing an object, for example) and the concept (as it is contributed because of understanding, for example) are the results of an act of imagination and here it is a single experience. However, in aesthetic experience, imagination is free from the concept because it is a free play which enables one to add concepts to the experience. Here, it is noted that the content of experience is presented in ordinary perception and also in aesthetic experience – in both cases, imagination is vital to them. Imagination has a significant role to play in aesthetic experience as it enables the fusion of both the content and experience. Creative imagination is quite peculiar to human beings, and it allows visualizing something in its absence. That is, imagination creates content from no reality that is not seen immediately which is quite opposite to memory and perception where experience is from the real Sartre (1940). Even John Dewey understood that “imaginative experience” is something that “happens when varied materials of sense quality, emotion, and meaning come together in a union that marks a new birth in the world” Granger (2003), 53. Thus, an aesthetic experience is the link that is established between the sensory and the intellectual as well as between aesthetic experience and everyday life experience. This point provides ample scope for going beyond the art to see the aesthetics in nature and natural objects in their context or decontextualized settings. That is, when art and nature are primarily associated with emotions and aesthetics that give different perspectives to arouse different emotions other than sympathy that can either correct or corrupt ourselves. A moral connotation can manifest in the discussion on the role and nature of aesthetic expressions. However, arguing against Kant’s disinterested and universal quality of aesthetic experience, George Santayana makes it clear that central to the aesthetic is pleasure because pleasure becomes the quality of a thing. All our experiences could contribute to the sense of beauty Santayana (2019/1896). For him, aesthetic experience is the result of a process of fusion between the response aroused (expression) and the object which arouses it (form) – the fundamental experience of expression Munro & Roger Scruton (2023). While differentiating content from intuition, Croce (1995/1902) could clarify that the former is an instrument of classification whereas intuition is associated with the individuality of an object. Therefore, it is the peculiarity of intuition that decides the peculiarity of aesthetic interest that is to mean that “the object of aesthetic interest is interesting for its own sake and not as a means to an end” Munro & Roger Scruton (2023). In fact, in agreement with Croce who opposed expression to description, Collingwood pointed out that particularity is only associated with expression, not the generality of states of mind (Collingwood (1938), cf. Munro & Roger Scruton (2023)). According to John Passmore, two different kinds of distinction that the Croce-Collingood theory could propose: the classificatory distinction between works of art, works of amusement, works of magic on the one hand and the ontological distinction between works of art and physical objects on the other hand Passmore (1968), 68-69. The aesthetic experience drawn from oral and literary texts is a free play of imagination and also has moral significance; it enables the perspective to see the world as purposive (without purpose). The deepest relation human beings have with nature has been core to the perception and here the disinterested quality of aesthetic experience is considered as a true vehicle of moral and political education which is also a reason for self-identity that enables them to flourish Schiller (1975). The modern conception of art, for Hegel, involves a request for self-realization, a form that gives sensuous embodiment to the spirit. It is required for the spirit to articulate inner tensions and resolutions, and here the arts are arranged in both historical and intellectual sequence (Hegel). As general discussion on the philosophy of aesthetic experience is not possible here due to the limitations, we proceed to discuss with reference to specific traditions. Eastern aesthetics offers different traditions that are unique in every respect. There are two traditions that are quite popular in India – the first one is the philosophy of embodiment or the disagreement with the sensory realm as mere illusion, and the second refers to the theory of rasa attributed to Bharata of about 500 CE and developed by Abhinava Gupta about 1000 CE. The first tradition, Maya, or illusion, is quite associated with worship and earthly delight, whereas the second has been applied to art and literature. According to Bharata, the principal human emotions can be recast in contemplative form as various rasas. The Chinese traditions emphasized the following: the role of aesthetic enjoyment in moral and political education; suspicious of the power of art to awaken frenzied and distracted feelings (Confucius 551-479 BCE); for stability and order of social life, arts have to be noble by incorporating into rituals and traditions; and being puritanical, earlier Taoism condemned all arts assuming their negative role, but later lenient Taoists showed intuitive approach to arts and nature Munro & Roger Scruton (2023). So far, the morality is concerned art, poetry and other literature cannot escape from their commitment to making humans better, and creative forms are required to be morally useful in whatever they represent. Extending Plato, one could say that arts must be morally useful and pleasing, and discussion around the morality associated with poetry is throughout antiquity. In connection with poetry and its moral content, which can be related here in reference to literature, Plato’s distinction of ‘moral instruction and moral content’, that is, his demand for ‘moral utility as a demand for moral instruction’, Aristotle adopted the view that “moral content is demanded as a source of pleasure, not as a means of moral instruction and Stoics’ demand for a moral point of view on the part of both creator and recipient, that emphasized the role of the artist as a creator and of the recipient as an interpreter” Asmis (2015), 486, 501, we could confidently say that oral literature particularly folktale, in its simple form, fulfils all the requirements.

The ontological existence of aesthetic objects inherently presents a kind of distinction among the objects which gives direction to attributes of certain degree of aesthetic value to the objects. Few points on aesthetics suggested by Passmore (1968) are found to be useful in this study: “it is concerned with beautiful and also with works of art; introduces discrimination; concerned with the characteristic excellences and defects of these objects; with any excellences and defects; concerned with the characteristic excellences of works of art having special or redefined or sense of works of art; and inherently associated with literary theory, musical theory, architectural theory and philosophy of art” Passmore (1968), 64-65. While these points are noteworthy in understanding the broader spectrum of aesthetics, as far as folklore is concerned, one must move further in describing the ‘aesthetics’ that is inherent to various genres of folklore with specific respondents. That is, to describe a folklore item from the perspective of aesthetics or to portray it aesthetically, one must possess the quality of artistic sensibility and clear thinking which are prerequisites for any aesthetic experience as well as for developing an aesthetic theory Bell (1914). The aesthetic experience could also be seen as founded on personalized aesthetic emotion which is individualistic despite being influenced by social and cultural elements. Further, the lack of intellectual ability to consider art in general is to waste the ‘artistic sensibility’, ‘deep aesthetic experience’, and ‘delicate sensibilities.’ And for the appreciation of an artwork, for Clive Bell, one needs to have “a sense of form and colour and a knowledge of three-dimensional space” Bell (1914). Similarly, he draws our attention to ‘significant form’ which refers to the one quality common to all works of (visual) art, that is, according to him, “lines and colours combined in a particular way, certain forms and relations of forms, stir our aesthetic emotions. These relations and combinations of lines and colours, these aesthetically moving forms, I call “Significant Form”” Bell (1914). ‘Rightness of form’ is another insightful point that comes from Clive Bell. Whether good or bad in themselves, art forms have representations, and if representative forms have certain values, then they are not representations, but forms. For him, representative elements in art form are irrelevant and art has the potential to transport us to the world of aesthetic exaltation to be cut off from our interest and to be above the stream of life. As he speculates this emotion comes from “springs, inhuman or super-human, from the heart of an abstract science.” Some of the forms move our emotions and the emotional significance of these forms is due to certain combinations that make us perceive them as righteous. The significance created by the forms is not related to the ‘significance of life’, rather, for him, “emotions of life find no place, because it is a world with emotions of its own” Bell (1914).

It is difficult to have a clear theorization or develop a perspective on aesthetics because individual experiences are different and unique. Since ancient times the concept has been used with different understandings, and according to Goldman (2001), the latest understanding of aesthetics referring to sensory pleasure and delight is used from the eighteenth century. However, it is generally agreed that aesthetics is a pleasure that is attained due to sensory perception as it differentiates phenomena of aesthetic experiences from other experiences associated with either meaning construction or emotion-based responses Hekkert (2006). As mentioned, aesthetics is not either confined or restricted to arts and artistic expression and it means that it is as broad as possible in accommodating various genres of folklore and other cultural creative forms as well as non-artistic phenomena. Similarly, aesthetic pleasure produced by aesthetic experience cannot be seen as emotion, rather it includes emotion also, that is, aesthetic emotions cannot be confused with normal emotion because the latter cannot simply be aesthetic Hekkert & Leder (2007). Ending this general discussion on aesthetics which provides a clear perspective here, let us focus on the relevance of aesthetics for literature and/or literary aesthetics to find ways to study the selected folktales by treating them as (oral) literature by dealing with textual features as well as aesthetic features. Literature or literary structure is always concerned with its style, content and/or structure and within the text, phonological, syntactic, semantic, and rhetorical features are inescapable. However, all these features within a text collectively participate to identify themselves with human emotion, or to reality or the world. However, debating whether any literary text identifies itself within the text or anything outside the text, or from a semantic and structuralist point of view, enjoys autonomy without referring to either the world or human emotion Olsen (1981). However, the question is when do we treat a literary text as an art? Does the literature have any literature features that guarantee the aesthetic dimension of the literature? If the meaning and purpose of any text is possible by construing the textual features such as words and sentences, then how do we locate the presence of aesthetic features? Moreover, when a text establishes its relationship with other texts within its genres and outside the genre boundaries, then how do we access the aesthetics found in the text which is a mutual and reciprocal relationship with other texts within and outside the genre? Aesthetic judgement plays a vital to identifying certain features with which a literature can be treated as aesthetic literature, and interestingly, it is not just one or two elements that constitute literary aesthetics, rather, ‘a constellation of textual features’ which collectively operate for give aesthetic value to the text. That is, the aesthetic judgement is the objective of these features which form not merely a collection but rather a constellation for this reason Olsen (1981), 523-524. Moreover, aesthetic judgement is the only thing with which the readers must determine the aesthetic features within the text. Therefore, depending on their aesthetic judgements, the readers have to enjoy their sole responsibility for identifying and exploring the aesthetic features that do their function in the text, and even it can be justified by the existing supervenience theory Olsen (1981) where the properties of one set supervene upon another set, that is, the difference of set one is due to the effect of another set (SEP 2005), in which the set that is being influenced is having base properties and the influencing one is having supervenient properties –that is, a modal relationship (without the difference of one set, there is no difference in another set, in other words, if the properties of one set are preserved, then other set’s properties are also preserved). However, despite having a unique pattern or gestalt, having no general descriptive criteria for aesthetic property is considered problematic by P.F. Strawson (1966). The absence of general descriptive criteria for aesthetic features could also be understood as a way to question, or treat it as problematic, even the nature of aesthetic judgement itself, or then it is difficult to see the validity in aesthetic evaluation as well as the aesthetic judgement. Some judgements do not have been founded on the principle of ‘rationality’, but they might have been established based on the logicality of deductive/inductive arguments. However, it is not to say that the ‘aesthetic judgements are arbitrary and impossible to support.’ There are distinctive features or there can be a peculiar logic, to understand as per the supervenience theory, as pointed out by Stein Haugom Olsen, that can define the ‘aesthetic judgement as a type’ Olsen (1981), 526. Here, on the aesthetic judgement, Kant says that “… when [someone] puts a thing on a pedestal and calls it beautiful, he demands the same delight from others. He judges not merely for himself, but for all men, and then speaks of beauty as if it were a property of things. Thus, he says that the thing is beautiful, and it is not as if he counts on others agreeing with him in his judgment of liking owing to his having found them in such agreement on a number of occasions, but he demands this agreement of them. He blames them if they judge differently, and denies them taste, which he still requires of them as something they ought to have; and to this extent, it is not open to men to say: Everyone has his own taste” Kant (1790), 52.

There is an insistence on aesthetic sensibility when it comes to aesthetic judgement, and when an object is received as it is having an aesthetic value, there is an understanding that it has something that gives that object that said value. Here, there is an insistence on the something or the perspective that qualifies that object as having aesthetic value. This aesthetic sensibility, if not understood or recognized, then there is no further discussion or dialogue on the matter as that “something” which is more subjective than the objective. That means, similar to having an aesthetic experience or apparatus for understanding the aesthetic value within an object, one must possess such a language to describe what is experienced. So far aesthetic sensibility is concerned there are two distinctive features that we may agree with: the reality that aesthetic sensibility can be cultivated and trained, and it is relevant and true in this study that disciplinary training is one way to locate the presence of aesthetic elements within an object or oral literature; and the second is the directive character by which the addressee is convinced of and made to perceive what is critic’s appreciation. Unless there is a ‘sameness’ between the addressee and the critic, the level of experience cannot be the same Arnold Isenberg 1949:137-138, cf. Olsen (1981), 527. An appeal for aesthetic sensibility is logically prior to any directive argument and thus the validity of a directive argument rests on the success of making the agreement in aesthetic perception – an important point in this study, and here the independence of both of them (aesthetic sensibility and directive argument) is considered significant. However, while handling a literary work that is filled with literary features, definitions, and interpretations, one can find that aesthetic sensibility takes the backseat, that is, it is dominated by textual features including concepts.

Seeing literature as a social practice, to some extent, because it is produced for their reading and understanding, and it draws elements from its social and cultural contexts, complicates the discussion on literary aesthetics. Compared to written literature which is written and read by a small group of people beyond social boundaries, oral literature is a bit wider but confined by social boundaries, that is, it is owned by a particular folk group. Literary aesthetics must expand its scope by becoming a social practice in which individuals as members participate. Since aesthetic judgement is treated as non-empirical and associated with one’s ability to give an interpretation of the aesthetic features found in a literary text, there is no fixed parameter to make a judgement on one’s ability, that is, one can offer better than others, or in other instance, one interpretation can become unacceptable or inferior to the interpretation of others. However, there are conventions that have been provided by institutional framework or disciplinary training and those conventions have been either shared or learned to develop the ability to understand others' aesthetic judgements or to develop aesthetic sensibility. Between the nature of literature and literary judgement, there is a fundamental agreement that is facilitated through an institutional approach and hence the task of literary aesthetics is to display the nature of this agreement. However, one must agree with the point that there is so far no agreement on a scale to understand and evaluate a particular work – even an individual’s creativity can also be linked with their unique way of appreciation or interpretation or evaluation. The institutional approach towards literary work is explained in two levels, as pointed out by Stein Haugom Olsen: “The reader's response to a literary work seems to be correctly described as an imaginative reconstruction of its literary aesthetic features" (that is, to identify an aesthetic feature and aesthetic judgement is required); and “literary aesthetic judgements are formulated in a vocabulary with its own criteria of application and a hierarchical structure” Olsen (1981), 538. In this study, judgement is used as a thematic concept along the characters that participate in the construction of this concept, and it is to be noted that thematic concept embodies ‘universal interest in the culture’ and thematic level is considered as the highest level of interpretative vocabulary having its counterpart as the open set of descriptive concepts. Here, textual features such as content, structure and style are part of the descriptive task and some of them are strictly descriptive. The redescription is another level that falls in between the thematic and descriptive levels. The thematic judgement is connected with the description, and it is known as redescriptions – used for formulating the reason for accepting a thematic judgement. Finally, it is the aesthetic terms (at three levels) –‘coherence and unity of the work’; inner articulation to recognize the work; and quality of the thematic term Olsen (1981), 539-540. All these aesthetic qualities are discussed under literary appreciation. Our everyday life cannot be free from the aesthetic judgement of it, and it makes our life meaningful in every aspect. While it helps us understand things around us, it makes us aesthetic argument that imposes on us certain aesthetic perspectives to impose them on others but for different reasons and also for different purposes. As far as aesthetics is concerned, we always end up in endless discussions or debates – either for convincing or imposing our perspective. So, no one is free from aestheticism and no one is also away from participating in the discussion. When aesthetic argument is part of everyday life, can it be possible to term common people’s perspective on aesthetics as folk aesthetics? Instead of calling it folk aesthetics, it can be termed as common sensical aesthetics or aesthetic sensibilities since the term folk is used in the field of Folkloristics with specific meaning, that is, according to Alan Dundes, “any group of people whatsoever who share at least one common factor. It does not matter what the linking factor is-it could be a common occupation, language, or religion-but what is important is that a group…have some traditions that it calls its own” Dundes (1965), 2. For ‘lore’, he provides a long list (not an exhaustive list) that includes “folktales, legends, myths, ballads, festivals, folk dance and song, but also offers examples of folklore that may not be as obvious, such as children’s counting-out rhymes, food recipes, house, barn and fence types, latrinalia (informal writings in public restrooms), as well as the sounds traditionally used to call specific animals” Dundes (1965), 3. There are two points that need to be mentioned here: first related to the folk aesthetics or folk’s aesthetics that can be found reflected through the folklore items and the second is the common aesthetics that is explored through the readers’ perspective. An overlapping perspective of folk aesthetics could not be ruled out while looking at the folklore materials – that is, how the community (“folk”) that has presented its folk aesthetics through the narratives on the one hand and what aesthetic aspects of the narratives have attracted the readers’ attention with aesthetic appeal on the other hand. Therefore, there is a two-fold task in front of us – first to explore how the “judgement” (or dispute settlement) as a thematic concept is conceptualized within the narrative paradigms/framework, and the second task is to identify how the whole narratives appear as aesthetically presented for the readers (i.e., an aesthetic argument over the aesthetic judgement). However, both the tasks are handled in this part of the article in a single axis, and it is convenient to discuss all the related issues. The point that needs to be remembered here is related to the common sense or folk model or folk aesthetic on the nature of judgement reflected or expressed in the folktales – a normativity principle can be applied here to see how the folk group has a strong view on the judgement or has a tool to settle any disputes. It is one way of dealing with folk metaphysics that deals with the ontological condition or existence of knowledge of judgement which enables the people to meet with reality.

 

3. Theme of Judgement/Settlement of Dispute in Tribal Folktales

The folktale genre requires no introduction as it falls under the category of oral literature which plays a larger role in helping humankind in their childhood by developing their cognitive skills and abilities to understand ideas, concepts, and various cultural categories. Though treated as a source of entertainment and amusement, folktales are the sources of information not only for those who depend on orality as their principal medium of transmission but also for the people of “developed” societies. They occupy an important place of as the means of communication of knowledge transference. It is to quote Sarita Sahay who says, “the folktales of different regions represent the thoughts, ideas, mental states, traditions, manners and customs and even wit and wisdom of the people of that region” (Sarita Sahay 2004, quoted in Sahay (2013), 1). The language used in the tribal folktales is highly useful in studying the nature of aesthetics constructed through the figures of speech such as metaphor, metonymy, smile, analogy, personification, hyperbole, oxymoron, epigram, irony, pun, metonymy, synecdoche, transferred epithet, etc (https://byjus.com/english/figures-of-speech/). Identifying these elements in tribal folktales can help us understand how far the tribal communities conceptualize things aesthetically and differently with the help of language and also to know how their culture facilitates their aesthetic appeal. Therefore, here are the examples that prove to be the potential in helping understanding some of the unique and aesthetic aspects of tribal life.

1)    Example 1 -The Jackal and the Leopard

Once there was a leopard creating chaos and destruction in the forest, eating, and killing animals. The people planned to kill it, but their efforts went in vain. They started clearing the forests in search of the leopard. Scared of the drum sound, the leopard managed to escape from the forest. He met a group of traders and told them to help him hide inside their goods by threatening them that otherwise, he would eat their bullocks. After escaping from the danger zone, the leopard now wanted to kill and eat the traders and their bullocks. The frightened traders wanted someone to judge this matter. When they asked a tree, it judged in favour of the leopard telling them that humans always cut the trees. Then, they asked the water pool which also judged in favour of the leopard by saying that humans always pollute the water. Finally, they asked a passerby jackal, and the leopard also persuaded the jackal to tell in its favour. When the jackal asked the leopard to enact how it was saved by the traders, it went inside the goods bag. The jackal asked the traders to close the bag and kill the leopard Bodding (1925), 8-19, Bompas (1909), 312-314.

 

2)    Example 2 -Jackal Judgement

Once there was a king (=a landlord) who before his death advised his son to find refuge and protection with a good man. When the son was on his way to find a good man, he saw the king saluting a jackal that was crossing his palanquin. Thinking thank the jackal was the right person for his protection, he followed it to his cave and waited for a few days till the jackal gave him a cow with magical power to give him whatever he asked. On his way, he felt hungry and asked the cow for some food. When he got the food, a woman who was fetching water nearby saw it and informed the matter to her husband who cunningly invited the boy to stay at his home overnight and trickily exchanged the cow. The next day, when the boy was on his way, he assumed what had happened. The boy sought help from everyone including the village landlord but to his dismay, all of them supported the couple by taking bribes from them. Finally, the boy brought the jackal to the village to settle the case. On the judgement day, when the landlord was about to tell the case to the jackal, it asked them to settle the case between him and his wife. Then the jackal told them that though he and his wife eat and drink together, he shits once, whereas his wife shits thrice, for that he wants to know the reason. When asked, the she-jackal told the village gathering that her twice passed stools fall on those who pass unrighteous judgements, to seventh generations, and third one to match with her husband. The terror-struck judges (villages) fearing the stool would fall on them if they gave false judgement, asked the couple to bring all their cows. Now the jackal identified its cow and returned it to the boy. Bodding (1925), 33-39

Another version is found in Bompas (1909). The Window’s Son. Here, the widow’s son’s young cow was exchanged with an old one by a house owner, and the jackals came as arbitrators. However, the she-jackal says: “It is true that I drop dung twice to his once: there is an order laid on me to do so: I drop dung once at the same time that he does: that excrement falls to the ground and stays there: but the second time the excrement falls into the mouths of the ancestors of those men who take bribes and do injustice to the widow and orphan and when such bribetakers reach the next world they will also have to eat it. If, however, they confess their sin and ask pardon of me they will be let off the punishment: this is the reason why I have been ordered to drop dung twice.” And the boy’s mother said: “they were not jackals, they were Chando” Bompas (1909), 277-281.

 

3)    Example 3 -The Jackal and Husband and Wife

Once a couple was on their way home, and it was almost evening. The husband was walking ahead of his wife. Suddenly another man (bhut) came and started walking behind her. When the husband turned back, he saw another man walking behind his wife. When the husband asked him not to follow his wife, the stranger quickly held her hand and the husband was also holding her another hand. Both of them pulled her towards each other and the woman started crying out loud for help. A jackal passed by, and they sought his help. The realized jackal emptied the pot she was carrying oil on it. Now the jackal declared that the one who could go inside the pot could have her as his wife. Then the bhut entered the pot with a swish. Then the jackal at once shut the pot and asked the couple to throw the pot away there. Bodding (1925), 2-7.

 

 

 

4)    Example 4 – The Jackal and the Prince

Once there was a king who had a son. When the king was reduced to poverty, he advised his son to take protection under the big king. The boy worked as a cowherd with a rich man for his livelihood. Then, in search of his fortunes, he left the job and went to a far-off land in search of a big king. While he was going, he saw a royal procession on its way and the king was saluting a female jackal. Deciding the female jackal was bigger than the king, he followed it to its cave. He gets a magical cow from two jackals. When he was passing through a village, his magical cow was replaced with an old haggard one by a village fellow. Even the village council takes bribes and gives judgement against the prince who later calls the jackals to come to the spot and restore the issue. Later he was duped by carters (garwan) and now he calls the Chowkidar and the village headman (Majhi) but fails to get justice. The boy goes to the court of law where a Mohamedan judge orders an inquiry and a search. The cow is recovered, the guilty carters punished, and the boy is compensated richly. Bodding (1925), 59-91).

 

5)    Example 5 - The Wise Jackal

“Once a tiger with blurred vision fell into a well while it was hunting. A bhisti (water carrier) came to the well with his goat-skin bag to draw water, and the tiger convinced him to save it by promising not to harm him and also to be grateful forever. The persuaded bhisti dropped the bag into the well and the awaited tiger got into the bag. The bhisti pulled him out of the well. Forgoing its promise, the tiger wanted to eat the bhisti. The scared and frightened bhisti wanted to get a fair decision from a third person. He consulted a mango tree which justified the act of the tiger by citing the unthankful act of a man who gets fruits, shades and fuel wood from mango trees still cuts the tree in return. By now a jackal was passing and the disappointed bhisti wanted its decision. After carefully listening to the story of the tiger, the arbitrating jackal pretended as if it couldn’t understand how the tiger got into the goat-skin bag. Fooled by the trick of the Jackal, the tiger got into the bag. Wasting no time, the jackal fastened the bag and the bhisti killed the tiger at once” (Sahay (2013), 158, also quoted in M. Ramakrishnan and Shalini Pallavi 2023).

 

6)    Example 6-The Stupid Tortoise

Once a man going for some work found a large tortoise crossing the road, and he caught it for having a nice meat. But he had to cross a flooded river, and decided to ask the tortoise to help him cross the river and he promised the tortoise that he wouldn’t eat him. In the middle of the river, thinking that the man might kill and eat him, the tortoise wanted to drown the man. The man saw a jackal on the bank and asked the tortoise to his decision. Understanding the problem, the jackal pretended as it didn’t hear and asked them to come near to the bank so that he could tender his judgement. But once they reached the bank, the man escaped from the tortoise. Since then, jackal and tortoise became enemies because the attempts of the tortoise to catch hold of the jackal had never been successful. Sahay (2013), 152-153.

 

7)    Example 7- The Dishonest Oilman

There was an oilman in a village, and he had an oil crusher. One day a man (a rider) passing by on a mare wanted to take some rest in the night, and without the oilman’s permission, he tied his mare to the crusher and slept. In the night, the mare gave birth to a baby mare. The next morning, the oilman saw the baby mare and claimed it as his own telling everyone that his crusher gave birth to the baby mare. Shocked by the claim of the oilman, the owner of the mare approached a jackal for a fair judgement. When the jackal started shouting, “the fishes in the sea are burning, run fast”, the oilman laughed at him and called him foolish by asking how could fishes in the sea burn. The jackal replied that when an oil crusher can give birth to a baby mare, the fishes can also be burned in the sea. The oilman had no answer to this argument. Sahay (2013), 223. 

Version one in Bompas (1909). The Changed Calf. A cowherd bought a calf which was later claimed by the oilman by making his bull lick the oil cake-plastered calf and claimed that the bull gave birth to the calf, the bull licking the calf as evidence for the claim. The cowherd invited the night-jhar and jackal for arbitration in the forest along with the villagers. The night-jhar told them it had a dream and wanted its meaning from the oilman: “I saw two night-jhar’s eggs and one egg was sitting on the other; no mother bird was sitting on them, tell me what this means” Bompas (1909), 49-51. Similarly, the jackal also had a dream and wanted the correct meaning of it from the oilman to retain the calf with him: “I saw that the sea was on fire and the fishes were all being burnt up, and I was busy eating them and that was why I did not wake up, what is the meaning of this dream?” Bompas (1909), 49-51. When the villagers pointed out, “The two dreams are both alike; neither has any meaning; an egg cannot sit on an egg, and the sea cannot catch fire”, the jackal replied “why cannot it be? If you won’t believe that water can catch fire, why do you say that a bullock gave birth to a calf? Have you ever seen such a thing? Speak” Bompas (1909), 49-51. And all accepted that what was wrong. Bompas (1909), 49-51.

Version two in Bompas (1909). The Grasping Rajah. Here, too the arbitrator jackal tells a dream and asks about its meaning. “I saw three die in one place; one from sleepiness; one from anger and one from greed. Tell me what were the three and how did they come to be in one place” Bompas (1909), 295-298. The jackal gave answer to the puzzle: “In a forest lived a wild elephant and every night it wandered about grazing and in the day, it returned to its retreat in a certain hill. One dawn as it was on its way back after a night’s feeding, it felt so sleepy that it lay down where it was; and it happened that its body blocked the entrance to a hole in which was a poisonous snake. When the snake wanted to come out and found the way blocked, it got angry and in its rage bit the elephant and the elephant died then and there. Presently a jackal came prowling by and saw the elephant lying dead; it could not restrain itself from such a feast and choosing a place where the skin was soft began to tear at the flesh. Soon it made such a large hole that it got quite inside the elephant and still went on eating. But when the sun grew strong, the elephant’s skin shrunk and closed the hole, and the jackal could not get out again and died miserably inside the elephant. The snake too in its hole soon died from want of food and air. …[b]ut Chando prevented your guessing it because you unjustly took the poor man’s cow…” Bompas (1909), 295-298.

 Though mentioned here are the tales that are from the tribal communities, another well-known tale in different versions and familiar across the communities is the Tiger, the Brahman and the Jackal or The Brahman, the Tiger, and the Six Judges. They are having similar storylines, but the number of story events is different. These tales can be summarized in the following lines: A Brahman saw a tiger in a trap, and it pleaded for his release with a promise of not hurting him. When he released it, it wanted to eat him. Finding it unjust, he wanted a fair justice from the third person. He encountered a tree, but it took the side of the tiger by mentioning what it faced at the hands of humans. Then he approached a buffalo that was also in favour of the tiger by mentioning its hardships at the hands of humans. Finally, he met a jackal who had sympathy for the Brahman and pretended to be incomprehensive about what had happened, it managed to put the tiger back into the cage and saved the Brahman. Frere (1868). (Another two versions: in one tale where Pipal tree, road and jackal are contacted by the Brahman. Jacobs (1892), 66-69 and another tale The Crocodile, the Brahman, and the Fox in which a Brahman was on his way to Benares. A crocodile asked the Brahman to carry it with him so that he could live in the Ganges. After reaching the river, the crocodile caught the Brahman and wanted to kill him. So, he wanted to get an opinion from three impartial judges who happened to be a mango tree, an old cow, and a jackal. Among them jackal rescued the Brahman Benfey (1859), 113-114. Once a Brahman saw a tiger inside a trap set up by the villagers. Once it pleaded for help with the promise of not harming him. When the tiger was released, it wanted to attack him. Understanding the situation, he insisted on a fair opinion from six people. First, he met a Banyan tree, second a camel, then a bullock, fourth an eagle, fifth an alligator and sixth a jackal, and except the last one all of them gave opinion against him by citing their sufferings by humans. In the case of the jackal, it trickily put the tiger back into the cage and saved the man. Frere (1868), 135-38.

 

4. A Note (Folk) Judgement/ Establishment of Justice

The genre of folktales (including fairy tales) is known for its simple formula of storytelling with a linear and chronological structure that consists of a beginning, a climax and an end which is in parallel to the structure of emotion, particularly anger. With the elements of entertainment and amusement, figures of speech and other narrative techniques by storytellers, the folktales are known for the establishment of justice, which is part of the system of folk judgement. The folk judgement becomes a system of establishment of moral and ethical values through the rewarding of good behaviour along with the punishment of the wrong behaviour. Presenting both good and bad/evil elements for the children is one of helping them in the process of their socialization through a sugar-coated approach, that is, by constructing and presenting the tales in such a way to impress the audience, usage of animal motifs, unexpected twists, familiar characters, etc., that given the children audience a task for imagination and creative thinking. Justice is bestowed on the characters that are displaying good behaviours and those characters that are being deceived, cheated, and humiliated by the characters that are being portrayed as bad or villainous. The move towards justice is not a sudden turn, but a gradual progress on the narrative trajectory. It questions subtly the socially unacceptable, culturally inappropriate, and uncivilized things that are manifested through the negative characters. Humour is another narrative technique that makes the serious concept more effective and plausible apart from making it unsurprising to the audience. In (most) folktales, justice and revenge are interwoven and portrayed in an overlapping way, but finally to establish the former through the latter. The sense of justice is established through the presentation of several evil acts throughout the narrative paradigms, or a single evil act that leads to the punishment and the establishment of justice. As all these tales point out, there is a moral and ethical tone that is used to justify and normalize the punishments given to the characters that perform evil deeds, and here a folk morality (used not in a narrow sense) is being constructed. Also, these examples collectively offer metaethics that characterizes the status of folk morality with the help of narrative events and the process of establishment of judgement, and it is systematic and logical in representing the moral and ethical aspects of common life manifested through various characters. Putting together examples of moral ideas present in these folktales and addressing the moral judgement could be seen as a paradigmatic method of metaethics by Gill (2009), 217, and here there is a commitment towards objectivism, as Frank Jackson mentions, “some sort of objectivism is part of current folk morality” Jackson (2000), 137 cf. Sarkissian (2016), 213. The folktales shared in ordinary life execute the commitments of ordinary language in making it possible for moral dialogue and discussion among the folk. However, the folktales do not present moral judgement through their examples for a debate and argument, rather they are clear and conclusive in addressing the folk morality and there is no ambiguity as the narrative events are transparent as well as conspicuous, than hidden and complicated. The folk morality found in these folk tales does not reflect any moral dilemmas, that is, there is no ambiguity in the conceptualization and representation of moral perspectives since they are chiefly meant to be told to children. Among the good and bad, there is a moral judgement or moral evaluation that is subtly expressed in a way that the audience must agree with the ‘ending’ of the narrative paradigm by closing the activities of all the characters. The moral evaluation or judgement that is founded through the narrative events has a larger responsibility of establishing and nurturing a kind of virtue or a set of virtues as part of the community or social obligation insisted by culture for moulding the kids for appropriate behaviour within and outside their cultural milieu. However, what makes the folktales move towards moral judgement can be argued and many things can be related to get a conclusive statement which is diverse. Some theories can claim the reason how “one arrives at a moral judgement”, for example, “the role of automated, uncontrolled, unconscious and intuitive processes” and “social intuitional model” Choudhuri & Basu (2019), 189, but concerning the moral judgement, the case of the genre of the folktale is something different, in the sense that it reflects collective conscious of humanity than any social groups. The universalized or universal system that is embedded within this genre makes us claim that the move towards moral judgement within folktales or fairy tales is a matter of human intuition or intuition of humanity rather than any social or cultural format. The reason to argue in its favour is that if systems based on emotional and rational processing are involved in the moral judgement in everyday life, in which “rational is slow, controlled and effortful, leading to utilitarian judgements or emotional is automated, intuitional and uncontrolled” Choudhuri & Basu (2019), 189-190, it is neither emotional nor rational, but this universality is not due to the availability of common features, rather, the progress of humanity through the development of attitude of sociality. Therefore, the values and norms that are good for the building up of human society are promoted through the punishment of people who violate them, and here transgression is seen as moves by the villainous characters that are involved in the violation activities. This moral dimension of judgement draws our attention to other interrelated notions such as rights, welfare, care, fairness, thankfulness, reciprocity, etc., and all of them can be seen as part of universal ethics, that is, they cannot be confined or restricted to any society or community. The format for learning moral and ethical values by children is provided to them by culture in the form of certain creative cultural forms, and it makes them acquire certain values even before their experience. Here, one can say that folktales provide opportunities for children to have a draft copy to be rewritten through their future experiences. Folktales play a huge role in shaping the folk psychology of people by providing immediate references, models, and examples to settle their issues or to make any moral judgement. Indeed, the foundation of folk psychology for moral judgement can be seen drawing elements from folktales and it is quite common depending on the particular phenomena, that is, human social behaviour is guided by folk psychology which draws its inspiration from folktales. Similarly, the elements, characters and motifs present in the folktales make them more ethnic or culturally local and at the same time the reflection of human psychology and philosophy. Going through almost all the folktales, one could find that justice is being established through a clear moral judgement by overcoming the evil/bad force by defeating it and making these tales available for reference in our daily life. There are incidents we frequently encounter in our routine life that seek either justice or moral judgement and folklore always comes to support us in settling the dispute. Thus, the role of folklore as the model for settling disputes is quite different from what we discuss in this paper as the judgement in folktales, and in both cases, interestingly, there is a model of justice that is used to equalize everything in terms of justice. Moreover, justice established in the folktales or daily life forms a kind of knowledge as well as a form of truth. As all these examples highlight, the justice or moral judgement founded through the punishment of the bad/evil elements becomes antinomies of non-violence in action. Though there are different models of normal justice, (formal, selective, procedural, pejorative, desiderative, restorative, general, evolutionary/psychogenetic, ecological, historical, pedagogic, and in-life activity, the examples present a general and restorative model of justice. Further, these folktales are simple and do not possess any historical and political content, but they are ethnic and culture-specific which helps us to understand the tribal language as simple and clear. More than that, these examples help us to understand the nature and identity of the language of the tribal communities. A systematic image of the ethnocultural justice of the tribal communities could also be studied provided that a long list of tales is added to this study. Among the techniques used in these tales for the establishment of justice, one could find that a lie is being countered by another lie, that is injustice is meted out through falsehood (Example no. 6. The Dishonest Oilman). Some of the tales presented here have versions and are spread across the communities in India (and abroad too) also presence of non-human characters and their interaction with human beings could convey a stronger message of unity among different elements – a unity among humankind as well as humankind and other living organism. The justice established the narrative paradigm, later becoming a model for folk psychology, which can tell us that injustice is unjust, destructive, and disastrous, and a child has to learn moral values before it has any experience of such things.

 

5. Animal motifs from Aesthetic Perspective

Interestingly, all the selected folktales have the jackal (Canis aureus; Indian jackal - Canis aureus indicus; Domain: Eukaryota; Kingdom: Animalia; Phylum:  Chordata; Class: Mammalia; Order: Carnivora; Family: Canidae; Genus: Canis; Species: C. aureus; Subspecies: C. a. indicus) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_jackal) as a lead character and its role is indispensable. It is considered as one of the trickster characters in Indian folklore, and in some of the tales, it is replaced by Brahman character, particularly in the case of dispute settlement or for giving wise judgement in a tricky or clever way. Being a popular trickster character, the jackal is also tricked or fooled by its tricks and gets into trouble or is punished for its bad behaviour. However, in these folktales of tribal communities, the jackal occupies the special role of an arbitrator. Being opportunistic omnivorous, potential predators and excellent scavengers, jackals are found in Africa and Eurasia. As a monogamous pair, a common social unit is good for protecting its territory, and they gather in packs to eat a carcass or hunt either alone or in pairs. They display their social behaviour when they wish, and they are good at teamwork. They have code sounds meant for important comrades in other families. As far as family or community life is concerned, they show the best care and protection for their young ones (pups). There is no uniformity in giving social attribution to this animal, for example, in the Christian Bible, it is considered as a symbol of abandonment, loneliness and desolation and also it is associated with death and underworld, and thus seeing a jackal is considered as a warning of danger. However, in world mythology, it is elevated to the level of cunning wizards and sorcerers and attached to sly tricky and miserable. Stepping on the tail of a jackal is considered as auspicious and good luck in some communities. But in Egyptian mythology, it is portrayed as the head of the underworld god Anubis. According to the popular belief prevalent in Senegal, the jackal is the first animal created by God, and similarly, it is associated with solitude and courage in the folklore of Pakistan. In some of the moral stories, the jackal is used to represent the quality of people who cannot hide their true nature of selves for a long time, like the jackal is inherently associated with howling. Jackals are inseparable from human life, and they occupy an important place in the belief system of many cultures. Myths, legends and even folktales depict jackals differently as per their cultural and regional belongings, and in fact, they are quite commonly depicted as clever and doleful creatures. For instance, the Bible also mention this animal at least fourteen times according to a Wiki source (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackal). However, the jackals are wily and wise animals in the Panchatantra stories Dalal (2014), 189, and the Bengali tantric traditions mention that the Goddess Kali takes the jackal when she is offered meat. Jackal is very popular in world folklore materials, and they appear as malevolent and treacherous creatures interacting with human characters. It is also known for creating enmity among its friends so that it can gain, and it gets its food from others in a trick way. As per the folklore materials, the cleverness, and it’s tricky and adaptive behaviour, it is always seen outwitting not only big animals as well as human beings. There are also examples from Indian oral literature for the claim that the jackals are benevolent, wise, and helpful. Interestingly, some of the assigned qualities/characteristics of the jackal such as clever, wise, cunning, and tricky, the jackal has emerged as a trickster motif in folktales. The jackal gets into our consciousness to make us aware of the situation which enhances our understanding of the crisis or problem to act appropriately to get a solution or get out of the crisis, and the method of solution needs not be based on rational or emotional strategy, rather by analyzing the situation and weak point of the characters involved in evil behaviour and by employing cleverness or tricky ways to settle it. The smartness of the jackal as a narrative and imaginative character with the qualities and characteristics attributed by human society makes this motif closer to human beings, and the existence of a multidimensional archetypal character of a jackal reminds us how the human mind is unpredictable and biased. Therefore, the character of the jackal could be seen as exposing many of the human behaviours that are problematic and negative. Speaking in human language and interfering with human activities, even at the behest of human beings, are interesting and they give different dimensions to folklore materials for the interrelationship between human begins and non-human elements in nature. The representation of jackals in folklore is not a matter of chance, rather a comprehensive understanding of human beings on this animal and its behaviours could be seen reflected in folklore, a way of transferring this knowledge to the forthcoming generations. That is their qualities and features such as their quick adaptive nature to new circumstances, stealthy and cunningness, obliterating their tracks, feigning death, distinctive spoor to evade capture, and doing some dramatics when they encounter predators and hunters have always been the source of inspiration and that have been well incorporated in folklore and cultural materials. The jackal as an animal motif cannot be compared with other animal motifs because this animal has distinctiveness by possessing oxymoronic characters of both positive and negative attributes, and what is represented in folklore is also understood through the lens of this dichotomy. The beauty of human imagination is that the animal with negative attribution is used appropriately in the folklore materials to complete the narrative paradigm on the one hand and to construct and convey the moral and ethical value of honesty and justice on the other hand. Another interesting feature of the animal that is being used in these tales is that the jackal is never been considered a coward or shy animal, rather it is a shrewd and risk-taking animal, that is, it never escapes from facing risk. In establishing the truth and pronouncing justice, the jackal displays no fear or shy away from taking the risk of meeting either a leopard or tiger or unjust men. It is contentful in its approach and its purpose, and the strategies it uses for moving towards the peak of the narrative or to end the crisis is almost theatrical and there is a dramatic quality in the display. Though there are folklore and religious items that portray jackals as malevolent and the role of helping the villainous characters, there are equal amounts of religious and folklore materials where the jackal is projected and portrayed as the benevolent and wise character. In all these tales cited here, the jackal’s interventions are noteworthy and reflect a kind of positivity and dynamic energy. The jackal animal and the princess (example 4) story are different and provides an opportunity to discuss the juxtaposition of both traditional and modern judicial systems, in which the jackal appears in the traditional justice system. The spirituality or supernatural power of the jackal as perceived in the cultural life of people in different communities has also been seen reflected in two of the tales, and according to these tales, as they appear as versions, the jackal provides a magical cow to the protagonists who think that they can find refuge with the jackal. Moreover, when the jackals emerge as arbitrators and settle the issue among humans, do they appear elevated to the level of totem symbol or wild animal with supernatural or mystic power? Or can we say that our constant fear of totemic animals forces us to create oral literature with these characters addressing (human) injustices or unjust behaviours –a fear of “animal revenge” as Brunvand (1986), 24–25) calls it?

There is aesthetics in finding wild animals in the folktales doing all the activities that are meant for human beings, particularly, when they come forward to rescue human beings who have been put under critical situations either being cheated or cornered by either another (wild) animals or fellow humans. The interaction between animals and human beings has not been monotonous, as both of them reflect an understanding that they possess certain knowledge of each other. However, the knowledge about animals is one way or another helpful in addressing or expressing some of human experiences, and without them, the reflections may not be aesthetically represented. In these tales cited here, the injustice or dishonesty is neatly and in an appealing way portrayed chiefly with the help of animal characters without the tales may not be interesting to children. Therefore, the aesthetics of the representation of animals in folktales or the animal-human relationship is filled with puzzles, paradoxes, conflicts, and contradictions that are being reflected more in symbolic forms. The aesthetic aspect of these tales presents the hybridity of two realms of the animal world and the human world that are juxtaposed through human creativity to reiterate the essential countenance of naturalism. The hybridity is being continuously produced through different literary and cultural forms due to the existing boundary between animal and human worlds, and the aesthetic dimension of this hybridity can be simply understood with the help of folktales that portray the very fine qualities of the animal motifs and also dilutes the boundary between the nature and the culture on the one hand and reversing the hierarchies among the animals and humans on the other hand. Here aesthetics is one way of overcoming the inability to visualize the active role of animals within the cultural spheres, particularly in the naturalistic framework. When the jackal is not a domesticated animal, what kind of reasons can be inferred for the presence of the jackal in all the tales that have the theme of judgements? Compared to other wild and domestic animals, jackal is considered to be associated with more concepts than any other animals, and many of these attributes are binary filled with both humorous and serious properties which evoke a light mood for the children who are the principal audience for folktales. For Strachan Donnelley, “we are seemingly in a period of profound flux in our philosophical understanding of ourselves and our ethical relation to the natural, animate world” Donnelley & Nolan (1990), 2, the complexity of human and non-human relationships can be explored by paying attention to folklore materials that dilute the boundaries between them through human aesthetics and imagination. These imaginary tales having animal characters with human-imposed attributes are antecedent even to the posthumanist thought that extended personhood to nonhumans also Haraway (1991), cf. Magliocco (2018). Mechling (1989), who is considered the pioneer in urging “folklorists to explore the rich realm of human-animal interactions as folklore”, through his contributions took “human relationships with animals seriously as forms of aesthetic vernacular culture”, and took “animals seriously as agents in the play routines and other forms of interspecies folklore that develop between pets and their guardians” Magliocco (2018), 3. Therefore, our assumptions, beliefs, and understandings about the non-human beings such as jackal are found aesthetically manifestations in the folktales and it is the narrative paradigm that puts them characters with roles and tasks. Finally, as far as the tribal communities living in Jharkhand are concerned, the jackal is part of their food habits, and the hunting of jackals is more of a cultural event than a sustainable endeavour.

 

6. Judgement/Settlement of Dispute from Aesthetic Perspective

All the tales mentioned here as examples have the judgement or dispute settlement as their main theme, and their narrative programme them has been constructed in an uncomplicated way that helps the narratives to convey the message flawlessly. The disputes are realistic and they are unavoidable in everyday life. However, finding a solution for a dispute may not be that easy because the traditional system practiced by the traditional communities has already been diluted due to modernity and globalization. But the modern judicial or legal system has having different story altogether. A recall of these tales for regrouping will provide an opportunity to explore the aesthetic dimension of the process(es) of judgement:

Group 1: Example 1: A jackal helped the traders to kill the leopard that was saved by them from the people who wanted to kill it, despite others justifying the intention of the leopard. Example 5: A jackal saves a bhisti from a tiger. And, Example 6: A Jackal saves a man from a tortoise.

Group 2: Example 2: A jackal helped the boy to get back his magical cow by exposing the villagers who were bribed to give wrong judgement. Example 4: A jackal helped the boy to get back his magical cow by exposing the villagers who were bribed to give wrong judgement. And, example 3: A jackal rescued a wife from a ghost that claimed as her husband. 

These tales portray different characteristics of the jackal in its interaction with human characters, and the narratives complicate the cultural understanding of the jackal by even projecting its altruistic nature along with its stereotypical cultural notions (of wise, clever, cunning, intelligence, brave, trickster, supernatural, etc). The aesthetic advantage of the folktales in depicting multidimensional relationships but emphasizes the role of the jackal as a predominantly selfless being and brave in fact in challenging tiger, leopard, and human as its counterparts, on the other hand, helping and rescuing the humans, is possible only through the narrative paradigm. The aesthetics of human creativity lies in the fact that is that it brings together different opposite entities on a narrative programme and exploits them to succeed in constructing and conveying the message.

Everyday life is governed and guided by some of the commonsensical models, or folk models, that are embedded in language, folklore and cultural forms, and the case of dispute or injustice, these models play a significant role. To conceive it broadly, the tales offer two types of disputes that bring a lot of things for discussion – while the first moves towards saving a person from being punished for kindness. However, this discussion is not at all to provide an interpretation of narrative events that move towards the establishment of justice in favour of the innocents but to demonstrate how aesthetically it has been achieved in the tales with the involvement of various narrative elements. Let us begin with the lines of Kant who says that “you can stay safe from all error if you do not start to judge something of which the knowledge you possess is insufficient”. In daily life, can we escape from any judgement on the binary lines of good vs bad or right vs wrong or moral vs immoral, or at least, justice and injustice, etc.? They are not merely the options available to us, but they are the perspectives that are grounded on moral and ethical principles. As it is reflected in tales, everyone loves justice on the one hand and also possesses elements for the violation on the other hand. As there are no specific elements permanently associated either with justice or with violation, as these tales point out, the characters in the tales can be compared with the actors on the stage in a play, that is, they are introduced in a way to move towards the end of the narrative to effectively convey the message. If so, how do we treat the occurrence of the jackal motif as arbitrator in all these tales? Indeed, the jackal is used as part of the narrative technique that has aesthetically utilized the image of the jackal drawn from the cultural life of people, and one of the Korean folktales of similar for example, the Korean folk. In some of the tales around the world, for example, the Korean version of the Wise Jackal has a rabbit in the place of the jackal. All these tales move towards the end for restoring the moral values or justice by punishing the guilty, or by exoneration of the innocent. However, the aspect of reward is found to be missing in the tales, and the reason can be said that affirming and reaffirming justice is the responsibility of all who have to be exculpated from any blame, or no one can be blamed for being ‘moral dumbfounding’ Gottlieb & Lombrozo (2018). As the tales are meant for children, another reason can also be drawn that children must possess intuitive theories of the world before they formally experience it, also through formal education, and their belief in these theories helps them to negotiate with future experiences. The children must believe in the intuitive theories associated with moral and ethical behaviour as duties and responsibilities. As the intuitive theories will have to play a vital role, the children ought to be taught moral tales, and considering the importance and as they are learned from the folklore materials through an informal learning process, these intuitive theories can be termed as folk theories. Characterization of these theories as having structural, functional and dynamic levels is an advantage to understanding the role of folklore for children. Here, the structural level represents “a law-like regularities, and involve coherent, abstract, and typically causal representations of the world; at the functional level, they “support important judgments and behaviours, including predictions, explanations, counterfactuals, and interventions, and at the dynamic level, they are ready for revision in the light of new evidences Gopnik & Wellman (2012), Gopnik et al. (1997). So, folktales with moral content help the children to develop simple schemas guided by these folk theories, the reward may not be seen as a prominent element of these tales, but other tales may have reward as an integral element.

The aesthetic aspects of these tales are quite interesting, and they are, of course, the reflection of the culture of indigenous and tribal communities. However, there are common aesthetic and linguistic codes that can be found as part of the universal structure of the folk form. For example, all the tales can be seen having codes for referential functions such as ‘once up a time’ that gives an introduction to the audience (reader) about the form and other details necessary for them to get into the narrative world and also to grasp the truth value of different elements and also the overall message. Similarly, other language codes perform various functions such as emotive (expressive or affective), conative, phatic, metalingual, and poetic. The hierarchical relations among these codes and their coordinated functions help the text to convey its message that is encoded in the text. As these tales are taken as translated texts some of the codes and their functions might have been either lost or faded. However, the aesthetic codes are not denotative but connotative and have been constantly created within the audience or reader through the participation of various features that have been introduced for the construction of aesthetic effects. The aesthetic codes present in literature or arts offer space for diversity of interpretation, i.e., it expands one’s creativity in terms of appreciation and depiction. The aesthetic codes in these tales are used to add certain values so that the tales can be paid attention to and highlighted. The subjectivity or relativity associated with the aesthetic appreciation or aesthetic perception gives ample scope for exploring various dimensions of a text or expressive art form, and according to Pierre Bourdieu, ‘aesthetic perception is a deciphering operation that is learned or socially acquired and may be conscious or unconscious’ Bourdieu (1968), cf. Rosario & Collazo (1981). The condition here is that the tales are chosen not arbitrarily but some of the elements found in the story have impressed or evoked our aesthetic perception to pay attention to them. And the aesthetic elements in the tales are not thematic components but the jackal as an arbitrator performing its tasks bravely and beautifully, and a lot of theatrics is involved in the display of its tasks and skills in providing judgement or settling the dispute. Though there is a good number of stories that can be found in tribal communities, these tales are particularly chosen for the reason that the disputes are solved through methods that are creative and unique. More than the spontaneous and natural, the significance of these tales is understood, or found to be striking because of the influence of perspective, means and framework provided by the Folkloristics and Semiotics which have enhanced the perception to look at these tales, that is, the aesthetic competence has been developed and facilitated by belonging some of the disciplines that not only train us to locate and place some of the elements within an art or text and also to identify distinctive stylistic features that can be decoded for description. Here the tales have become interpretable, due to the presence of aesthetic competence, through the trained process of decoding, making things understandable. Although among hundreds and hundreds of folktales available with the tribal communities, these tales have been picked up for having aesthetic appeal, with the structure of preference. The aesthetic quality of all the tales creates a coherence that elicits our attention to these tales to understand something that has aesthetic appeal for us.

Example three is an interesting folktale creatively constructed as a normative principle that elicits the behaviour of Santhali husband that needs to be corrected. The usage that ‘in the old days, people tell’ indicates, apart from the ‘once upon a time’, that the continuity of certain behaviour, is also being practiced by the present generation, and also it aesthetically clarifies why the tale has to be repeated. The use of the Taben and khajari (parched rice), kupi as cultural codes indicates that they are not away from their tradition and culture, that is, it makes ample scope for the justification of the appearance of bhut (ghost). Moreover, the husband walking in front and the girl after him, without talking to each other – a patriarchal society where the unequal relationship between male and female, particularly husband and wife, like modern writings, has also been neatly highlighted with the help of spatial schema (one after another & not speaking with each other). With the appearance of a ghost claiming to be her husband, the dispute arises, jackal appears and settles the matter through a competition/ challenge. Including other tales, from the circumstances, the jackal as arbitrator presumes what might have happened and also understood before the investigation the other one was a bhut. The ‘Don’t take this pot along with you; throw it away here’ (lines from the tale) – connotes the need to discard the practice of unequal relationship between the husband and wife. The beauty of the story is that it (text) becomes a code to be retold or remembered. The encounter between humans, animals (non-human beings) and the ghost (supernatural being) seems to be unique since human behaviour is being criticized creatively and aesthetically.

The example one moves on with its clear message that is trouble creator and betrayer of promise (leopard) is being punished. The leopard as a villainous or ravenous (evil) character has been constructed beautifully by overemphasizing its cruelty. The leopard’s behaviour persuades people to their unity with a common task. It is threatening language that “I say, you traders, I have one thing to say to you: if you listen to what I have to say and do as I tell you, there will be no end to the happiness you will get. But if you don’t listen to me and will not do as I tell you, you will get into awful trouble. For know this, I am the king of this forest. So often as I meet you, every time I shall eat your bullocks" (lines from the tale) is highly imperative and it makes it that the behaviour of the leopard is merely a linguistic practice rather than a concrete activity. The leopard is projected as a realized being and knows its danger as well as its manipulative strategy. The Mahua (Madhuca longifolia) tree’s judgement in favour of the leopard is amazing and it exposes the exploitative and consumeristic attitude of the people, who happened to be the Santhals in this story, as the Mahua tree supports their livelihood. Water-pool also extends its support to the leopard and it is the replacement of river, or water, in other tales. The conversation between the jackal and the leopard seems to be theatrical, and the jackal’s tricky interaction puts its counterpart – the predator to its death and the jackal is seen as a Chando (Bonga) (the spirit worshipped by the Santhals). Although simple in its narration Kindness (traders) and ungratefulness (leopard) are simply and aesthetically depicted in this tale.

Example two offers a simple story and it has an unexpected twist that reflects not only the creative side of the tribal communities but also their perspective on moral and ethical values. Its harsh reaction to immoral things is impressive as well as strong enough to make an impact on the minds of children. Another attribute of the jackal is found to be represented in this tale with a twist, that is, it is quite popular belief among many communities that it is auspicious and good luck to see a jackal running across in front of them right side to left side. However, in this tale, the jackal is running from left side to right side, and instead of turning back from the mission, the king turns towards the jackal and salutes him again and again thinking that his business might prosper, and the task might be accomplished. The power of the folk mind is to turn and twist anything creatively to suit the narrative programme. This becomes a turning point for the boy to think of Jackal as his high authority as even the king saluted him. On the day of judgement, the he-jackal’s presentation of its case to be settled by the village council before the boy’s dispute and the she-jackal’s reply are the marvellous product of folk humour indented at reprimanding their immoral behaviour.

Example four is as similar to example two with a different twist and an addition of another event of immoral activity which makes the boy lose his cow one more time. The father’s (the king) advice to his son to take protection from the big king seems to be interesting and it gives a twist or turning point to the story. When he assumes that the jackal is the highest authority, as even the king pays salutes to it, a strong sense of innocence with the logical understanding of the principle of belongingness, among the objects of different domains with disproportionate values, the jackal is elevated with higher value due to the king’s attitude. The first incident of exchange of the boy’s magical by a couple pretending to be quarrelling can be seen as a typical folk motif that is creatively employed here. Here too, the jackals came forward to settle the matter by indirectly pointing at the headman and the village people who took bribes and supported the culprits, and the jackals quoted the ancestors and reiterated the folk philosophy/belief that the descendants of persons who took bribe to give judgement would eat their stools for seven generations in both the worlds, and similarly, the person who oppressed others and took other’s property would be immersed in hell’s dung. It is quite amazing to understand that the second incident in the tale, interestingly, brought the modern legal system for settling the matter. Drawing elements from local settings like godet, durrie, papal tree, etc., the tales give a kind of identity associated with the indigenous community.

Example five is a simple tale having a judgement as its main component, and it becomes a stereotypical example for ‘instead of being grateful, punishing a person (a bhisti) for showing kindness.’ The problem is clear and neatly settled down by the intervention of the jackal who uses a tricky way in which the goat-skinned pouch is an important tool. The goat-skinned bag had been used in traditional technology for drawing water from a deep well, and it was used here brilliantly. Like the Mahua tree/tree, water-pool/water, etc., in other tales, the mango tree makes its judgement in favour of the tiger. Nature’s perspective on human’s exploitative attitude towards nature is explored subtly. The most simple and flawless narration could be one of the reasons why the tale seems to be impressive beautifully and aesthetically.

Example six offers a different type of story that depicts the problem that is rooted in the assumption of fear that sprouts from human and non-human relationships. The existing relationship between man and the tortoise that is portrayed in the tale is not imaginary, whereas the help sought by man from the tortoise is highly imaginary and unique. The tortoise’s presence in the tale is not a matter of choice rather, it is logically configured similarly with the story of crocodile and monkey, or crocodile and jackal in which one is prey and another is the predator. However, unlike the crocodile, here the tortoise has the chance of being prey to the man, as he had already expressed his plan. With the anxiety (or fear or assumption) of being killed and eaten by a man, the tortoise wants to avenge the man by drowning him in the middle of the river. The jackal’s intervention is simple and creative, and that makes the relationship between the jackal and the tortoise enemies. The tortoise – “Look brother Jackal, this man wanted to eat me a few hours back. Should I drown him right now? The clever jackal replied – “Look, I am deaf of one ear. Come nearer the bank and tell me.” “A little nearer, please. I cannot hear you properly.” Later, after he escaped, the tortoise told the jackal – “Well, brother, you will be taught a lesson.” Later, once the tortoise caught the foot of the jackal who escaped by telling a lie, “It must be a root you have caught.” On another occasion, the jackal shouted mimicking the tortoise cry “Okha, okha” but the jackal escaped when the tortoise responded with “Okha, okha.” Though the jackal and tortoise are born enemies as the tribal communities believe, thus the enmity between them referred to this, it is poetic and natural innocence of the tortoise to address the jackal as a brother. The aesthetics of the folk mind can be understood from the way the assumed inherent properties of human and non-human beings are used in the tale. The beauty of the story is that though it appears as simple, the story is complicated one as it is difficult to decide who is wrong, or whether the jackal’s action is justifiable.

Example seven presents a tale that is stereotypical but has an aesthetic appeal because it settles the problem by parallelly producing a lie with the conditional logic of elements having the same values within a system (if ‘x’ is true, then ‘y’ is also true). When the man (rider) calls the jackal, “Brother, help me. Do justice. The oilman is not ready to give baby mare to me” implies his innocence and inability to make an argument with the oilman which makes to depend on the non-human beings. The jackal's reply, “No, I do not want to stay here… the dogs of the village will tear me,” denotes the reality and jackal’s existential problem, and it forces the rider to reply, “Oh, do not worry for the dogs. I will take care of them but solve my problem.” The reciprocity and assurance confirm the desperation of the man to get his baby mare, and unlike other tales, there is no interference from other agents like the village headman, so the bribing segment is already avoided. It moves the tale as quickly as possible towards the end. The strong belief held by the Santhals that the jackal is an intelligent animal is neatly and flawlessly utilized in this tale. Another two examples mentioned in the tale’s versions are quite noteworthy. ‘Egg over egg’ and ‘three die in one place’ are two examples of jackals used in versions one and two, respectively, which can be seen as unique and creative.

The description of all these examples means that the judgement in folktales or arriving at settlements over issues does not happen discretely because it is based on the logic and models that are founded on socio-cultural experiences. The recurring experiences of daily life are best codified with the help of animal characters in the imaginary world created by literature and texts. Thus, these examples are presented here merely to show that coding is a linguistic practice. While aesthetics has its own elements of justification, here in this article, there are examples cited to show that aesthetics is very much associated with judgements. The aesthetics in these tales, though, can be traced at different levels, but it is primarily located in the way the examples are cited to achieve the justice that is denied aesthetically. To treat these tales as codified texts or literature, the message embedded in them needs to be significant and it is established through the collective participation of various codes including linguistic and aesthetic codes. Some of the aesthetic codes are mere examples and local elements, apart from the unique way of language use including figures of speech. More than that we could see the pure aesthetics in these tales from the way non-human beings are coming forward to expose the unjust behaviours of humans who are in the grip of greediness and insatiability, as pointed out predominantly by jackals in all these tales – an indication that non-human beings have immense role to play in shaping human society.

 

 

 

 

 

7. Discussion on the aesthetics of folktales of judgements, or dispute settlement

From the examples given here, some discussions on the aesthetic perspective on the judgemental tales can be generated, which has its point of argument on the link between aesthetic judgement and judgement of aesthetics with reference to oral literature of tribal communities. 1. The selection of these tales reflects a kind of aesthetic purposiveness, that is, there are elements in the tales that appear to be impressive and unique or creative for reading and also for telling. The elements that had been the driving force behind the selection of these tales may not be considered as impressive for others, but emphasize on the justification of these elements could not be imposed upon the others, as the subjective preference differs. 2. The aesthetically constructed moral and ethical values are not conditioned by the narrative paradigm, rather they are embedded both in social and cultural settings. 3. The aesthetic appeal of these tales is that the intervention of non-human beings is essentialized and naturalized due to the polarization of the society in terms of moral ground, and interestingly, when immorality consolidates and maximizes its support base against the marginalized and victimized. 4. The aesthetics of judgement, as far as these tales are concerned, as well as from the evidences from daily life, no exception for oral and written literature, and visual arts, explores the beauty of unique aspect of method or tools or means of convincing the guilty of moral violation. On this point, folktales are more flexible and accommodative, and they transgress any boundaries and taboos in addressing the issue on the one hand and offering a solution on the other hand. 5. Both aesthetic judgement and judgement of aesthetics involve epistemological issues and deep knowledge of the quality of moral crises/disputes and legitimate solutions irrespective of the nature of involved parties. 6. By employing certain creative examples that are simple and humorous, the folktales generally emerge as folk models or folk metaphors that find utilization in the process of restoration of justice or settlement of dispute not only daily but also in the narrative discourses. 7. As these tales demonstrate, the power is not extended from those who sought justice to those who are subjected to the judgement – becoming an object of possessing power through the world of law to demean another or to deprive dignity as well as to diminish the power of defense, because the victimized or neglected persons reflect their helplessness of fear and insults and as well reflecting the fear of inability of convincing the culprits, the arbitrating third party accumulates, possesses and exhibits the power to condemn the guilty. 8. The aesthetic experience these tales offer is unique and quite impressive as it draws elements from various social and cultural domains – some of them founded on individual aesthetic experience and others belong to the community’s experience. 9. The aesthetic appreciation of these tales on judgement comes from two levels: the first one refers to the construction of the tales with the utilization of linguistic codes and the second rests on the separation of specific codes, mostly in the form of examples or use of figures of speech. 10. As aesthetic elements appear in folk tales as the reflection of folk poetics and folk creativity, attempting at the aesthetics of generative code or a generative grammar – deep-seated rules must again rely on the principles developed in linguistics Chomsky (1957/1972), cf. Cox et al. (2004), that is, it needs to be understood within the narrative grammar – a universal framework available as an integral part of language. Thus, the understanding of the aesthetics of these tales must not be seen in isolation but rather as part of a universal narrative structure.

 

 

8. Concluding remarks

The tribal folktales offer a wide scope for studying the nature of human creativity, imagination, and aesthetics on the one hand and the relationship between human and non-human beings on the other hand. These tales prove that non-human beings particularly animals and supernatural beings are inseparable aspects of the human cognitive world, and they play a vital role in shaping and giving meaning to their socio-cultural life. However, creative expressive forms of people do not utilize the non-human characters as it is rather, they appear with the assigned characteristics and qualities to fulfil various aesthetics, poetics, and thematic purposes. As these tales prove, it is the human collective consciousness that utilizes the non-human characters, more in a way even to dominate human beings, where human behaviour needs to be criticized, condemned and advised, when they are involved in immoral and unethical activities, or to reproduce human behaviour as a way of indication, also to demonstrate the eternal relationship that is reciprocal and co-existence in nature. The animal characters, particularly, jackal which are part of the socio-cultural life of the tribal communities, have been utilized creatively and aesthetically to provide solutions to, or judgements to, problems that are created out of human greediness. By mentioning that while aesthetics has its judgement, this article proves that there is aesthetics in judgements. To conclude it with an example from a Chinese folktale that depicts the whole issue addressed here: “When Buddha lived on earth as a hermit, he became lost and came across a rabbit. The rabbit asked if he could help the hermit to find his way out of the forest, but the hermit replied that he was poor and hungry and could not repay the rabbit for his kindness. The rabbit instead told the hermit that if he was hungry, he should light a fire, roast, and eat the rabbit. The hermit then lit a fire, and the rabbit immediately sprang into the fire and cooked his flesh. The hermit then manifested himself as the Buddha pulled the rabbit out of the flames, and, to thank him for his sacrifice, sent him to live in the moon palace, where he became the Jade Rabbit. And that’s why the rabbit lives on the moon, where he continues to be seen to this day” (A Chinese tale. Quoted in DeMello (2021)).

 

CONFLICT OF INTERESTS

None. 

 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

None.

 

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