Literature of the Bodo of Assam: From Tradition to Modernity

Although an ancient language rich in oral traditions, there is no evidence to testify that the Bodo language, a language of the indigenous Bodo community of Assam and Northeast India, had a tradition of writing in the past. The language was confined to its spoken form until the second decade of the twentieth century so that it cannot really be compared to other developed languages of India like Assamese, Bengali and Marathi, which have traditions of written literature dating back to the 14th century or earlier. Even the Manipuri language, a language of the Sino Tibetan family, saw literary efflorescence much earlier than the Bodo language – mainly due to the socio cultural awakening that came to Manipuri people through the connection with Bengal Vaishnavism. This socio cultural awakening came to the Bodo after the Brahma movement launched by Kalicharan Brahma in the first decade of the 20th century.

In the second decade of the twentieth century, the Christian missionaries who penetrated the Bodo speaking areas published some books on religion, tales, rhymes, songs and grammar. They wrote books mostly in English with examples in the Bodo language. The most noteworthy contributions were a book on grammar by Sidney Endle in 1884 and a monograph on the ethnic community 1911. Anderson’s collection of folktales and rhymes (1895) is of seminal significance as it unfolded the hidden treasure of Boro folklore to the world.

But Boro literature proper developed when the native speakers became conscious about the significance of writing culture. The religious and social reform movement led by Gurudev Kalicharan Brahma in the first decade of the last century created awareness among the people. The first Bodo magazine Bibar was published in 1920. Already a book on Bodo customary laws was published in 1915 by Habargaht Bodo Sammilani of Dhudhnoi. Two collections of Bodo poems by M.R. Brahma and Rupnath Brahma (jointly with M R Brahma) were published in 1923 and 1926. These are Bodoni Gudi Sibsa Arw Aroj [Hymns and prayer songs of the Bodo] and Khonthai Methai [poems and lyrics].

After Bibar, magazines like Zenthokha [1926], Hathorkhi Hala [1932], Alongbar (1938) were published. Literature in the various genres, like essay, story and drama, began to be written. Essays and critical writings on social issues were directed towards the necessity of social reform and social awareness. A good number of Bodo plays were written or adapted or translated from Bengali plays to be staged in the open-air theatre in remote villages. The plays thus staged in open-air stages aimed at social reform and creating awareness among the Bodo. Dramatists like Dwarendra Basumatary, Satish Basumatary, Umesh Ch. Mosahary, and Modaram Brahma wrote social, historical and fictitious plays to be performed in the open-air stage. These playwrights endeavored to transform their plays into a strong instrument of social reform.

The modern period in Bodo literature coincides with the formation of the Bodo Sahitya Sabha in 1952. The search for identity assumed a concrete shape and the Bodo language was introduced as the medium of instruction in the primary stage in 1963 and in the secondary stage in 1968. Gradually the number of books published went on increasing by leaps and bounds. Poets and authors devoted themselves to the writing of poems, short stories, novels, biography, literary criticism and so on. Some authors took great interest in the collection and printing of oral tales, songs, and proverbs. The poets and authors of this period were greatly influenced by the literary traditions of Bengali and Axamiya literature.

The literature of the period is characterized by novelty, variety and search for new techniques and modes of expression. Poets like Prasenjit Brahma, Jagadish Brahma, S. Brahma Chowdhury, Brajendra Kr. Brahma, Surath Narzary and others have immensely contributed to enrich the mainstream of modern Bodo poetry. Novelist like Chittaranjan Mosahary, M.R. Lahary, Dharanidhar Wary, Nandeswar Daimary, Kanteswar Brahma, and Katindra Swargiary have written the best novels on progress made in the social and cultural lives of the Bodo. Among the Bodo short story writers Ishan Moshahary, Nilkamal Brahma, M.R. Lahary, Dharani Wary, Prasenjit Brahma, Haribhusan Brahma, and Nandeswar Daimary have written the best ever stories with a consciousness equally for social realism and the technique of story telling.

A galaxy of authors and essayists has also taken to writing essays and literary criticism. Among them Mohini Mohan Brahma, Ramdas Basumatary, Kamal Kr. Brahma, Madhu Ram Boro, M.R. Lahary, Brajendra Kr. Brahma, Lakhyeswar Brahma, Kameswar Brahma and others may be mentioned. A group of enthusiastic authors have taken to writing children’s literature, travelogues and biographies in the Bodo language. The number of journals is also on the increase; but a majority of them have been short lived.

The number of modern plays however is very low. Dramatists like Kamal Kr. Brahma, Mongal Singh Hajowary, M.R. Lahary, and Janak Jhankar Narzary have written social and historical plays. The younger generation of authors and poets who started their career in the 1980’s or 1990’s has enriched contemporary Bodo literature. Poets like Aurobindo Uzir, Bijoy Baglary, Anju, Anil Boro, Soroj Bwismutiary, Bisnujyoti Kacahry, Nandeswar Boro and many others have enriched modern Bodo poetry with innovative style and poetic language. There are some poets and authors whose rootedness and link with tradition is very strong and refreshing. Bihuram Boro, a sustained worker and organizer engaged in the functioning of the Bodo Sahitya Sabha, has enriched Bodo poetry by rejuvenating narrative verse in the tradition of medieval kavya literature. We can compare the rich poetic quality explored by the poet with the medieval Vaishnavite kavya literature and with Milton’s Paradise Lost. It has all the richness and beauty of narrative verse. The great poet has successfully experimented with metrical schemes like Dulori, Chabi, Kusummala in Bodo narrative verse. Other poets like Kamakhya Brahma Narzary, Soneswar Boro and Maheswar Narzary have also endeavored to write narrative verse of this variety.

The age of Bodo written literature is hardly ninety years. In this short span, the literature written and published in the Bodo language has come up as an emerging force in the whole of Northeast India. The hope lies with the younger generation of poets and authors who have consciously taken to the art of writing poetry and other genres in Bodo language. Poets like Aurobindo Uzir, Anju Basuamatary and Bijoy Bagalry have written the finest poems the language can boast of. In their poetry there is a conscious attempt to experiment with poetic language and rhythm, and to project poetic idiom and speech as assertion of ethnic identity.

Many of the younger poets draw their inspiration from the Bodo people’s struggle for the assertion of linguistic and cultural identity. Like their predecessors, these poets draw sustenance from the people’s consciousness about ethnicity. Aurobindo Uzir best exemplifies this in the following poem:

Where we start from is not their end,
Where they end is where we start from
The end that is endless.
The mwitha dembai plant becomes restless
To listen to the beat of kham
The Goddess of love comes flying
Through the stem of gangamala Someone asked the solitude of the night:
Who plays the serja?
The embankment of voice powder
Erected before the Siju plant…
(Uzir 1985: 33)

If contemporary Indian poetry in the regional languages is a conglomeration and fusion of multiple voices, the voice of Bodo poetry should definitely be considered one of them. “It is a voice still unheard in the midst of multiple dominant voices. It is the duty of the Bodo poets and authors to make their poetic voices audible.” (Boro 2004)

The authors and poets writing in the Bodo language have relied heavily on the oral traditional material and conventional forms already existing in the literature of eastern India. The driving force of inspiration for the writing of a majority of the authors and poets is the assertion of ethnic identity and elevation of the status of the Bodo language to the level of a dignified and honored Indian language. The literature written in the Bodo language cannot be compared with the literatures of developed languages like Bengali, Malayalam, Marathi, Assamese and Hindi. Rather it deserves to be studied in a comparative frame-work with newly emerging languages like Santhali, Maithili, Manipuri, Sindhi and so on.

Reference:

Boro, Anil. 2004. The Flute and the Harp: Essays on Bodo Literature and Culture. Guwahati: GBD.
----------. 2001. Folk literature of the Bodos: An Introduction. Guwahati: Adhunik Prakashan.
----------. 1998. Adhunik Bodo Sahitya. Guwahati: Charu Prakashan.
Boro, Bihuram. 1984. Gibi Bithai. Rowta Chariali: Lolita Boro Publication.
Devi, G. N. 1995. After Amnesia: Tradition and Change in Indian Literature. New Delhi: Orient Longman.
Satchidanandan, K. (ed.) 2001. Indian Poetry: Modernism and After. New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi.
Uzir, Aurobindo. 1995. Mwndangthini Rwjabthai. Guwahati.