Published Paper Details:

From time immemorial, storytelling has been a favorite pastime of people across cultures, religions and nations. In this regard, folk tales have had an appeal for the masses whether narrated in a simple story form or whether the content gets rendered in the form of a ballad. Such stories have passed on from mouth to mouth allowing people to interpolate their own content and creativity. This leaves a distinct individual imprint. The content could be region specific. One thing is for sure, i.e they have existed with a few variations. This helped in the perpetuation of stereotypes. That is why the trope of a self- abnegating woman is popular across cultures all over the world. It should be remembered that in the primitive, uncertain times since mankind had to live in communities, strong individualistic attitudes and independent thinking were discouraged in women because, such tendencies were not conducive to sustaining communities. These stories, maxims and parables were the staple diet of the common people since these were the rules by which they had to live. Most of these are rendered from the patriarchal point of view. Revisiting such stories in the present time reveals the politics of making virtues out of negative tendencies. An examination of one or two stories in this regard will reveal the same and how detrimental such attitudes are for the present day and how such attitudes continue to affect us in the present negatively.