Abstract
Oral traditions have played a pivotal role in the preservation and transmission of culture, especially among the indigenous communities. Art forms including folk songs, dance, stories, drama etc. work toward preserving the age-old knowledge system and their intergenerational transfer. With this, oral heritage acts as a significant pillar of cultural exchange and propagation. This study examines the tere practice of the Kodavas for its vital role in safeguarding the community’s cultural identity. The Kodavas are an ethnolinguistic minority community in Kodagu district, recognized for their rich tradition and cultural heritage. This paper explores the cultural framework and functions of the tere practices in ensuring transfer of values, beliefs and knowledge of the community through oral tradition. This work employs a socio-cultural analytical framework, examining data derived from peer-reviewed research articles sourced from major scholarly databases such as JSTOR, Google Scholar, ResearchGate and Scopus-indexed journals offering critical theoretical and empirical perspectives on oral tradition. Along with this, archival sources pertaining to the Kodava community such as historical documents and indigenous texts were also consulted helping to interpret cultural meanings embedded in ritual traditions. Emerging patterns were identified in the context of the objectives of the research and the emergent themes has been discussed in detail. Grounded in multidisciplinary approach and drawing on Clifford Geertz’s interpretive anthropology and Andreas Reckwitz’s Cultural Theory of Social Practices, this study explores the challenges involved in the mechanisms of disseminating cultural wisdom, underscoring the importance of cultural and oral traditions like tere performances in fostering a sense of belonging and identity among the Kodavas. Overall, the tere practice of the Kodavas exemplifies the enduring power of oral traditions in preserving and transmitting cultural knowledge, offering insights that are both locally significant and globally relevant for future sustainable actions.