Paper short abstract:

Across the Central Himalayas, performers of oral genres have traditionally used a formulaic language register distinct from those of everyday speech. More recently, the stories carried in this tradition have been re-presented in new media: popular music, novels and plays, and Bollywood-style films.

Paper long abstract:

The Central Himalayan region (the Indian state of Uttarakhand and far western Nepal) has long been recognized as a distinctive culture area. One important aspect of its distinctiveness is the great elaboration of semi-professional bardic performance, which includes the recitation of epics, participation in seasonal agricultural activities, and interaction with the gods. In this range of traditional forms, Central Himalayan performers use an archaic or archaizing language register quite different from those of everyday speech, a diction that is largely formulaic and shared across the region. This paper explores shared themes, linguistic usages, and formulas by comparing texts collected from oral performances in different parts of the region by the author and other scholars. It considers recent transformations the themes of this tradition have gone through as they are re-presented in novels, plays, popular music and Bollywood-style videos.