An Approach to the Cultural Mapping of North-East India: In Respect of Tribal Tales

The present treatise is a continuation of cultural mapping of India in N.K. Bose's line in the field of folktales for a limited area, viz., Northeast India. The mapping has been done from three aspects: complete tales, motifs and non motif features. The study is a novel attempt in both the global and Indian contexts of anthropology and folklore/folkloristics. Its novelty in anthropology, both in the global and Indian contexts, lies in its using folktale motifs for cultural mapping. Its novelty in the global context of folkloristics involves several points: first, it is the first time attempt to prepare maps for a tract of land with respect to motifs; second, it is furnished with a table that enables the readers to have a glance of the motifs shared in common by the Northeast Indian tribes and the communities of the outer world; third, it introduces a number of new concepts and definitions, and such others. In the specific context of Indian folkloristics, the book is novel for its having used motifs as a tool instead of an aim of study — a practice in vogue until now in India. The volume, although a technical and scholastic enterprise, follows a lucid style which the general readers also may be expected to appreciate.