THE INTERPLAY OF FOLKLORE AND PHILOSOPHY IN THE SHORT STORIES OF MANOJ DAS: A CRITICAL STUDY

Abstract

This paper presents a critical analysis of the interplay of folklore and philosophy in Manoj Das's short stories. A prominent figure of twentieth-century Indian literature, Das is known for his bilingual literary productions in English and Odia. He is unique in modern Indian literature for his capacity to bring into conversation the oral and the narrative with deep philosophical enquiry. This paper engages in a qualitative, interpretative analysis of a series of short stories, and shows that for Das, folklore is not only a narrative strategy but a site for philosophical exploration of ethics, human life, and salvation. In placing his work in the context of Indian intellectual history and contemporary literary debates, the paper suggests that Das builds a narrative epistemology based on indigenous knowledge systems. He universalises local myths, legends and traditions in his stories, presenting them as meditations on morality, spirituality and the world. The research concludes that the blending of folklore and philosophy in Das’s stories complicates Western binary oppositions between reason and imagination, and presents an integrated view of human life.