Gods and Cults: Folk Traditions and Cultural Memory in The Shimla Hills

Abstract

This paper intends to highlight oral narratives, folk traditions, and performances as an alternative source for the writing of history, for those regions which are inhabited by numerous ethnic and tribal communities and where historical sources are in dearth, and whatever sources are there, are in the form of folklore and folk memory. The history and culture of such communities or groups are rooted in oral traditions and can only be traced through oral evidences, which introduce an entirely new dimension to the study of such areas. This paper is an attempt to correlate different oral sources among themselves and corroborating these with the existing literary documents, with the intention to analyze the cultural influences in this region. In this work main emphasis would be on folk traditions, beliefs, legends, ballads and performances and their practices, how they have emerged, what they signify and what historicity they possess.