MYTH AND MEMORY: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF INDIAN MYTHOLOGY AND FOLKLORE

Indian mythology and folklore, although often intersecting, are distinct yet harmoniously balanced expressions of culture. Mythology, grounded in religious scriptures such as the Vedas, Ramayana, and Mahabharata, provides cosmological myths, divine histories, and moral paradigms shaping philosophical and religious perception. Folklore, transmitted orally via narrative, ballad, song, and proverb, records the lived traditions, sociological values, and local knowledge of diverse societies. In comparing Indian mythology and folklore as an approach to mapping out their thematic convergences and divergences, the present paper explores how mythology performs universal truth through divine archetype and folklore attribute’s local identity, everyday conflict, and cultural tenacity. In a comparison of chosen myths and folktales, the essay highlights their common purpose as be speakers of cultural continuity but differentiating their disparate roles in making up the pluralistic heritage of India.