Digital Object Identifierhttps://doi.org/10.66376/criterion.v17.n5.40
https://orcid.org/0009-0005-1230-5930This paper examines the representation of plant lifeforms and the significance of such narratives in select Tripuri folktales through the lens of Ethnobotany. The study argues that plants in Tripuri folk narratives should not be regarded merely as passive elements of nature. Rather, it explores how they frequently function as active participants that shape events, sustain human life, mediate relationships between human and nonhuman beings, and contribute to a critical interpretation of the landscape. The methodological framework of this study is grounded in the theoretical insights on “plant life” and “plant-worship” as articulated by T.F. Thiselton Dyer in his seminal work, The Folk-Lore of Plants (1889). The paper further employs Nancy J. Turner’s 2014 work titled Ancient Pathways, Ancestral Knowledge: Ethnobotany and Ecological Wisdom of Indigenous Peoples of Northwestern North America as a theoretical framework for the study. The present paper is an attempt at an Ethnobotanical study of Tripuri folktales such as “Kwaikendraisa”, “Shrub Spinster”, “Khumpui”, “Kherengbar”, and “Chethuwang” in English translation. The paper demonstrates how plants participate in networks of ecological, cultural, and familial relations. The botanical lifeforms are not merely mentioned in these narratives, but they perform material, ecological, affective, and narrative functions. The study proposes that Tripuri folktales serve as repositories of ethnobotanical memory in which plant life is represented as animate and consequential, highlighting the significance of expanding the scope of folklore studies by foregrounding the agency of the botanical world and the Tripuri perspective on human-plant relationships.
Debbarma, Doli. “Plant Life and Plant-Worship in Tripuri Folktales: A Reading of Ethnobotany in Select Tripuri Folktales.” The Criterion: An International Journal in English, vol. 17, no. 5, Oct. 2026, pp. 722-38, https://doi.org/10.66376/criterion.v17.n5.40.
© 2026 The Author(s). Published by the Research Centre for English Language and Literature (RCELL) under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.
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