Flip Through Northeast

By Sangeeta Barooah Pisharoty

The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) building in New Delhi. photo: V. Sudershan

Valuable books on Northeast India from IGNCA's permanent collection

Way back in 1954, Assam's celebrated poet and politician Hem Barua said in his popular book “The Red River and The Blue Hill” that there is a lot of sudden interest to know Northeast India. What came of that interest five decades ago is nothing much to write home about, but the former Parliamentarian wrote in its foreword that the idea of the book was triggered by a volley of queries he often came across from people he met in his public life outside Assam.

That budding interest in NE India can be considered somewhat well-bloomed now. A festival of Northeast India or an exhibition of crafts from the region are fairly frequent occurrences in the Capital nowadays. Till early this week, there was a first-of-a-kind inter-cultural dialogue between Northeast India and Southeast Asia — regions that bear many similarities — organized by Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts. On its campus sprawling across many acres in the heart of the city, there was an abundant flow of northeastern food, culture and craft. And yes, there were books too.

Placed on display at the library of IGNCA were over 200 titles pulled out from its permanent collection spanning a multiplicity of subjects on Northeast India. Hem Barua's “The Red River…” was there too. So were many valuable books, some going back to the 1920s.

A couple of interesting titles came to one's notice, like the “Folk Toys of Assam” (Birendranath Dutta), “Ancient Treasures of Assam”, “Folk Songs of Arunachal Pradesh”, “Beliefs and Customs of Assamese Hindus”, “The Arts and Crafts of Nagaland” “Some Cultural and Linguistic Aspects of the Garos”, “Musical Instruments of Arunachal Pradesh”, “Martial Traditions of North East India” and “Bargit as a form of Raga Misra”, besides writings on various tribes, like “Lusai Kuki Clans”, “The Rahas”, “The Rabhas”, and also a very interesting Boro-Assamese dictionary published in the 1960s. Yet another book worth looking at was an English translation of Gunabiram Barua's play “Ram Nabami”. It is arguably Assam's first modern play on a secular theme.

Priceless information

Between covers, one found a host of priceless information in each title. Say, in “Traditional Performing Arts of North East India”, there was a valuable chapter on Sattriya dance and its classifications.

Each classification was well explored in simple language. The makeup and the costume for the dance also got more than a mention. There were other attention-grabbing chapters in the book, like those on the clown plays of Manipur, the traditional Vaishnavite theatre of Assam and puppetry in Assam.

In Dhaneshwar Kalita's “Traditional Performances of South Kamrup”, there were particularly two interesting chapters on lesser known cultural aspects of Assam — Ai Sakalar Naam, a choral tradition prevalent among Assamese women, and Dhol, Tal Kalia, a local aero phone instrument.

Then there were about a dozen manuscripts procured from the private collection of noted contemporary Assamese writer Maheshwar Neog. Interesting titles included “Babruvahanar Yuddha” by Harsha Vipra, “Krishna Bhakti” by Tarangini and “Devotional Songs” by Aniruddha.

The display of books also had the usual suspect of subject matter on the region — like terrorism, Bangladeshi migrants and security threats to NE India.

(One can access the books as an IGNCA library member.)