interview published in the northeast review, issue 3, march-april 2013

‘PREVIOUSLY, EACH AND EVERY COMMUNITY OF ASSAM HAD EQUAL RIGHT OVER THE ASSAMESE LANGUAGE’

Diganta Oza in Conversation with Geetashree Tamuly

Edited version of the original Axamiya interview. Translated by Hemchandra Dutta.

In Asomiya Samaj Jivanar Bibartan (2011) Diganta Oza raises some essential questions about the formation of Assamese identity and nationalism. By drawing from various sources such as history, anthropology, folklore and legend, the book foregrounds some fundamental doubts and suspicions about linguistic nationalism of Assamese middle class that emerged in 19th century. Despite some vague and contradictory statements, the book fills a an important void that the current researchers have been unable to address. While reading the book, certain questions occurred in my mind. This interview is a result of those doubts. – Getahsree Tamuly.

Gitashree Tamuli: You have written, ‘When attacked by a powerful culture, the weaker cultures are merged within the powerful one – it is a natural law of sociology.’ (p-69). Do you think that this opinion cast on the context of aryanisation in ancient Assam is equally applicable in case of the British colonial rule? How will you compare these chapters in the history of Assam?

Diganta Oza: Well, my opinion is related to the context of the growth and expansion of Brahmanism in ancient Assam. This region was originally dominated by the tribes or tribal communities. Brahmanism entered this region with a planned policy to accept and reform many lores and rituals of the distinct tribes or tribal communities of Kamrup Asom, initiating the process of Aryanisation. First, the bearers of Brahmanism aimed to consolidate the cultural base through a cultural metamorphosis and they were successful in this. The carriers of Brahmanism yoked the bigger tribes of the mongloid stock like the Ahoms and the Sutiyas to the stories and sub-stories of Brahmanism.

They entered the region to shape the area or the society according to their own cultural paradigms. Did the British come to Assam with that aim in view? They never came with such intentions. The chief and only motive of the British was to control the economic resources of Assam.

The issues such as conflicts, assimilation or submersion and control do not come to the forefront so often if a distance is maintained between the ruler and the ruled; that’s what happened in case of the British rulers. The East India Company was cautious enough from the beginning so that they wouldn’t have to face a cultural resistance in Assam. The company did not allow the Christian missionaries to expand their religion for a pretty long period of time. William Carey left no stone unturned to get permission to spread Christianity. However, the officials of the East India Company were themselves Christian by religion. These were much before the Company had occupied Assam. These examples sheds light on the British colonial mentality. Though they consciously avoided the avenues of cultural conflicts and assimilation, they did not exercise the influence of their economy-based culture leading to transitions in the lifestyle of the people of Assam. This theory of this region’s submission to Brahmanism is not applicable when it comes to British colonialism.

Gitashree Tamuli: You have written –‘the superiority complex and colour-based division grew mainly through education, which started paralyzing the cordial environment from the 19th century.’(P-173) Accepting the new aristocratic class formed through education, I would like to ask you if there had been an environment of cordiality in real sense in Assam prior to 19th century. Was it that the new educated section failed to make them zealous and free enough to overcome the colour-based superiority complex of the feudal society for a revolutionary change? Have you observed the distant past from a romantic perspective while critically evaluating the learned section of the 19th century?

Diganta Oza: It is a nice question –however you should observe the context in which I have cast that opinion. I have drawn the context of cordiality with regards to language. The Assamese language as we have accepted today was formed through the process of exchange between different communities for long and the vocabulary of the language was enhanced as a result of association between different communities. In this process, many communities abandoned their own languages for good.

For example I have referred to the language called Nara in this context. This language, about which George Abraham Grierson mentioned in his Linguistic survey of India (1904) nowhere exists today.

Let us consider the case of the Sonowals, a great and culturally rich community of Assam. Did not they have their own language? Don’r you think a sense of linguistic cordiality is required to abandon one’s own language for a greater interest?

Let us take the case of the Ahoms. The sentence, which you have quoted from mine, is used in this context. The Kacharis, a book written after keen observation by S Andel towards the end of the 19th century, mentions clearly that the writer never happened to meet a single Bodo person in Darang who neither knew the Assamese language nor could speak it. Many Bodo and Mising people abandoned their own language as they began speaking the Assamese language. Doesn’t this underline an atmosphere of linguistic cordiality? Previously, each and every community of Assam had equal right over the Assamese language: it was never the sole possession of a single community. Yes, colour differentiation largely held sway during those times. I have clearly illustrated about how the roots of the four colour-based social divisions that sprouted among the communities of mongoloid or austric stock, soon after the arrival of the Brahmanism in 5th century. Doesn’t it indicate that there existed certain rifts and conflicts?

Those may exist even today, though they enjoyed reciprocal association while living in a particular tract of land. Otherwise, a utopian socialism would have come in to being many years ago. In my earlier book Sandhikhanat Manuh, I have mentioned that such a form of socialism was a mere concept only. In case of Buddhism, the religion was practiced in private, leading to the eruption of the Tantra. Sankardeva describes his meeting with a Tatakiya Buddhist disciple in hisGuru Charit. The neo-vaishnavite movement of the fifteenth century was aimed to eradicate the caste system from Assam. The Ekxoron Nam Dhormo propounded bySrimanta Sankardev was never devoid of class distinction.

In the appendix of my book I have also referred to what Miles Bronson observed in the 19th century society of Assam and I have pointed out that all the love and kindness of the missionaries turned futile due to the force of caste based divisions, which gained momentum after Swargadeo Rudrasingha had ignored the advice of his father who’d directed him not to believe the pathalifota and placing Krishnananda Bhattacharya as the Parvatiya Gossain.

The problem lies in the fact that the class enlightened by modern education of 19th century ignored this social background in their attempt to mould society. The Assamese middle class of that time primarily showed interest towards Bangla, as they are inclined now towards English. This fondness created sense of inferiority for Assamese as a language, the attempt to get rid of it by giving it the status of a standard language, which was already a common language formed by different communities in Assam and like the Bangla how it was successfully aryanised and distanced from tribal dominated society.

In fact, these are the causes for which I have blame the newly educated class. However, those have been discussed in intensely positive perspective by researchers till now.

If you overcome that sentiment and logically analyze the situation, you will identify that much of the causes of the social malaise of our time are rooted in the activities of the newly educated Assamese middle-class of 19th century. My goal was not to project the past as better or the society before 19th century as an ideal society. You have rightly said that the newly educated section failed to make them free from the influence of the class distinction of feudal society to a larger extent.

Gitashree Tamuli: According to you the newly educated class of 19^thCentury Assam who went to Calcutta for study suffered from inferiority complex in presence of the Bengalis, created a language-based separate identity and ‘knew no bounds in the emotions of superiority feeling’. If that is the case, then how will you explain the nationalism that came into form in the 19th century centering Bangla as a language? Is the nationalism in Bengal the result of the inferiority complex in the presence of the British?

What is the volume of co-operation or apathy of the litterateurs or intellectuals to the anti-dam movement or peasant agitations etc? How much of the apathy is controlled by class interest and will of the rulers?

Diganta Oza: It is true that the attempt for a status is generated to overcome the inferiority complex. The social background or formative period of Bangla and Assamese are not the same. Bangla had her status much before the attempt to form a nationalism based on Assamese was generated. That language was circulated in the printed form. The Bangla newspaper like Samasar Darpan or Samasar Sandrikahad their readership in Assam also. The language based map of India, which was published from Srirampur Missiom Press in 1822 referred to the language of this area as Asom. However the language of Bengal was referred to as the “Bengalese”. I have incorporated that map in my book.

The truth that ‘the Bangla is Aryan in origin’ was established much before that. The language had her nourishment as Bangla or Bengali. The notion of Bangali had its circulation in Assam from Bengal itself. However, no language known as Assamese was established in Assam till then. The language in circulation was known as deshi language. The deshi language was also formed by assimilation among different communities. However, instead of this deshi language, the high-class people resorted to Bangla.

We must not forget that the concept of nationality was given a global status towards the end of the 18^th Century. Since the British had pitched their camps there, the newly educated class of Bengal had an introduction with nationality at that very moment, leading to linguistic nationalism there. Moreover, Bangla itself was fit enough as a medium to establish the concept of nationality. The linguistic nationalism of Bengal had its heyday at the time when students of Assam went to Calcutta for study. So, the Assamese students there attempted to establish the common language of Assam as not inferior in quality at all, made it Aryan in origin and tried to garner the essence from the past.

Gitashree Tamuli: You have pointed out the weaknesses of linguistic nationalism in Assam. Was not it a historic need for the newly born middle class under the colonial rule to use the language as means for the formation of the society? How will you evaluate the influence of the struggle of them against Bangla as a language?

Diganta Oza
“Kamrupi language was different from Asomiya”

Diganta Oza:. We must recall that the language problem of our state has been often discussed in the light shed in 19th or 20th century. Does it mean that the language did not have a role to play in the formation of the society before 19th century as you have said that that the language was used as a means? Didn’t the Ahoms, who set foot in Saumer in 13th century, accept the local language?

It is true that until reorganized by the British, there was distinction in administrative and social set-ups at present day Upper and Lower Assam. Almost all the communities had links with the language in circulation in the Assam ruled by the Ahoms. That was a common language that was resorted to by many of them, following law of socio-linguistics. I have already referred to Sonowal and Nara languages. The phenomenon was somewhat different in Lower Assam.

While attempting to form an Assamese nation in Assam, we never considered the aspects like the probable position of the Karbis, the role of the Bodos etc. … There is blemish in the very preamble of an Assamese nation.

So, we must keep in the mind that the name of the dictionary written by Rushinath Kamrupi in 1810 was known as Asomiya and Kamrupi Bhasar Abhidhan. That theKamrupi language was different from Asomiya is proved by the publication of the ‘Kamrupir patra’ in the Assam Bandhu later on.

Despite all these, a common language was formed covering Upper and Lower Assam to exchange communication. Many words of Lower Assam that got entry in to the writings of Sankardev touched hearts of all people in Assam. Everybody had equal right over this common language because the Bodos, Sutiyas, Garos, Morans, Kochs, Karbis, Misings or other communities, nourished it. But, this common language was taken away from its makers in the venture to give it a standardized status.

I have said this because this language was established as supposed to be of Aryan in origin in an attempt to make it no inferior in quality to Bangla. The newly born middle class did not look in to the real scenario, but stressed on according it a standardized status. The language, which was so long used by the makers, turned unfamiliar to them when ban or laws were imposed upon it. As a result, it rightfully got the equal status of Bangla, but it was distanced from the main tribal society. For such reasons, the Bodos who said ‘We Bodos are by no means call us other than Assamese’ before Simon Commission later on turned suspicious as not being Assamese. Mahichandra Miri vented anguish in the pages of Setana. The Khasis expressed their woes against the aggression of Assamese. However, the study of leading scholars, like Dr Pramod Chandra Bhattacharya or Dr Upen Rabha Hakasam, has shown that there are greater elements other than the Aryans in Assamese language and culture.

Gitashree Tamuli: According to you, the British rulers were successful in their attempt to separate the young generation of Assam from the national consciousness grown in Bengal. Did not the educated class of Bengal show equal apathy towards peasants’ uprising and the Sepoy mutiny? How much was the educated class influenced by class interest and conspiracy by the rulers? Do not you feel that the educated class in Assam responded to Indian nationalism through the process of compromise and limitation from the initial stage?

Diganta Oza: The matter related to class interest and conspiracy by the rulers is like the activities of a helping maid. Let us analyze the present scenario in Assam. What is the volume of co-operation or apathy of the litterateurs or intellectuals to the anti-dam movement or peasant agitations etc? How much of the apathy is controlled by class interest and will of the rulers? The rulers always announce prizes and awards to the litterateurs or intellectuals whenever social unrest, movements or agitations come in to surface. In such as a background, the interest of the litterateurs or the intellectuals remains intact even if they do not show resistance to them. Can such announcement be called a conspiracy by the ruling class or not? How many of the college teachers will come and join an agitation in the street at a time when they are being paid higher package of salary, given loans for car and flat at reasonable interest along with 6-7 hour compulsory attendance in the classes in the name of reformation in education? How can we evaluate the backgrounds of class interest or conspiracy? I hope, the answer to your query lies here.

Yes, the educated class of Bengal didn’t voice their concern during the Sepoy Mutiny. However, Dinabandhu Mitra wrote a play, paying tribute to the bereaved farmers of the Indigo mutiny, which took a massive form soon after the Sepoy Mutiny. Michael Madhusudan Datt translated that play in to English. After publishing that book, Reverend James Long had to pay a fine of certain amount of money, which was paid by another leading personality of Bengal renaissance Kaliprasanna Sinha. It was how the middle class Bengalis stood for interest of the bereaved farmers. Harichandra Mukherjee wrote columns in the Hindu Patriot for favor of the peasants.

Interestingly, no Assamese educated fellow voiced his concern during the farmers’ agitation that came into action in the second half of 19th century. The history is silent about this. It means the ruler was successful to create an environment in Assam, which was not triggered by the middle class in Bengal. From the inception of Assam Association down to the formation of Assam Congress or the association of the middle class of Assam in the national congress in the second decade of the 19th century –there was no response to Indian nationalism in Assam.

Gitashree Tamuli: It can be said that the language-based nationalism in Assam was an attempt to consolidate the hegemony of middle class Assamese-speaking people. How will you evaluate the politics of identity of language-based tribal communities in such situations? What kind of link or inter-link do you observe in social background in Assam among community-consciousness, colour-consciousness and class-consciousness?

Diganta Oza: The linguistic hegemony of the Assamese speaking middle class posed anxiety and doubt to the middle class of different communities resulting in politics for identity of the tribal languages. In this regard, we can take it for granted that the word ‘politics’ as used in your question and that too in my reply is not used in the insular sense. Men may have consciousness of class, community and colour in their own positions: but they may be unified when they came out of their positions and move through social consciousness as the concept of individual to family and family to society is created by man alone.

Gitashree Tamuli: How long do you think the social unity feasible in the classified fabric of a multi-lingual, multi-cultural society? Is there any impact of the much circulated notion that globalization may make nationalism meaningless when you propose for social unity rather than the national one? Do you think it is possible to base social unity merely on good will while avoiding issues like land relations, acquisition and distribution of resources or possession of power?

Diganta Oza: I believe cultural consciousness induces man to unity. However, there is an inseparable relation of culture with economy. Therefore, we cannot avoid issues like land-relation and property. I want to give you an example. Almost all the indigenous communities in Assam have been celebrating Bihu according to their own traditions. Bihu is related to cultivation? Cultivation means the relation between land and labour. Therefore, we cannot avoid the aspects of social unity and togetherness with exclusion of economy.

There remain some common elements in a multi-lingual, multi- cultural society. Such common elements would contain a society in future. The point is those common elements must be searched with sheer interest and with robust good will. Such quests would lead us not only to common elements but also to elements of togetherness as well. While attempting to form an Assamese nation in Assam, we never considered the aspects like the probable position of the Karbis, the role of the Bodos etc. Such aspects are not pondered even today. It means there is blemish in the very preamble to Assamese as a nation. It is the reason for which I have stressed on the social unity instead of the national one. Let us take a family as an example. There must be an intact cordial relation among all the members if the family is to exist. That cordial nature can be maintained while retaining one’s own identity. It is equally applicable in case of society also. My aim was to establish the fact that the very attempt to Assamese nationalism was an erroneous one. The book has not been written keeping in mind the concept of globalization you have mentioned. I have shed light on how globalization has affected Assamese society in a separate chapter.

Diganta Oza is the author of two books, Asomiya Samaj Jivanar Vivartan (2012) and Sandhikhanat Manuh, for which he won the Munin Borkotoky Literary Prize. He is the Executive Editor of the Assamese monthly, Satsori.

Geetrashree Tamuly an Assistnt Professor at B Barooah College, Gauhati University and is the author of Uribo Pora Hole Akou Jujiloheten : a book on on Jyotiprasad Agarwala, co-written with Akhil Gogoi, Alokar Jatri (eco-dited with Akhil Gogoi), and lots of critical essays on literature and Assamese society.