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Oral narrative is a social instrument that makes a web amongst the people of same linguistic community promoting perception of living together in a specific geographical area. So the importance of oral narrative does not require any explanation. Factually the oral record of everything else is much more elaborate and wider than any written records those are usually reduced to the maximum level. So the written records do not meet the aspirations of people when they intend to know the matter. Another interesting fact is that only an individual cannot demonstrate or narrate the entire story of any object, event, occasion or phenomenon. Facts and figures about anything come to light explicitly when they are presented in collective way encouraging participation of the local people. Then the judicious conclusion may be extracted. So the oral narratives are highly important for discriminating anything existed in the society. As a matter of fact, Billeswar Devalaya is a place for getting together of people though basically for religious purposes, however it is being used for all social purposes including the religiopolitical aspects. This exalted position of the Devalaya is established by virtue of its oral narratives which are interpolated in nature depicting different aspects of the Devalaya.

Like other century old religious institutions, Billeswar Devalaya is also a storehouse of folklore elements. By the combination of the two words-folk and culture is attempted to mean the sort of culture which is in use for a longer period of time amongst the people of identical behaviour in a specific geographical area. Nirmal Kumar Bose-an eminent anthropologist defines culture: We can now define culture as the crystallized phase of man鈥檚 activities. It includes certain forms of action closely associated with particular objects and institutions; habitual attitudes of mind transferable from one person to another with the aid of mental images conveyed through speech symbols. All of these either serve directly to maintain man in the struggle of existence or help him indirectly by bringing in a sense of strength and power when he is sorely afflicted in that struggle. Culture also includes certain material objects and techniques with the aid of which man experiences supreme emotion of pleasure which are however of unknown value.鈥� (Keesing:1963:23) The folk culture may be classified as: Oral Literature, Social Folk Tradition, Material Culture, Folk Performing Art.

Different genres of folk culture may be enunciated as follows鈥�

Oral Literature: folktales, descriptive folk poetry, folk epic, proverbs, folk language;
Social Folk Tradition: festivals, recreation and sports, folk medicine, folk religion;
Material Culture: folk craft, folk art, folk architecture, folk dress, folk cookery;
Performing art: folk drama, folk song, folk dance;

Folkloristic study of the Devalaya demands the presentation of all the folk cultural elements and its analyses. It is not just a physical structure wherein deities are worshipped. Rather it is a monument of beliefs and faiths of the people. These are being transmitted through generations with a continuous flow in the forms of oral narratives. Our study attempts to collect almost all the folk cultural elements prevalent in the complex of the Devalaya. First of all, the folktales are extracted and analyzed. Folktale is the most popular form of all narrative. It is an integral cultural element of all societies throughout human history. Narratives carrying unusual events accepted as truth or faith, or incidents rather vaguely believed to have taken place, and stories of purely fictitious formulations are told and retold. Correspondingly, myths, legends and folktales have been accepted as the three basic forms of narratives of universal distribution. These three have generally been considered as prose narrative forms in European folklore scholarship. It is, however, to be stated that this three-fold classification of narratives does not apply to folklore material in all societies, both tribal and non-tribal, the lines between the three categories-myths, legend and tale-are not very clearly depicted, and even if the idea of distinction between them is present, separate terms to designate them are not available. Amongst all narrative genres, there are some which seem to be peculiar to specific region. Myths and legends are, in general, more culture-specific than ordinary tales. In the previous chapter, it is already stated that Billeswar Devalaya moves round only a few number of myths or legends. Assamese tales are not exceptions but present an atmosphere peculiar to Assam expressed in simple folk idiom and emit a feeling that is entirely Assamese. Superstition, wild imagination, basis wit and intelligence etc. are woven in to the folktales. Mythical tales, tales of humour and intelligence, animal tales or cante-fables are widely circulated in the Assamese society. Among these, Animal tales are quite effective with symbolic manifestation.

Merely not the folktales but also myth and legends of various types as well as stories from the epics presented in popular and powerful art forms serve as tool of entertainment not only in villages but also in cities where authentic folk theatre flourishes in the back streets. It is in common knowledge that since the earliest times folktales have provided amusement and entertainment not only to the children but even grown-ups. This is very much true on Indian society, where large sections of the population are still illiterate and live in remote villages where other avenues of entertainment are not easily available. (Datta: 2012: 106)

Folk costume is the visible, outward badge of folk-group identity, worn consciously to express that identity. Now-a-says, even earlier also, a particular folk costume of a particular community serves as an identity of nationality of the community. A costume is the expression of the folk ethics, imagery of the weaver鈥檚 dream, strong means of status of the person and the community concerned. A particular dress may signify a particular state of mind. Among the four categories of folklore, material culture serves no fewer roles in the assertion of the identity of a community. Assam is a dangerous country to invade and the Muslim invaders were terrified not only by the physical features, but also by the people who were believed to be great magicians. It is the region where the Hindu and the Mongolian cultures met and blended. It is the home of Shakti worship and fanaticism.鈥�(Rathinathaier: 1941: 106)