Year: 2026 | Month: September | Volume: 13 | Issue: 9 | Pages: 181-188
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52403/ijrr.20260920
Translation as Cultural Preservation: Representing Bhumij Identity through Folk Songs
Rebati Singh1, Dr. Preetinanda Roy2
1Ph.D. Scholar in English KISS Deemed to be University, Bhubaneswar
2Assistant Professor, Department of English, BJB Autonomous College, Bhubaneswar
Corresponding Author: Rebati Singh
ABSTRACT
Folk songs constitute an important form of intangible cultural heritage through which communities preserve collective memory, cultural values, beliefs, ecological knowledge, social practices, and emotional experiences. Among the Bhumij community, folk songs have traditionally been transmitted through oral performance and are closely associated with everyday life, agriculture, nature, worship, festivals, marriage, love, labour, family relationships, and community practices. However, changing patterns of education, occupation, migration, language use, and contemporary social life have created challenges for the continuity of oral traditions. In this context, documentation and translation can contribute to the preservation and wider recognition of indigenous cultural expressions. The present study examines selected Bhumij folk songs as repositories of cultural memory and explores the role of English translation in representing Bhumij cultural identity. The study follows a qualitative, descriptive, interpretive, and analytical methodology. Primary data were collected through field visits to Patasahanipur village in Udala Block of Mayurbhanj district, Odisha, along with informal conversations and telephonic interactions with singers, elders, and knowledgeable members of the community. The songs were documented, transcribed, verified, and subsequently translated into English. Particular attention is given to culture-specific expressions, indigenous concepts, religious and ritual references, ecological imagery, repetition, rhythm, emotion, symbolism, and performance contexts. The study argues that transcription and translation are complementary stages in the documentation of Bhumij folk songs. Transcription provides a written representation of the source-language form, while translation makes the cultural and linguistic content accessible to readers beyond the immediate speech community. The study also identifies several challenges in translation, including the absence of direct equivalence, culture-specific vocabulary, oral variation, contextual meanings, rhythm, repetition, musicality, and performance. It concludes that translation can contribute to the documentation and preservation of Bhumij oral heritage, while the living oral tradition remains essential to its continued cultural transmission.
Keywords: Bhumij, folk songs, oral tradition, cultural preservation, translation, transcription, cultural identity, Mayurbhanj, Odisha.
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