Faith, Innocence, and Collective Welfare: A Cultural and Symbolic Study of Supreme Sacrifice in Dogri Folk Tradition

Folk literature serves as the living archive of a community’s cultural memory, ethical values, religious beliefs, and social practices. Long before the emergence of written literature, oral narratives functioned as vehicles for preserving collective experiences and transmitting them across generations. Among the numerous regional literary traditions of India, Dogri folklore occupies a distinguished place because of its rich representation of the customs, spirituality, and worldview of the Dogra people inhabiting the Duggar region of Jammu. Dogri folk tales are remarkable for their portrayal of courage, devotion, moral righteousness, familial affection, and harmony between human beings and nature. These narratives are not merely imaginative stories but cultural documents reflecting the socio-religious consciousness of their time. They reveal the communities understanding of life, death, justice, sacrifice, and divine intervention. This paper examines “Supreme Sacrifice,” a Dogri folk tale included in Suman K. Sharma’s Tales from the Tawi: A Collection of Dogri Folk Tales. The narrative revolves around a devastating drought, the willingness of an innocent child to sacrifice himself for the welfare of the community, and the miraculous restoration of rain. Through the perspectives of folklore studies, cultural studies, symbolism, and eco-criticism, the paper explores how the tale embodies the moral philosophy of Dogra society. It argues that the narrative transforms sacrifice into an ethical ideal rooted in compassion, collective responsibility, and divine justice. The study further demonstrates that the tale preserves indigenous ecological consciousness by presenting harmony between humanity and nature as dependent upon moral conduct rather than material power. As a representative example of Dogri oral literature, “Supreme Sacrifice” continues to communicate values of courage, faith, and social solidarity in contemporary society.