TRANSLATING THE UNWRITTEN: A STUDY ON HOW ORAL TRANSFORMATION THROUGH TRANSLATION INFLUENCES CULTURAL MEMORY WITH REFERENCE TO PANCHATANTRA, JATAKA TALES AND BANJARA ORAL NARRATIVES

Indian folklore is a rich repository of cultural memory, ethical frameworks, communal identities, and collective imagination. As stories travel across regions, languages, and generations, they undergo changes not only through the act of retelling but also through processes of translation, adaptation, and reinterpretation. This paper examines how translation influences cultural memory in Indian oral folklore through a comparative exploration of three significant narrative traditions: Panchatantra, Jataka Tales, and Banjara oral narratives. While the Panchatantra and Jataka stories have received global textual transmission through translation into numerous languages, Banjara narratives continue to function primarily in an oral ecosystem, preserving identity and memory through performance rather than writing. Through comparative analysis, the paper argues that translation plays a dual role: enabling cultural preservation and cross-cultural mobility while simultaneously transforming original meanings, values, and contexts. The study highlights how folklore evolves not only through linguistic translation but also through cultural reinterpretation shaped by time, audience, and socio-political shifts.