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Paper short abstract

This paper examines how South Asian folk narratives—originating in oral traditions such as Panchatantra, tribal folktales, and regional epics—are reimagined in contemporary media including comics, television serials, and animation.

Paper long abstract

South Asian folklore constitutes one of the richest narrative reservoirs in the world, spanning classical compendia like the Panchatantra and Jataka Tales, regional oral epics such as the Alha and Pandavani, and countless tribal and village folktales. These traditions have historically traveled across linguistic, literary, and performative registers, demonstrating a long-standing fluidity between oral and written modes. In recent decades, however, their circulation has expanded into new domains of print and digital media, raising important questions about continuity, transformation, and commodification.

This paper examines how Indian and South Asian folk narratives migrate across media, focusing on three axes: (1) their textualization in print forms such as colonial folklore collections and post-independence children’s literature; (2) their visual retelling in comics like Amar Chitra Katha and televised epics on Doordarshan, which popularized mythological and folkloric motifs for mass audiences; and (3) their reanimation in digital platforms through animation series, YouTube retellings, and mobile storytelling apps. By analyzing representative examples across these media, the paper highlights how narrative motifs—talking animals, divine interventions, heroic battles—are reshaped for new audiences and cultural economies.

Ultimately, the paper situates South Asian folk narratives within global conversations on folklore and media, showing how Indian traditions illuminate the intersections of storytelling, technology, and cultural identity under the FNLM umbrella.