Importance of Folklore in Human Life: A Study on Assamese Marriage Songs (Biyí£ní£m)

Abstract

practices, festivals and ceremonies, Assamese women play an important role in part of singing folk songs. In the corpus of Assamese folk songs; there are many such varieties that can be categorized specifically as ‘women genre'. One such variety is the marriage songs commonly called as Biyagit or Biy í£nam sung in a traditional Assamese Hindu marriage. In Assamese society marriage is one of the most commonly observed social functions celebrated with great enthusiasm, spirit and merriment? To add to this merriment Assamese women sing different types of marriage songs at different stages of the marriage ritual. In this paper, the author intends to study the various types of Biyanam of the specific area of Lower Assam. Here, I will also try to show its importance in an Assamese marriage with its changing nature and continuity at present time. As Assamese marriage songs are transmitted vocally from generation to generation, no printed records of earlier times are available. Hence, the author had to collect these songs from the elderly women, especially of the rural area.