Folk art forms of Storytelling

 I have always been fascinated by listening to stories right from my childhood.  It is still a question that remains unanswered that was I felt comfortable in the company of old people and listening to them or vice versa. This listening to older generations in a way made me attracted to the art of listening and eventually to the art of storytelling. Somehow, I was rapt into listening to the storytelling unknowingly I was introduced to this beautiful art form which is quite popular today. I had a rare opportunity to listen to stories of 'Sri Renuka Devi' from 'Joggamma' and 'Joggappa' of the 'Jogini' cult. Again annually the 'Ganga-Gowri' storytellers would visit and recite the story of two consorts and their fight over the rightful claim of Almighty Shiva. They would carry the Ganga and Gowri idols in caned baskets and hang shoulder bags asking for alms after reciting the story. The enactment would be wonderful to watch as the logical arguments would be of justification to some of the women audience who would add a sentence or two to it. So would be another teller called  'Om Namo Venkateshaya' a storyteller who would visit on Saturdays and recite stories in prose and poetic form. In the later period of my childhood, I got an opportunity to attend Katha 'Kathakalakshepamam' a form of Harikatha-A discourse form of storytelling from Ramayana, Srimad Bhagavata, other Puranas, and Itihaasa. It was more like listening to the comparative commentary of the original text with wit and humor from the day to today life of the narrator. Well, here each had their own style of narration. Some who were also trained in classical music would add fragrance melodies of song compositions of Sri Thyagaraja, Sri Annamcharyar, Sri Muthuswami Deekshithar, Sri Papanashanam Shivam, Sri Bhadrachacla Ramadasa, and many others to the main text of the narratives. Few others performed even by tapping feet and giving somebody movements of nrutya style of Harikatha. When exploring the folk art forms of Storytelling, there are many forms like 'Burra Katha', 'Butta Bommala Katha', 'Patachitra Katha' Turpu Bhaotam' a style of rendition of Katha in dance form, 'Bhamakalpam and Gollakalapam', 'Oggu dolu Katha', 'Chindu Bhagavatam', 'Vedhi Bhagavatam' to name a few. 

All these regional folk art forms of storytelling incorporate one or more than one as the main narrative of storytelling. Each form of storytelling has its own distinctive style of narration and presentation. There are very few forms of storytelling, which are performed by a single individual, in most of the forms it is more than two performers perform.

 Some of the storytelling forms exist just by its name in the books and documents. Few are lost in the passage of time and few are on the verge of extinction.