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JAIN JOURNAL
Vol. XL
No. 1 July
2005
JAIN FOLKSONGS AND LEGENDS OF KARNATAKA
Dr. S. P. Padmaprasad Folk literature is the unpolished expression of grassroot minds. Culture, beliefs, feelings are expressed there in an innocent manner. It is more so in case of religious matters. That's why folk songs, stories, proverbs, legends need to be analysed from this point of view also.
Karnataka is a state with more than five crores of population in south India. Here Jains count to the numerical strength of about four lakhs. This land is covered with varied geographical features like sea coast, forests, hilly areas, and vast dry plains. The Jains are scattered in all these areas.
This state of Karnataka has rich treasure of folk songs, legends, stories etc. Collection of these oral literary materials started by the end of the 19th century itself. But for a long time, folklore scholors in Karnataka believed that Jains have no folk literature of their own. This opinion created a curiosity in the present researcher and he took deep interest in that and 35 years ago, at the young age of just 20 he started searching for folk songs/legends/stories related to the Jains and fortunately could collect the large quantum material and also produced a Ph. D. thesis on the subject.
Native Jains in Karnataka belong to Digambara sect and have produced very interesting folk songs. There are many legends related to Jaina places and personalities. Present paper tries to present a crosssection of it. It is difficult to express the literary beauty of those songs as it is highly difficult to translate those verses from colloquial Kannada
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