Guwahati, Nov. 8: When Anurag Mahanta went to Myanmar as an Ulfa militant through Nagaland, he saw how the common Naga people were influenced by the Naga movement for independence.
Many a times, Mahanta had to stay in Naga villages on his way to his destination. And, during his journey through thick, inaccessible jungles in the hills, Naga people voluntarily served to carry the militants' belongings - like they did for other Naga insurgent groups. They thought it was their "responsibility" for the "independ" (independence) that was "coming".
Mahanta's 16-year association with Ulfa came to an end when the Royal Bhutan Army launched Operation All Clear to flush out Ulfa from its territory. Mahanta was in Bhutan at that time and managed to survive. He returned to Assam, started life anew with a bookstall in Upper Assam's Sivasagar district and started writing about what he had seen in Naga society.
Kongliangor Maat (The Voice of Kongliang), a novel in Assamese, was the result of Mahanta's four-year-long effort, which was released here today. It was also the first book by Adharxila, an organisation formed in 2011 by Sahitya Akademi award winner and author of Makam, Rita Chowdhury, exclusively to encourage and guide young writers.
Adharxila selected six promising writers to write research-oriented creative books.
Chowdhury said three more books written by Monalisha Saikia, Gitali Bora and Pankaj Gobinda Medhi would be published next month.
" Kongliangor Maat does not chronicle the history of the independence movement by the Nagas. It is neither on the necessity of the movement nor on its future. It is about how the movement has influenced the common people," said Mahanta.
Mahanta's first book, Aulingor Jui, was also based on insurgency in the Northeast that earned him good response from the readers.
"After Aulingor Jui, I could not write a second book. It became possible only because of Adharxila. When Chowdhury baideo (sister) invited me to become a part of Adharxila and when I understood the noble cause of the organisation, I could not but agree# to it," said Mahanta.
Kongliang - as believed by the Aos - a major Naga community, is a bird that was born from the soul of a girl who committed suicide after being subjected to torture by her elder sister. For the Naga people, the voice of the bird is a call for jhum (shifting) cultivation.
Writer Phanindra Kumar Dev Choudhury, known for his novel Anuradhar Dex (The Land of Anuradha), released Kongliangor Maat and said the voice of Kongliang had another meaning - a call by the oppressed for independence.
Chowdhury said the voice of Kongliang is "the voice of a society and tells what society wants."
