[ Yater Nyokir ]
Surrounded by the mighty Himalayas in the north and the fertile plains of the Brahmaputra in the south, Arunachal Pradesh is a land of lush forests, towering mountains, serene valleys, cascading streams, and vibrant rivers. It holds the unique distinction of being the first region in India to witness the sunrise. The 27 districts of Arunachal are home to numerous tribes, each with its own language and cultural identity. Its stunning landscapes and rich ethnic, linguistic, and cultural diversity set Arunachal apart from the other Northeastern states.
Yet, for a long time, Arunachal remained largely isolated from the rest of the country. This isolation was shaped by a combination of factors – complex administrative policies, challenging geographical terrain, and limited infrastructure – all of which created significant barriers to access and communication.
This isolation was further compounded by the absence of a written script of their language. While communities such as the Monpa and Khampti possess their own scripts, the majority of tribes in Arunachal belong to pre-literate oral societies, where knowledge and expression have traditionally been passed down orally. As a result, communication beyond their linguistic boundaries remained limited, especially since most indigenous languages were unintelligible to outsiders.
The lack of a script not only hindered interaction with the outside world but also resulted in an absence of written historical records. Without the means to document their worldviews, cultural practices, and indigenous knowledge in written form, which is a significant medium for visibility in intellectual and policymaking spaces, the Arunachalis were unable to assert their presence within the broader national discourse. Consequently, their voices remained largely absent from mainstream narratives.
This gap was further widened by the delayed establishment of formal education systems, which began to take shape meaningfully in Arunachal only after independence in 1947. Taken together, these factors significantly limited the ability of Arunachal to engage with, and be adequately represented in, the broader socio-cultural and political narratives of the country.
Moreover, the distinct cultural and social practices of the region, deeply rooted in indigenous worldviews, further contributed to its marginal presence in the broader mainstream consciousness.
To bridge this gap, Arunachali writers began writing about their ethnicity, culture, history, myths, and traditions. Through prose and poetry, they sought to preserve their heritage, reclaim their history and offer a deeper understanding of their world. Their writings do not merely describe the beauty of the land but delve into its cultural psychology, collective memory, and socio-political realities.
Literature does not evolve in isolation. Writers are profoundly shaped by their social, economic, political, and cultural environments. This may be the reason literature is often said to mirror society. This is particularly true of writings from Arunachal. Prolific Arunachali writers like Lummer Dai, Yeshi Dorjee Thongchi, Mamang Dai, Yumlam Tana, Taro Sindik, Jamuna Bini, Gumlat Ong Maio, LW Bapu, Subi Taba, Ponung Ering, and Joram Yalam played a vital role in portraying the soul of theirland. Through their work, they explore the tension between tradition and modernity, individual and collective identity, past and present, and politics and development, revealing the cultural fabric and socio-political truths of their land and people.
One of the earliest literary voices from the state was Lummer Dai. His first novel, Paharar Xile Xile (1961), is considered the first novel by an Arunachali writer. When Dai began writing shortly after independence, Arunachal was undergoing a significant social and political transformation, particularly in the educational sector. With increased access to formal education, oral literature started to be transliterated in written form, giving rise to modern literature in Arunachal during the mid-20th century. The amplified momentum in education also spurred an intellectual and cultural revival in the region, leading to the questioning and eventual rejection of harmful traditional practices such as slavery, child marriage, and the exchange of bride price.
With education came literacy, and with it, the transformation of oral literature into written form. Dai used this new platform to campaign for social reform. His stories, rooted in Adi traditions, beliefs, and customs, reflect a society in transition. Writing in Assamese – a result of Arunachal’s administrative association with Assam during the NEFA (North-East Frontier Agency) era – Dai explored the effects of social changes triggered by the spirit of the post-independence era in Arunachal.
Dai in his novels openly critiques harmful traditional practices like slavery and child marriage. Kunyar Mulya (1978), later translated into English as Bride Price, addresses the issue of child marriage, while Paharar Xile Xile portrays the prevalence of slavery in the 1950s among the tribal society of Arunachal. His last novel, Upar Mahal (2003), reflects the evolving socio-political psyche of Arunachal after it attained statehood in 1987.
Yeshi Dorjee Thongchi, a contemporary of Lummer Dai, also wrote extensively in Assamese. He was the first Arunachali writer to receive the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2005 for Mouno Ounth Mukhar Hriday. He also received the Padma Shri in 2020. Retired as a chief information commissioner, Thongchi had the rare opportunity to observe multiple tribal communities of Arunachal firsthand due to his profession. His novels offer vivid portrayals of the cultural life of various tribal communities of Arunachal, such as the Sherdukpen, Monpa, Brokpa, Nyishi, and Pangchenpa.
His first novel, Sonam (1981), captures the customs and lifestyle of the Brokpa tribe, including the practice of polyandry. In Mouno Ounth Mukhar Hriday (2001), he recreates the 1957–58 construction of the first road in NEFA, capturing the bewilderment of local tribes as they encountered motor vehicles and currency for the first time. Sava Kota Manuh (2004) explores the Buddhist ritual of disposing of the dead by cutting the body into 108 pieces, the sacred number of beads in a Buddhist rosary, and feeding them to aquatic creatures.
While Arunachal has experienced significant development, exposure and cultural assimilation with the mainstream over recent decades, this transformation has also brought its own set of challenges, including racial discrimination and cultural prejudice, which reflect the ignorance and stereotyping that communities from the region continue to face across the country.
Furthermore, within the state, rapid infrastructure developments and expansions and modernisation have led to social unrest, political rivalry, corruption, drug abuse, environmental degradation, and the erosion of traditional values. This ongoing transition has triggered cultural amnesia and an identity crisis, particularly among the youths. Faced with this changing reality, a new generation of writers such as Mamang Dai, Yumlam Tana, Taro Sindik, Jamuna Bini, Joram Yalam, GumlatOng Maio, LW Bapu, Subi Taba, Ponung Ering and Jumsi Siram have turned to literature to reflect, preserve, and reclaim their history and heritage.
Among these, Mamang Dai stands out as Arunachal Pradesh’ first woman writer. A Padma Shri (2011) and Sahitya Akademi Award (2017) recipient, Dai blends factual history with oral traditions in her fiction to reimagine the pre-colonial and colonial narratives of her homeland. Her works offer an insider’s perspective on historical events that reshaped Arunachal Pradesh. The Black Hill (2014) explores the imperial consequences of the murder of Jesuit priest Father Krick, while Escaping the Land (2021) revisits the 1911 murder of British officer Noel Williamson and the 1953 Aching Mori incident, both from the lens of the local tribes. In The Legends of Pensam (2006), Dai reconstructs oral myths and folklore to illuminate tribal philosophies and animistic belief systems, portraying them as sources of identity and strength. Nature is the heart of her poetry and serves as an ode to collective memory, forgotten legends, and the land itself. Her poetry celebrates hills, forests, rivers, mountains and myths, grounding the present in a sacred and storied past.
Similarly, Jumsi Siram, the first Hindi writer from Arunachal, fictionalized historical events of the murder of British officer Noel Williamson in his novel Matmur Jamoh: Gumnam Swatantrata Senani (2015), offering a retelling of the 1911 Anglo-Abor conflict from an indigenous perspective.
Writers such as Yumlam Tana, Taro Sindik, and Jamuna Bini chronicle and critique the socio-cultural and political turmoil of contemporary Arunachal. Their poetry and fiction grapple with issues of cultural and identity crisis, corruption, and environmental degradation, therefore painting a realistic portrait of the anxieties and aspirations prevailing in the region.
To challenge apathy and bridge the socio-cultural boundaries, Arunachali writers have creatively fused oral traditions with modern literary forms. This blending, rooted in indigenous sensibilities, offers a rich cultural perspective and acts as a medium of dialogue with the broader national community. Through prose and poetry, Arunachali writers call for empathy, equality, and solidarity, advocating harmony in a diverse and pluralistic nation. This sentiment is powerfully echoed by Yumlam Tana in the following lines in the poem, ‘When an Indian from the Mainland is Knifed in Australia’:
In the land of the Mahatma and Buddha—
In the land where the people venerate
The pir and the baba equally,
There cannot be malice or prejudice…
Tana invokes India’s moral and spiritual heritage to question the existence of prejudice, reaffirming the inclusive values that define the nation. His words resonate with the broader efforts of Arunachali writers to foster mutual respect and understanding across cultural and linguistic boundaries. (Yater Nyokir is a research scholar in the English department of Rajiv Gandhi University, Rono Hills. Her research focuses on the literary tradition of Arunachal)
