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THE SUBALTERN SPEAK-
A STUDY ON THE CULTURE OF THE ARUNACHALIS WITH SPECIAL
REFERENCE TO MAMANG DAI’S THE LEGENDS OF PENSAM
Ms. Cheryl Antonette Dumenil, PhD Scholar, St. Joseph’s College, Trichy and Dr. Cheryl Davis,
Assistant Professor, St. Joseph’s College, Trichy.
North- East India is an under veiled region with an awe-inspiring landscape, different groups of
ethnic people, their culture and heritage. This beautiful region with a troubled political climate
and merging of various indigenous groups has risen to meet the world with a body of writing that
is completely different from the rest of India. This territory has many facets; it is not just a map;
it is a cultural and linguistic geography, diverse, vibrant and multicoloured (Dai 2006). In
Northeast India, there integrates diverse ethnic and religious groups having different beliefs and
customs. Arunachal Pradesh, with its majestic mountains, silent rivers flowing under the mist
filled slopes, profound legends, sacred spirits and grace make the landscape more interesting and
intense. Contemporary writers from this region aspire towards a vision outside the tapered ethnic
channel and represent a shared history. In their writings, the cultural memory is reprocessed and
the intensity of feeling overflows the labour of technique and craft. Mamang Dai presents a rare
glimpse into the ecology, culture, life of the tribal people and history of the ‘The Land of the
Dawn Lit Mountains’, Arunachal Pradesh through her novel The Legends of Pensam. This paper
attempts to draw an insight into the ecology and culture of the Arunachalis with special reference
to The Legends of Pensam by Mamang Dai.
Mamang Dai is firmly rooted with the soil of her native land; her works are revelation of
her bonding with the destiny of her place, her people. Whenever she ventures out, her heart
always remains with the rivers, mountains, trees, jungles, rituals, legends, mythology, dances,
villages and prayer flags of her dear abode, Arunachal Pradesh (Sanjoy 32). She was born in
Pasighat, East Siang district; she is the Pride of Arunachal Pradesh, she has earned the glory for
womenfolk of the tribal state, the most influential feminist writers of the recent time whose
language exhibit liveliness and imaginative suggestions. She is a very open and self-righteous
woman who portrays human emotion, love, myth and culture in her works. She is the most
intensely poetic voices from the North East. Her works have originality in their content and style.
She is an internationally renowned poet, short story writer and novelist. She holds the privilege
of being the first woman from state to be selected to the Indian Administrative Service but
Mamang is such a person who sacrificed her highly lucrative service to take up pen, brush and
canvas, so that she could serve the society from the path others dared to venture. Mamang is the
first from Arunachal to be conferred with Padma Shri Award for Literature and Education in
2011, which has apparently added a momentum for creating an encouraging literary atmosphere
in the state. Her writing conveys an idea of a new literary tradition that has been born in
Arunachali literature as well as in Indian English fiction.
Tradition and taboo are pillars to the Arunachalis they take pride in their taboo they fear
God. They believe that if they forego their taboo, their belief would be shaken and their very
existence questioned. A traditional rigid practice among ApaTani women was face tattooing and
inserting nose plugs made of bamboo root. The tribes regard Hand tattooing as a mark of courage
and beauty and they believe strongly in the myth that tattoos are a mark by which a person will
recognize his kith and kin after life (Dai 43). Women of Arunachal take pride in tattooing and
plugging their noses with bamboo roots they respect the ritual and take it to be a customary
fashion. Among the tribes a highly developed system of village councils functions as a guide to
relations, moral standards, kinship and integration of group activities. The councils were
responsible for peace and harmony amongst members of the society and were empowered to
settle all their disputes with the help of customary laws. The council includes elders functioning
as court of people in which women play a major role. They are chosen for their knowledge,
honesty and experience, and their powers of oration. It is like a sugar press, one elder explains
and the others pay attention to what is said. Every word is refined, measured, weighed, carefully
studied and then uttered. Every speaker is given a turn. Justice is the goal and advice comes from
the power of words. Today of course modern law has led to changes in social and political
systems of the tribes. The institution of Goan Burahs (village head) is still active and a number of
women Goan Buris are appointed for their caliber and influence in society (Dai 51). Even today
the women of Arunachal Pradesh administer the state, they have taken up many leading roles in
the government affairs. They are civil servants, lawyers, ministers and what not. The women of
Arunachal have enabled themselves, they hold a high self-esteem and they have never let the
ancient belief of women being strong go false anywhere down the lane.
Mamang Dai’s The Legends of Pensam (2006) is an intricate web of stories that explore
the hidden facts of life and is a delightful mixture of myth, history, tribal beliefs and customs of
the Adis, literally called “hill-people”. The word ‘Pensam’ in the title means ‘in-between’ but it
may also be interpreted as ‘the hidden spaces of the heart’. The Adis are one of the 26 major
tribes of Arunachal Pradesh, formerly known as NEFA, lying at the foothills of the Himalayas
and sharing international borders with Bhutan, China and Myanmar. Being adherents of the
animistic faith, the Adis believe in co-existence with the natural world and the spirit that is part
of the forests, rivers and the vales (Dai 55). In the narration, pensam is literally the middle-
ground between myth and reality governing the lives of Adis, and also the transtionary phase
between the traditional and modern ways of their life. Mamang also suggests that in the world of
these beliefs anything can happen and everything can be lived. As if to substantiate this, she
starts the book with the story of a boy, Hoxo, ‘who fell from the sky’ and was carried by Lutor to
his village. Lutor and his friend had been drafted to work on a massive road project by the
‘migluns’ (the British) across the Siang valley. When they return after 3 years, they bring along a
basket containing the child. Lutor’s friend tells the villagers, “There was great noise and fire in
the sky and our son fell to earth” (12). Accepted by the tribe unquestioningly, Hoxo goes on to
lead an eventful life and play a key role in the stories that unfold. In the last story, the aged Hoxo
is shown spending time with an antique pair of binoculars with his granddaughter. The stories in
between take the reader through a fascinating ride over a long period of time and tribal beliefs,
from the legend of the origin of the tribe to modern times of development that throw their lives
and customs into disarray. Their stories reflect a half-revealed and half-concealed world,
sometimes to be felt by the subconscious rather than seen with ordinary eyes (Sanjoy 41).
Violence too lurks behind the serene hills, true to Nature with its two facets. This is a small
world where anything can happen. Being adherents of the animistic faith, the tribes here believe
in co-existence with the natural world along with the presence of spirits in their forests and
rivers.
The story intertwines a wide range of themes ranging from tribal practices, superstitious
beliefs, human and the spirit world, tradition and modernity, memory and reality and the essence
of orality. Through various stories the author tries to give voice to the ‘peripheral people’ who
are often marginalized. Surviving in the heat and humidity of the Siang valley, the Adis accept
things unquestioningly. They still practice an animistic faith that is woven around forest ecology
and co-existence with the natural world. In the novel, Mamang says, “In our language, the word
‘Pensam’ means ‘in-between’ which suggests the middle-ground. It is the small world where
anything can happen and everything can be lived” (1). Recitating the various legends that
influence the lives of the hill people, this novel is a lyrical and moving tribute to the human
spirit. It also reflects upon the lost history and the cultural dynamics of the Adis. The novel
recounts the historical developments in the tribal areas with the advent of the Britishers. Rakut’s
father, Lutor, and many others worked under the Migluns. The elders were brainwashed and
dominated by the Migluns into considering themselves inferior and were forced to stifle their
energy and determination. The early decades of the twentieth century were times of great
upheaval, where the killing of Noel Williamson in 1911 by an angry Adi suggested that there
existed a communication gap between them. Many people were killed and since the Abor
expedition of 1912, the whole of the Siang valley had been under the control of the British
administration (14). Images of violence and brutal killing also finds place in the narrative. We
see how an elderly man from the Migu clan slaughtered two women and how Kamur kills his
own children as if he had been under a spell. In ‘Daughters of the Village’, Arsi says, “In my
next life I shall be born a bird” (40). She longs to break free from the routine rustic life and to
enjoy life to its fullest. The weather torments the people living here but they are contend with it.
Merciless Rain God outrages his anger with fierce downpour stall days and sun ravage with
unbearable heat in this region. Every peasant of the region is discouraged of the curse of this
unpredictable weather. Dai’s Arsi raises her voice to express her angst of being in a land of no
destiny. The present grief what is glorified by the old. Naïve forefathers choose this land for the
living and left nothing yet exiled from the land of living to a place of slippery slopes, muddy
puddles, constant rain and mossy floors. The tribes here are lepers of their own land, crushed by
the fear of continuous rain and danger of landslides and floods but accepted the living as it is the
nature’s cruelty to be tolerated (74). The Legends of Pensam not only recall the folklore but
scorn the inhabitant’s agony of invaders in the land. Inhabitants are partially thrilled of new light
and the fearsome stories of death at the same time (38).
Dai magnificently describe the mighty blue mountains of Assam and the ever green richness of
trees and shrubs, smoothness of bamboo filled banks, silver tone of rivers and twists with tales
(34; 44; 52; 72). The love relationship between a tribal girl Nenem and British Captain David
Ferguson takes us to a different plane altogether. It is an enigma how, despite all their
differences, the two strangers were drawn to each other in the forlorn hills. When they parted,
Nenem said to herself. ‘No one dies of love. I loved him, and now I am enough of my own’
(109). Nenem loved her land more than anything else, she simply couldn’t part from her space
and resume in another new world. This made her sacrifice her lover David. Years later, she
resigns to her fate and gets married to Kao. The village headman sees that all the rites are carried
on according to their custom he keeps awake day and night and takes care that no rite is missed
as it was considered a misfortune. Things change, but Nenem was like the river, constant,
nurturing, self-possessed (121). She had dreamt of raising up her family and living amidst her
own people. She gave birth to Losi and from then she became closer to Kao, she lead the life she
dreamt of. But few years later, after the disastrous earthquake had claimed numerous lives and
property in the village, Nenem goes to bathe in the river she feels dizzy and sits looks at the
glittering trees and then passes away (127). The funeral rites happen according to their custom
and all the villagers mourn the death of Nenem and cry for Kao. In the later part of the narrative,
conflict goes on between tradition and modernity. With modernity, came issues of burglaries and
murder. Their houses were not safe anymore. Electric poles and land were stolen. Forests were
being cut and logs floated away down the river. New fences marked old territories and it seemed
a curtain had fallen over the old villagers. What was once sacred, the old sense of joy was being
lost. Towards the end, Raket says, ‘We are peripheral people. Everywhere, people like us, we
turned with the world. Our lives turned, and in the circle who could tell where was the beginning
and where the end? We are just peripheral people, thinking out our thoughts!’ (144). Thus,
Mamang Dai, in her novel historicizes the cultural context of the people and attempts to give
them a voice which would transcend across boundaries.
The writers from Arunachal Pradesh have crossed the linguistic barriers decisively in
order to create a literature of their own. The writers from many of the smaller ethnic
communities of North-Eastern India whose native languages do not have a script of their own or
are spoken by only a handful of people have, however, adopted English as their acquired
language. Contemporary North-East writing has a purpose which is committed to social change.
It strives on a free representation of culture and the self.
Works Cited:
Dai, Mamang. Arunachal Pradesh: The Hidden Land. Penguin: Delhi, 2009. Print.
Dai, Mamang. The Legends of Pensam. Penguin: Delhi, 2006. Print.
Additional References:
Hazarika, Sanjoy. Writing on the Wall: Reflections on the North-East. Penguin: Delhi, 2008.
Print.
Hazarika, Sanjoy. Strangers of the Mist, Tales of War and Peace from India’s North-East.
Penguin: Delhi, 2000. Print.
http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/detailsnew.asp?id=feb1011/oth07
http://www.nehu.ac.in/Journals/JournalJan13_Article4.pdf
http://www.northeastblog.in/arunachal-pradesh/padmashri-mamang-dai-felicitated/