New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday hailed the role played by modern-day story-tellers in the country. He was speaking at the 69th edition of the ‘Mann Ki Baat’ programme.
” ‘Where there is a soul, there is a story’. Stories express and bring to the fore, the creative and sensitive facets of human beings. If the power of stories is to be felt, one has to just watch a mother telling a story to her little one either to lull her to sleep or while feeding her a morsel. I spent a major part of my life as a Parivrajak, an ascetic. Wayfaring was my life. Every day it used to be a new place and people, new families. But whenever I went to a family, I would make it a point to speak to the children,” PM Modi said.
“We are proud to be denizens of the land that nurtured the tradition of Hitopadesh and Panch Tantra in which, through an imaginary world of animals, birds and fairies woven into stories, lessons on prudence and wisdom could be explained easily. We have a tradition of ‘katha’ here. This is an ancient form of religious storytelling,” he said.
“‘Kathakalakshepam’ has been part of it. Myriad folk tales are prevalent here. In Tamilnadu and Kerala, there is a very interesting style of storytelling. It is called ‘Villu paat’. It comprises a fascinating confluence of story and music. India has had a vibrant tradition of Kathputli, that is puppetry. These days, stories and storytelling based on science and science- fiction are gaining popularity,” PM Modi added.
The Prime Minister also mentioned others who are popularising stories from rural India like, Vaishali Vyvhare Deshpande (Marathi), Chennai’s Srividya Veeraraghavan. He also mentioned Geeta ramanujam’s kathalaya.org and another website called Indian Storytelling Network which are doing good work in the field.
