School of Folk & Tribal Lore

Profile

The School of Folk and Tribal Lore, one of the eight Schools established by the Potti Sreeramulu Telugu University, is situated in Warangal, which is 140 km away from Hyderabad and well connected by Rail and Roadways.

The city of Warangal is of historical importance from where one of the great medieval dynasties, namely the Kakatiyas, ruled for roughly more than three centuries. Thanks to the rule of Kakatiyas which left behind abundant political and cultural products by way of magnificent forts and fortifications, splendid temples and architectural monuments, beautiful sculptures and icons carved on black granite and red sand stones and innumerable epigraphs with graphic descriptions of various aspects of peoples' life styles. Being a political centre, Warangal region acted as a centrifugal force by attracting people from various walks of life right from medieval times. As a result, one can find several folk and tribal groups living even to this day in this region.

Topographically, this region being a part of Plateau remained as a dry and upland cultural landscape. The ethnic groups of this region adhering to the norms of their cultural landscape adopted to pasturalism, dry-agro forming, inland fishing and food gathering techniques as survival strategies. The sedentary life-style of dry-agro eco system and the semi-nomadic pasturalism evolved around the subsistence ethics and reciprocity norms regulated the material culture and oral traditions of the folks of this region.

The main objective to situate the School of Folk and Tribal Lore in this region is to study comprehensively the folk life styles, which are caught between tradition and modernity.