Otibeguni

Otibeguni is a pioneering Bangladeshi Folklore R&D company dedicated to revitalizing interest in Bengali and indigenous folklore. Our mission is to preserve, adapt, and share the rich cultural heritage of our oral traditions, making it accessible and engaging for modern audiences.

1️⃣ We gather oral stories through fieldwork and digitize traditional folktale collections. By leveraging this expansive folklore database, Otibeguni is developing cutting-edge machine learning tools to automate the translation of folktales and detect recurring motifs and themes across stories.

2️⃣ We revitalize traditional Bengali folktales for the social media era by translating medieval Bengali poetry into modern, reader-friendly language and creating engaging multimedia content, including audio shows and web comics inspired by these tales. Additionally, Otibeguni designs board and card games based on characters and mythical creatures from Bengali folklore. Its flagship publication, *Mythical Creatures of Bengal*, showcases over 100 supernatural beings from Bengali and indigenous folklore, brought to life with exquisite illustrations.

3️⃣ We believe that true cultural revival requires active community involvement. Otibeguni organizes and funds art and writing contests that invite participants to reinterpret and creatively engage with characters and themes from folklore. Our contests have a growing and enthusiastic base of participants from both Bangladesh and abroad, contributing to a vibrant and evolving folklore landscape.

Projects

🐉 Mythical creatures of Bengal

A beautifully illustrated book cataloging over one hundred mythical creatures from Bengali and indigenous folklore.

🎭 Folktales and legends of Bengal

This is a collection of short story adaptations of Bengali and indigenous folk tales. The stories are available in both English and Bengali, and include links to videos, articles, and books to provide a better understanding of the context behind these wonderful tales.

⛺ Indigenous Storytelling Fund

The Otibeguni Indigenous Storyteller's Fund aims to support indigenous community members in preserving their folktales in their native language, Bengali, and English by providing financial and logistical assistance. Funding and support are available for various activities such as publishing physical and digital books, creating audiobooks and podcasts, commissioning artwork, documenting oral stories through field trips, translating stories, conducting scholarly research, developing folktale catalogs on websites, and organizing community programs to raise awareness about indigenous folklore.