Kavita Kusugal
Assistant Professor, Dept. of English, Rani Channamma University, Belagavi, Karnataka, India
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Abstract: Pan-Indian literature covers written and oral literature as well. Oral literature was neglected and rejected by the Pandits as they wrongly considered it as the literature without any rules. It was not at all considered as literature by the sophisticated people. Indira Goswami takes a Bodo legend and writes her novel The Bronze Sword of Thengphakri Tehsildar. Her novel is translated into English by Aruni Kashyap. Thengphakri was a first woman tax collector in British Rule. She worked for British government in Bijni Kingdom in Lower Assam in the 19th century. The tribal people are marginalised and their voice was suppressed. But the role of the tribals in freedom movement cannot be side lined. The tribals were fearless and not greedy. So could not be bribed as compared to the urban people. And that is why the British notified these tribals as criminal tribes. This novel gives us a background to know how tribals turned against Britishers. With her ‘long, shiny hair conditioned by elephant-apple juice’, Thengphakhri rode her horse from village to village collecting taxes at a time when, elsewhere in the sub-continent, women seldom stepped out of their homes, child marriages were common and, in a kingdom nearby, five queens burned on their husband’s pyre. The tribal women were free. They were not bonded by Sati and other systems in where in the name of rituals women were exploited. And this gender equality in tribals made them fight equally against British. Thengphakri’s extraordinary valour and her coming out of her innocence and standing for the freedom of India is the plot of this novel. The process of colonizing mind and decolonisation of mind is very skilfully captured by Goswami. The paper presents Thengaphakri’s obedience turning to patriotism in British Rule. And the focus is also on the other patriotic rebels in and around Bijni kingdom setting her mind towards freedom movement.
Key words: Tribals, colonizing the mind, decolonisation of mind, gender equality, patriotism.
Introduction:
The novel The Bronze Sword of Thengphakri Tehsildar written by Indira Goswami in Assamese and translated by Aruni Kashyap in English is thought provoking and reading of it is a thrilling experience. It unravels the British skill of governance. It explores the British way of exploiting the innocence and locals’ ethics for the benefit of the Raj. A very loyal tehsildar, the first woman tehsildar in British rule, a tribal widow wearing men’s cloths and riding horse and serving loyally for British turning gradually a freedom fighter is very beautiful masterpiece of Goswami. The novel makes us look into the ambivalence of British rule, the movement silently growing behind the story of Thengphakri at the background and her gradual growth from innocence to awareness, from mental colonisation to mental decolonisation.
Ambivalence:
Thengphakri was so much influenced by the British officers that she was a staunch believer of British rule. At the same time she loves her kith and kins. Her coming out of ignorance leads her towards freedom movement. And she turns to be a real power of the movement.
In the dialogue between Thengphakri and Macklinson Sahib the reader finds ambiguity.
‘…. Instead of getting substitutes in lieu of unpaid taxes, I have received the half-dead bodies of two of my Izardars. The borkandazes had to carry them on horses and bring them back to the tent. The tax payers wanted to kill those izardars’.
Thengphakri said, “ Sahib, do not worry. In our society, people have great respect for women.’
This cultural identity, loyalty and the innocence of Thengphakri is exploited by the British officers.
Macklinson say, ‘Remember, we shall turn this beautiful land into an Eden. It is because of our efforts that you will not smell the burnt flesh of sati but instead you will get the light of Western education. Thengphakri, your children will get the light of education. They will be able to live like proper human beings’ (63)
But at the same time Macklinson and his subordinates kill the poor tax payers inhumanely. They treat the locals as if they are savages.
The Silent Movement at the Backdrop:
Though the bronze sword is silent throughout the novel and it is raised only at the end of the novel, the local insurgencies, her uncle’s involvement in the rebellion, the family members help to the organisation of the freedom fighters coming from different regions create a silent scene of freedom movement as a torrent flows underneath earth with force without showing its face and suddenly somewhere appears with violent force.
Thengphakri got the sword in her childhood. Her uncle Musahari told her, ‘These are a specific kind of swords that are used for animal sacrifice in the temple of Mother Kamakhya’. He asked her, ‘Do you know why Goddess has given you this sword?’ She understood but did not say anything. She let her uncle speak. Few days ago few revolutionary young men were killed. Throughout the novel Thengphakri and her bronze sword are silent. But inherent unseen movement within her develops.
When her uncle who had brought her up was killed by the British she fell down beside his legs. These are the incidents she comes to know of the activities of local youths to free the nation. She also comes to know of the patriotism of her uncle.
The Gradual Decolonisation of Thengphakri’s Mind:
There are instances in the novel of some people suggesting Thengphakri of the reason for her existence. First, her maternal uncle was found saying her that ‘the Goddess Shakti had gifted her with sword to protect her land from the marauders’. Second, when a team of travellers, who later, as Musahir told them, were spies of British, visit Thengphakri’s house her grandfather Tribhubon Bahadur innocently, narrates proudly that, Raja Vijaynarayan was the first martyr of India. The next day her uncle Musahir was shot dead by the British soldiers. The third incident; On Unnikhuri bank at night in the tent she heard some voice calling her from outside by her name. She rushed out to see and finds that everyone had slept in tents as if by the magic of what they had drunk. The beauty of the nature mesmerises her. Clark’s body guard talks to her. She was given food in the tent and sleeps. At midnight she was woken up by a song which only she could understand. The song said to her, ‘come outdoors, under the shadow of the moon, under the shadow of the sun, King Ramochondro is standing under the shade of beach wood, ghugura and jarul trees. When she comes out listening to that song her faithful borkandaze Roopsingh Dofadar comes near her as if he was waiting for her and whispers in her ear, “The Prince is here. He wants to talk to you. He will be staying here for a while and then board the boat upstream to Jogighupa!”
No one knew the whereabouts of the Prince. But it was the prince who was uniting the young men of the region to revolt against the White. In that amazing moonlight she saw a man coming towards her. He was standing under a banyan tree. This experience of night gives her new enlightenment, a new awareness, a new awakening in her. By the time she comes to her senses so many thoughts come to her mind and she is mentally troubled. She is tormented between her loyalty to the profession and loyalty to the mother land. She turns back and enters her tent. Throughout the novel she is silent only at the end she opens her actual voice and takes her decision. Throughout the novel her sword is not used. It is only at the end she raises her sword for a purpose with confidence of freeing the Prince, the leader of freedom movement.
Conclusion:
In representing Indian freedom struggle Thengphakri and the Prince’s sacrifice stands at the top. In the paper it is also discussed how the innocence and weak points are exploited by the British rule. The British service to nation and the British loot of the nation are presented parallelly in the novel. The skill of the novelist is very effectively brought out in the tehsildar Thenghaphakri’s turning to become the saviour of Prince, the uniting force of freedom fighters.
The sword which was never used in the novel was like Thengphakri’s silence. The moment she raises the sword she had taken a decision. She declared she will come back to her motherland. In her the reader finds the light of Prince, the spark of freedom. Raising the sword symbolises her firm voice.
Works cited:
Basujune Kankana (online Review updated on June 01,2013) The Bronze Sword of Thengphakri Tehsildar; Indira Goswami.
Daimari Arlene and Hunjili Katharpi ‘Mimicry, Ambivalence and Hybridity : A postcolonial Reading of Indira Goswami’s The Bronze Sword of Thengphakri Tehsildar’ Research Journal of English Language
Goswami Indira Tr. By Aruni Kashyap ‘The Bronze Sword of Thengphakhri Tehsildar’ Pub. Zubaan, New Delhi. 2013. eBook ISBN : 9789383074242.
SaikiaTejoswita ‘The Conspiracy of Silence in Mamoni Raisom Goswami’s the Bronze Sword of Thengphakri Tehsildar’ IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science (IOSR-JHSS) Vol.21,Issue 1, Ver.1 (Jan.2016) PP 50-53e-ISSN: 2279-0837, p-ISSN: 2279-0845. www.iosrjournals.org
(The paper was received on June 30th, 2022. It was sent for blind peer review on 5th July and after review it was received back from the reviewer/s on 25th July 2022.)
