Komal Kothari (1929–2004) was an Indian folklorist and ethnomusicologist. Komal Kothari had devoted his life to investigation and documentation of folk traditions of western

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...

. Kothari received the honour of

Padma Shri The Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī'', lit. 'Lotus Honour'), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. In ...

and

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan (IAST: ''Padma Bhūṣaṇa'', lit. 'Lotus Decoration') is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 Januar ...

from the Government of India. Komal Kothari painstakingly worked to preserve the cultural memory and made numerous recordings of folk music. He studied Langa and

Manganiyar The Manganiar are a Muslim community found in the Thar Desert region of Rajasthan, India; mostly in the districts of Barmer and Jaisalmer, and in the districts of Tharparkar and Sanghar in the bordering province of Sindh in Pakistan. They are k ...

communities of folk musicians of Thar desert. Komal Kothari was not only a scholar but also a man of action. He co-founded Rupayan Sansthan - Rajasthan Institute of Folklore, in 1960 in the village of Borunda. The institution houses a repository of recordings by Kothari and works to collect, preserve, and disseminate the oral traditions of Rajasthan. Kothari was co-editor of the journal ''Lok Sanskriti,'' a journal based on the theme of folk culture. Besides, Kothari arranged international performances of folk artists from Rajasthan in several countries. His monograph on Langas, a folk-musician caste in Rajasthan, was enlivened by an accompanying album of recordings of twelve folk songs sung by Langa artistes. His understanding of desert culture and its connections with ecology endeared him to the environmentalists. He planned a museum based on the ecology of the broom’, to show the technical use of specific types of desert grass for specific purposes. His vision was actualised in the form of Arna Jharna - The Thar Desert Museum of Rajasthan in Borunda, near Jodhpur. Kothari was a scholar of patterns of culture and his expertise enriched both folklore studies and history.

Career

Kothari's research resulted in his development of the study of a number of areas of folklore. In particular, he made contributions to the study of musical instruments,

oral tradition Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication in which knowledge, art, ideas and culture are received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another.Jan Vansina, Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (19 ...

s and

puppetry Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance that involves the manipulation of puppets – wikt:inanimate, inanimate objects, often resembling some type of human or animal figure, that are animated or manipulated by a human called a puppeteer. S ...

.Remembering Komal Korthari
Columbia University, Accessed 1 June 2006. He was also a

patron Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, art patronage refers to the support that princes, popes, and other wealthy and influential people ...

of Langa and

folk music, the latter of which translates to 'beggars' and is currently used as a debasing term for Merasi. He was the first to record them and helped shem out of their traditional regions.The magical music of Manganiyars goes global
Good news India, Accessed 1 June 2006. To this end, he also founded the magazine ' Prerna'. Kothari was the chairman of ''Rupayan Sansthan'' founded by Chandi Dan Detha and worked with Vijaydan Detha at Borunda village in Rajasthan, an institute that documents Rajasthani folk-lore, arts and music, and spent most of his career at the Rajasthan Sangeet Natak Academy.

Books and Articles

*''Monograph on Langas: a folk musician caste of Rajasthan''. 1960. * ''Folk musical instruments of Rajasthan: a folio''. Rajasthan Institute of Folklore, 1977. * ''Gods of the Byways''. Museum of Modern Art, Oxford. 1982. . * ''Rajasthan: The Living Traditions'', Prakash Book Depot. 2000. . * ''Life and works of Padma Bhushan Shri Komal Kothari (1929-2004)'', by Komal Kothari, National Folklore Support Centre, NFSC. 2004. * “The Folk Legacy of Rajasthan”, ''Quarterly Journal of the National Centre for Performing Arts,'' Vol. 1, No. 2, 1972, pp. 1–8 * “The Langas – A Folk Musician Caste of Rajasthan”, ''Journal of Sangeet Natak Akademi,'' Vol. 27, pp. 5–26, 1972 * ''Monograph on Langas: A Folk Musician Caste of Rajasthan''. Rupayan Sansthan, Jodhpur, 1972 * “The Shrine - An Expression of Social Needs”, Julia Elliott and David Elliott (eds.), ''Gods of the Byways: Wayside Shrines of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat,'' Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, 1982 pp. 1–31 * “Performers, Gods, and Heroes in the Oral Epics of Rajasthan”, Stuart H. Blackburn, Peter J Claus, Joyce B. Flueckiger. and Susan S. Wadley (eds.), ''Oral epics in India,'' pp. 102–117, University of California Press, Berkley, 1989 * “Lokvarta Sambandhi Mul Sangrah”, Jawaharlal Handoo (ed.), ''Folklore of Rajasthan,'' Central Institute of Indian Languages, pp. 232–244, Manasgangotri, Mysore, 1983 * “Introduction”, Munshi Hardayal Singh, ''The Castes of Marwar (being Census Report of 1891),'' pp. i-xiii, Book Treasure, Jodhpur, 1990 * “Patronage and Performance”, N. K. Singhi and Rajendra Joshi (eds.), ''Folk, Faith, and Feudalism: Rajasthan Studies,'' pp. 55–66, Rawat Publications, Jaipur, 1995 * “Musicians for the People: The Manganiyars of Western Rajasthan”, Karine Schomer, Joan L. Erdman, Deryck O. Lodrick, Lloyd I. Rudolph (eds.), ''The Idea of Rajasthan – Explorations in Regional Identity,'' Volume I: Constructions, pp. 205–237, Manohar and American Institute of Indian Studies, Delhi, 2001 * Rustom Bharucha, Rajasthan ''- An Oral History, Conversations with Komal Kothari,'' Penguin Books, New Delhi, 2003 * “On Folk Narratives”, ''Indian Folklife'', Volume 3, Issue 3, S. No. 16, pp. 14–20, July 2004 * Neuman Daniel, Shubha Chaudhuri with Komal Kothari, ''Bards, Ballads, and Boundaries – An Ethnographic Atlas of Music Traditions in West Rajasthan,'' Seagull, Calcutta, New York, 2006

Awards and honours

in 1983 *

in 2004 * Rajasthan Ratna award 2012

Legacy

A 1979 documentary film on his ethnomusicology work, and another titled ''Komal Da'', on his life and works, are now archived at

Columbia University Libraries Columbia University Libraries is the library system of Columbia University and one of the largest academic library systems in North America. With 15.0 million volumes and over 160,000 journals and serials, as well as extensive electronic resources ...

. Kothari’s work on the oral epics of Rajasthan further extended his argument of geographical connections of folk music. He posited that oral epics correspond to specific agricultural and occupational zones. Kothari had made a deeper inquiry of folk traditions to make insightful observations on poer structures and hegemony that informed the historians of Rajasthan significantly. Kothari conceived and started his work for the Arna Jharna Museum in 2000 in the village of Moklawas, near Jodhpur. The museum space has been designed as a section of Thar desert and its native vegetation like different cacti, and agrarian produce like ''jowar'', ''bajra,'' and ''makka''. It has replicas of village architecture, a boastful collection of the region musical instruments, puppets, and pottery. “The museum boasts mainly of an extensive collection of brooms from Rajasthan, indicating entire galaxies of rituals and beliefs associated with them."

References

External links

Life and works of Shri Komal Kothari
''National Folklore Support Centre''
Conversation with Komal Kothari
Indian folklorists 1929 births 2004 deaths People from Jodhpur Musicians from Rajasthan Rajasthani people Indian magazine editors Indian ethnomusicologists Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in arts 20th-century Indian musicians 20th-century Indian musicologists {{ethnomusicologist-stub