<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>The Karbi are an indigenous community who mainly live in Assam, a state in North-Eastern India. The territory they inhabit includes dense forest, hardly accessible to humans that is said to be populated by different non-human and humanlike entities, such as deities, spirits, and a humanoid figure named Kenglong-po. According to Karbi folk narratives, the Kenglong-po is a jointless entity who used to be a Karbi child or man but was abandoned in the jungle and survived there. The narratives regarding the Kenglong-po are today confined to elders and are vanishing from Karbi folklore due to the disappearance of the dense forest environment. The present work outlines the perception and transformation of the forest environment within the Karbi community through analysis of the Kenglong-po and other entities that are said to inhabit the territory of this indigenous group.</p>
</abstract>

The Karbi are an indigenous community who mainly live in Assam, a state in North-Eastern India. The territory they inhabit includes dense forest, hardly accessible to humans that is said to be populated by different non-human and humanlike entities, such as deities, spirits, and a humanoid figure named Kenglong-po. According to Karbi folk narratives, the Kenglong-po is a jointless entity who used to be a Karbi child or man but was abandoned in the jungle and survived there. The narratives regarding the Kenglong-po are today confined to elders and are vanishing from Karbi folklore due to the disappearance of the dense forest environment. The present work outlines the perception and transformation of the forest environment within the Karbi community through analysis of the Kenglong-po and other entities that are said to inhabit the territory of this indigenous group.

The Relationship Between the Karbi and the Dense Forest Environment: The Role of the Kenglong-Po and Other Entities

PhD Candidate, Royal School of Languages, English Department

Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The Karbi are an indigenous community who mainly live in Assam, a state in North-Eastern India. The territory they inhabit includes dense forest, hardly...

The Relationship Between the Karbi and the Dense Forest Environment: The Role of the Kenglong-Po and Other Entities

Published Online: Dec 11, 2023

Page range: 117 - 134

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jef-2023-0021

Keywords
Karbi community, entities, dense forest, environment, folk narrative

© 2023 Michele Tita et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The Relationship Between the Karbi and the Dense Forest Environment: The Role of the Kenglong-Po and Other Entities

Published Online: Dec 11, 2023

Page range: 117 - 134

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jef-2023-0021

KeywordsKarbi community, entities, dense forest, environment, folk narrative

© 2023 Michele Tita et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
Karbi community, entities, dense forest, environment, folk narrative