Folk media is a part of folklore, so it is an oral tradition. Of all the components of folklore, oral tradition remains the most important citadel for the folklorists. Oral tradition is a body of knowledge, information, culture, and ways of life that define the identity of a particular group of people. It connotes the summation of philosophy, ideas, tales, myths, wisdom and other cultural practices that have been preserved and passed on through word of mouth, and based on performing and activities. Until recently, indigenous marginalized tribal people in Northeast India did not have any elaborated linguistic structures but communicated orally knowledge in different forms of folk media along with everyday verbal communication. Folkdance, folktale, genna, folksong, dirge, festival and various other cultural practices constitute oral tradition, which are also various forms of folk media, and an ‘open public library’. In the absence of script and culture of written, to communicate the meaning and knowledge of the past events, happenings, and incidents in basic life were preserved in the medium of folksongs and folktales. The focus of the paper will be limited to the Mao tribe. Based on a qualitative method of ethnography, the paper intends to address such as how cases of historic, unprecedented, and basic life that have been stored in folktales and folksongs can become a source of knowledge for the younger generations? What are the challenges that the medium of folktales and folksongs are facing as a storehouse of knowledge formation? What are the possible ways to secure the challenges encountered by the ‘open public library’? Is there a possibility that the medium of folktales and folksongs can be incorporated is a part of the pedagogy of learning?
