REVISITING FOKORA JUJONA: ASSAMESE PROVERBS AND GENDER IDEOLOGY IN ASSAM

- Dhriti Sonowal 

A scene from Kothanodi - an Assamese film that had an interesting take on folktales. 

Source: Film Companion

“Gosot kothal oothot tel, 

No khaootei sel bel” 

Speaking in one’s mother tongue is ‘natural’. It is a taken for granted reality within which we grow up and learn to make sense of society. Less evident is the host of domain assumptions that are embedded in language. The focus in this essay is folk oral traditions, proverbs in particular which are carried on from one generation to another in Assam. 

Some of the most widely recounted folk traditions in Assam have been folktales (Xadhukotha), idioms (Jotua thaas) and proverbs (Fokora Jujona) - a part of the rich repository of oral traditions found across the state. Oral traditions form an important aspect of language and often mediate as communicative devices in everyday interaction. 

Folklorist Wolfgang Meider describes proverbs as short, generally known sentence of the folk which contains wisdom, truth, morals and traditional views in a metaphorical, fixed and memorable form and which is handed down from generation to generation (Mieder, 2004). They are language tools 

A well-known English proverb that is often used “Don’t count your chicks before they hatch” warning that one should not start planning until something bears fruition. The fokora Jujona used above-‘Gosot kothal oothot tel, No khaootei sel bel’ describes in literal terms a situation where one has already oiled one’s lips to beat the stickiness that would result from eating jackfruit. This is all in anticipation, ‘building castles in the air’ for the fruit is still on the tree. The resemblance to the counting of the chicken is obvious. In both, there is the word of caution as well as a hint of sarcasm and ridicule. 

Proverbs or Fokora Jujona as they are known in Assamese are also identified in colloquial terms as Probat, 'Prabachan’, 'Lokokti, and Pragyokti. Though there are slight differences in the meanings of these terms, the broad gist remains the same. Sometimes Fokora Jujonas are also called “daakor boson”, which refers to the folktale of Daak, a mythical figure in Assamese folklore, the one who imparts wisdom to people about experiencing everyday reality (Goswami, 1983). Proverbs often use different linguistic devices like metaphor, alliteration, and hyperboles. Their vivid imageries, brevity, and humor make their communication most effective. 

This essay looks at how Fokora Jujona offers insight into the gendered nature of society in Assam. Proverbs convey and reiterate everyday social stock of knowledge rendering them as an integral part of our common sense and taken for granted knowledge. They are sources of phenomenological meaning. 

Phenomenology is the study of “phenomena”: appearances of things, or things as they appear in our experience, or the ways we experience things, thus the meanings things have in our experience. Phenomenology studies conscious experience as experienced from the subjective or first-person point of view.[i]

The everyday face to face reality is the reality par excellence according to Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann. This language is continually available in everyday life and orders the social experience of individuals. Proverbs are an integral part of this experience. 

Fokora Jujona: Language and Ideology 

Assames Fokora Jujonas often refer to gender roles in society. These Fokora Jujonas are the repository of accumulated meanings and experiences, which are transmitted from one generation to another. This is the self-evident, most often gendered shared stock of knowledge taken for granted available to the individual.

The Fokora Jujonas often allude directly to the nature of men or women. Some implicitly and explicitly comment on a woman’s physical and social characteristics. Some are tongue in cheek comments on the relationship between a husband and a wife; the role of the woman in the household. An important character of these Fokora Jujonas is the rhyming of the sentences. These Fokora Jujonas in its original form use alliterations, hyperboles, and metaphors liberally. However, for this essay translations of the proverbs have been provided. Translations have tried to retain the meaning of the proverbs, rather than on its linguistic character. 

1) Tiri Lota Tiri pota; Tirik nokobi hosa kotha 

The above fokora refers to women and their talkative nature. This implies women love to gossip; they let out a lot of secrets that lead to conflicts at home or elsewhere. 

2) Uthon suali bora bhaat, poka dhaan totalike kaat 

This proverb is comparing a girl to a ripe harvest implying that a girl should be married off early just as crops have to be harvested in time. 

3) Ghoiniye ghor, ghoini nohole ghorei olor-othor 

This particular proverb implies that without a woman a household cannot sustain itself. 

4) Masor naniba kuta, 

tiri naniba bozaar loota 

Women who go out of the house often are not of good character. They have daily interactions with other men and hence might also harbour relations out of wedlock. 

5) Naari solonamui, nari’r soritro bikhoye debotae najane 

Women are deceptive, even the gods are unaware of their personality 

6) Soku laal, buku khaal, hei purukhor loikhon bhal

This relates to how a man’s characteristics should be. Heavy voice with serious mannerism should be the ideal characteristics of a good man. 

7) Etiyahe paalu ghorpota poi, Olop kothate kilabo bisare, dhekithura loi 

This fokora makes a direct reference to the short-tempered and dominating characteristics of men. 

8) Puruxh oti bhumura jaati 

Teeta bahokotu khope raati 

This refers to the meandering nature of men. It is understood that men are like bees that move from one flower to the next at every chance. 

9) Lora dhan suwali poton 

Boys are like the paddy; girls are the blighted corn 

10) Kotaari dhoraabaa xile, Tirotaa baabaa kile

Men should sharpen their knives on stone and manage their wives with blows/smacking. 

The differences in the proverbs about men and women are self-evident. These differences are at two levels. One is the difference between the characteristics of men and women. Second is the advisory on what roles men and women should play in society. At the same time, ideas of domestic violence and promiscuity of women are represented in a taken-for-granted, commonsensical way. This is the cultural tool kit of socialization. 

Language plays an important role in constructing ideologies in society. It is a product of culture and acts as a fulcrum of culture. Language does not operate only in cognitive and structural levels but operates within a cultural context; carrying meanings with have deep emotive associations. Not surprisingly any counter to the dominant gendered knowledge often leads to a backlash. 

References:

Berger P, Luckmann, T. (1967). The Social Construction of Reality. United States: Penguin. 

Goswami, P. (1983). Essays on the Folklore and Culture of North East India. Spectrum Publication, Guwahati. 

Gurdon, Major P.R.T. (1908). Some Assamese Proverbs. Shillong: Assam Secretariat 

Mannheim, K. (1936). Ideology and Utopia. Routledge. 

Mieder, W. (2004). Proverbs: A Handbook. Greenwood Press. New York 

Phukon, C. (2016). Phokora Jujona aru Asomiya Samaj. Assam Sahitya Sabha. 

Koch, J. (1990). Axomiya Bhaxar Alankar: Fokora Jujona. Purnananda Press. Assam. 

Assam Portal, http://www.assam.org/node/973 

[i] https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/phenomenology/, accessed on 9th July 2020. 

***

Dhriti Sonowal is an MPhil Research Scholar at the Centre for the Study of Social Systems (CSSS), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).