The Philosophy of Saurashtrian Saints: A Hagiographical Study of Sorathi Santo

Abstract

Folklore is an essential part of everyday life back then. People were consistent on its various twigs like folksongs, folktales, riddles, proverbs, hymns, dance, folk ballads etc. at that time folklore also keeps the record of the life of saint. This branch is known as hagiographical study.
Folklore has also done the preservation of the duties of the common people and consequently information about the people who preserved it can be gained. The oral tradition, from which folklore occurs, survived because it serves the interest of the people preserving it and the reasons for preserving folklore varied. Often it was for either personal reasons – something to tell the children and grandchildren around the fire – or professional reasons, in other words preserving the genealogies of kings and heroes because this was the job the person had been assigned.
Many of the aspects of folklore that are listed above are shared by the second discipline- hagiography. Every country has its own culture, rituals, and unique ideas regarding their beliefs and understanding. In this study researcher will observe the spiritual journey of various saints from Saurashtrian regions. In western literature there are sufficient works on hagiography, but in contradiction there are very less work available in Saurashtra region. in this paper researcher will study the hagiographical aspects of Saurashtrian saints. The paper will attempt to discuss Hagiography as a literary genre. The study of Hagiography plays a vital role in understanding culture of a particular region. The researcher intends to study Folktales and the life stories of saints in order to understand its cultural and literary significance.