ARTICULATION OF FAITH IN LATERITIC WEST-BENGAL

The focus of attention of this paper centres round the evaluation of a few traditional folk deities in the lateritic West Bengal covering th ree districts viz. Midnapur, Bankura and Purulia. While tracing out th e origin and interacting patterns of behaviour of these deities the au thors have shown that the main patrons of these deities are the native people belonging to the tribal as well as lower caste groups. The mul tifarious belief patterns and variegated propitiation perspectives ind icate their remote antiquity and most of the time, these seem to be th e continuous propitiation right from the distant stone age cultural ph ases. These are, to a considerable extent, supported by archaeological evidences found in the lateritic West Bengal. The authors have tried to relate the archaeological finds with folkloric materials.