ஒரததநட வடடர நடடபபறப படலகளல வளணம / Agriculture in the Folk Songs of Orathanadu Region

The man expressed his thoughts by gestures and his emotions by sounds before formal speech started. Words are natural and express man’s emotions through sounds. When words and sounds combined, songs occured and before the advent of grammar, words were arranged in accord with music. The delight of folk songs can be known as the means of the Tamil society, the expression of the truth and the open liberation of the moving desire which does not get stammered in the rules of grammar. Folk songs are classified according to the context in which they are sung, and the nature of the life events, such as folk tales, folk proverbs, legends, etc., are forms of folk literature. The agricultural folk songs of the Orathanadu region capture the life of ploughing, sowing and harvesting with the use of traditional tools like the kalappai (wooden plough) and the brilliant management of water from the Vennar River. By decoding the practical wisdom in the songs that eased the monotony of labour and preserved the collective memory of the people. Hence, this article examines the agricultural records of the Orathanadu region at Tanjore district in selected folk songs.