Pansy A Jami and Ngoru Nixon
Naga literary writings in English have been on the upswing for the last two decades or so. Achingliu Kamei’s latest volume of poetry titled Songs of Raengdailu: A Book of Poems is a significant addition to the burgeoning corpus. Kamei is a short story writer and poet. She is currently an Associate Professor of English at Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma College, University of Delhi. She had earlier published a collection of Naga folk tales, Naga Tales Dawn, in 2017. In keeping with the spirit of acknowledging its members’ academic/intellectual contributions and achievements, the Naga Scholars’ Association (NSA) organized a virtual book release event of Songs of Raengdailu on October 16, 2021. The book was officially released by Prof. G.J.V. Prasad, formerly Professor of English at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), and a well-known scholar on Indian English writings, translator and poet. Nzanmongi Jasmine Patton, an Associate Professor of English at Gargi College (University of Delhi), orchestrated the event as the moderator.
Writing is not an innocuous undertaking. It excludes, invisiblizes, normalizes, and reinforces the violence of the existing power structure; it can also unveil, violate, and upend the sanctity of that structure. The field of literature is a site where the contestation has been vigorously taking place, especially in the light of the emergence of postcolonial literature. The act of ‘writing back to the center’ has become a defining practice whereby writers from the marginalized and peripheralized worlds write and tell their stories to interrogate and re-write various facets of the dominant discourses. In her introductory statement, Patton alluded to the significance of this act of ‘writing back.’ Having been at the receiving end of being written, the burgeoning of Naga literary writings can reshape and renegotiate the discourse of the margin and the center. Kamei’s book signifies this critical move.
Songs of Raengdailu is a collection of poems written in beguiling narrative and imagery poignantly tinged with, as Prof. Prasad described it, lyricism and grace. The poems in the book are divided into two parts. In a befittingly weaved foreword to the book, Easterine Kire, a celebrated Naga poet and novelist, considered the first part as a geography of poetry and the second part as embodying the activist and feminist. In fact, the title of the book stands as a powerful symbolism of the agential claim of the Naga women. As Kamei explains, the Raengdailu is the personified female counterpart of the Raengdai, the personified male hornbill. For the four cognate Naga tribes-Liangmai, Zeme, Rongmei, and Inpui- the hornbill symbolizes beauty, grace, strength, courage, and integrity. These attributes are shared both by the Raengdailu and the Raengdai—a testament to their equal standing. Kamei chose the title Songs of Raengdailu “to assert women’s voice...to claim the rightful place as the daughter of the land worthy to share the legacy and to push back the patriarchal norm that silenced the womenfolk from the different spheres of life.”
What should a reader expect from this book of poems? Patton observed that the poems exhibit rawness in terms of expressing the feelings of the heart. Concurring on this point, Prof. Prasad remarked that the book packs a punch and that the whole collection of the poems is political poetry at its best. He further added: “when one says political poetry from the North East, one thinks of a political poetry of a certain kind, but she (Kamei) expands the boundary of a political poetry, because she is very aware of what the region had gone through.” A reader of the book will encounter the myriad and multiple levels at which the political vector operates. It is subtly packed in much of the poems under part one of the book. The reminiscence about the enthralling landscapes, flora and fauna, and the evocation and veneration of the ancestors are expressively depicted through the women’s lens without giving way to being solely appropriated by menfolk. In part two of the book, the political aspect emerges more brazenly as the poet narrates about the violence, injustices, and exclusion experienced by Naga women from the patriarchal tide emanating both within and without. The reader will also find a narrative about the violence inflicted on the Naga people.
In the course of her speech during the event, Kamei recounted that some of the poems were centered on the women’s pain and struggles, their contributions to society, and the triumphs of the womenfolk. As a person from the Naga community, she strongly felt that it was her responsibility to record the journey of the people, recognizing that men and women are equal partners in keeping the memory and history of the community. This is accompanied by poems about disappointment and angst aimed against the exclusion of women from the entitlement of equal space. She also referred to the wound that was inflicted on the Naga people and how some of the poems were penned to deal with the pain. The poems, according to her, represent a form of truth-telling. She further took the audience through the journey behind the purpose of writing the book. Nagas come from the tradition of great storytellers but have experienced a disjuncture due to various historical developments. Kamei has attempted to pick up the thread of storytelling to tell about the lived experiences of the Naga people in the form of poetry. According to her, the personas in the poems feel very empowered and happy that the spirits of the ancestors' stories were picked up again and made them relevant for the contemporary young people to go back to their roots and reconnect them to the past.
Songs of Raengdailu provides for fascinating reading and excavation. It presents a powerful rebuke of patriarchy as much as it expressively celebrates the nourishment bestowed by the ancestor/tradition. Kamei creatively navigates between the two lines without pulling the rug from her embedded location. The clarion call in the book is not about displacing men but to assert the equal position of women both as claimant and inheritor of tradition. It is not a bland critique that gets mired in an abyss but one that is richly sourced and informed by the unique situatedness and experiences of Naga women. Scholars from both English literature and across the broader Social Sciences discipline will definitely find the volume captivating and resourceful.
Ngoru Nixon is the President of NSA and Pansy A Jami is an Executive of NSA
