MK Binodini’s centenary celebration to highlight oral literature
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James Khangembam
Contd from prev issue
For instance, David Peterson is coming to the Listener to deliver a talk on Wonder Child. It is a story of a child whose father was killed and his sons when they are on a mission of revenge. In some versions, the mother delivers the son while in other versions, a sister delivers a child while they are away. The boy has superpowers and he takes revenge for his slain father and brothers. This particular story is told in many Kuki chin languages according to David, and there are different versions of the story from South Western Tibet to South East Asia including Thadou and Manipuri. The Wonder Child version in Manipuri is called Lai Pangganba. How did this story travel ? How the variations happen ? It is because of the fact that the story was not written or printed. That is the beauty of languages and orality.
Q: So the festival is about Oral literature ?
A: Sometimes people consider a community without a script to be less developed. Or that they do not have literature. I say, not so fast; how dare they ! Without knowing a language or understanding its expressions, how can anyone declare that what is oral and tribal is not literature ? Song writer Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize for Literature. It is still in question whether the song lyrics could be considered as literature. The answer Bob Dylan gave when asked on this point was–it is and it is not. What an answer. So we are also going to be questioning and extending ideas. Are Tangkhul lyrics written by Ngachonmi Chamroy for Rewben Mashangva poetry - is it literature? If Gulzar’s song can be literature why not Chamroy’s ? Just because you happen to know Urdu, or Hindi and he is famous cannot be the parameter. I am yet to understand the quality of the lyrics of Rewben’s songs. Just because we do not know the lyrics, we cannot claim that it is not literature. This is a question I am asking. I am pushing the envelope; we are going to push the envelope of definitions of category.
Q: Tell me something about MK Binodini’s work in connection to Oral Literature ?
Ans : Song lyrics are written to be heard. The words become complete when music is added and then it becomes a song. It is not written to be read, but heard. Roop Raag, which she dearly loved and was housed in her own residence in Yaiskul, will be performing some of the songs written by MK Binodini at the opening of The Listener to start the process of questioning and discussion. Language is first spoken. Writing comes later. Tangkhul, Mizo or Ao, their stories will come alive with performances even if not written in a book format. Coming up with a script is itself a technology. Printing is also a technology. Starting in the 1920s with the birth of radio transmission, came the form called the radio plays. For MK Binodini, more than the novels, more than song lyrics, more than the short stories she is famous for, MK Binodini’s favorite literary genre was the radio plays, as filmmaker and artistic collaborator Aribam Syam Sharma once said to me. That may be the reason why her dialogues are marvellous and seen in her film screenplays. Imagi Ningthem and Asangba Nongjabi are radio plays. They were made into films later.
The radio play is a magical form. Each listener’s imagination while listening to a particular radio play differs from other listeners’ and that is the beauty of this form. There are a lot of special techniques when writing a radio play. It is written for a listening audience. Some say the radio play is not the form of oral literature. But this festival we are going to celebrate is not an academic conference. I am not an academic, so I am free to explore. Even song lyrics are a point of discussion. Some hold that any writing with an author is not oral literature. They consider folk to be the same as oral literature. Maybe yes, maybe no. Maybe there is oral literature with an author. Can we say that MK Binodini’s song lyric does not come under oral literature because it has an author ? Film screenplays are also written for filming not for reading purposes.
So it will be interesting to discuss these points at the festival.
Q: I heard that MK Binodini’s novel ‘The Princess and Political Agent' is included in Modern Classics by Penguin ?
Ans : Yes, my translation of MK Binodini’s Boro Saheb Ongbi Sanatombi is published as a Penguin Modern Classic, the first of its kind from North East India. So it is placed among famous writers of India in the Penguin classic series such as Rabindranath Tagore, Raja Rao etc. The Princess and Political Agent has also been chosen as one of 35 books by Penguin to celebrate 35 years in India. The special collector’s edition was published last November and we are doing a book launch during the festival. Penguin is also bringing out an audio book of my reading of my translation “The Princess and Political Agent” by MK Binodini. It will be available at Amazon's audible.com. It is going to be Manipur’s first audio book.
So I am a performer now as I read the audio book ? Amusing. While recording, I read over 8 days from 10 am to 3 pm. The entire audiobook of the novel will be 9 hours long.
Q: Oral Literature comes with technology in modern times ?
Ans: Yes, I think technology also impacts upon orality. How can audio books come about without digital technology? Or the podcast. Like, you need a radio to have the radioplay.
Q: Khongjom Parva is a rich oral tradition ?
Ans : There will be a Khongjom Parba performance by Sundari in the festival. Dhobi Leinou’s interpretation of Khongjom War, as an eye witness, or Sundari’s interpretation, is a point of view of the vanquished. We take pride in the story that our soldiers put up a fight against the British. Dhobi Leinou’s writing and MK Binodini’s writing on the Khongjom War are different in form as one is a song, the other is a historical novel. We Manipuris remember the Khongjom War by song. It is not remembered by visual arts or photography. Manipur does not have a strong culture of painting and sculpture. Not every culture has distinguished in every art form. The big ones have, but the English do not have classical dance; they have great poetry. The dance of the Royal English Ballet comes from France. For Manipur, dance and music are world class.
Q : What would be the takeaway from the festival by the public?
Ans: A Collaborative scholarship workshop by CIIL is featured. A culture can begin to understand itself only by comparison and juxtaposition with other cultures. We need collaborative study with the outside world or else North East culture will be repeatedly discussed internally; we would be studying only what we already know. But if we compare our manuscripts to Hindu manuscripts or Egyptian manuscripts, we will better know what manuscript traditions are about. Knowledge has to be collaborative especially for small cultures like ours in North East India.
Q: Any plans for Imasi Foundation in the future for the MK Binodini Devi Centenary ?
Ans:– India’s famous artist Ramkinkar Baij’s original paintings of Binodini will be displayed in Manipur later this year. It will also be mounted in Delhi, Bombay, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata. The Ministry of Culture is supporting this initiative of the Imasi Foundation. Our desire is to place Binodini on the National and international stage. Here, her writings are presently studied in Manipur University. I am firmly convinced that she is a great writer. It is good literature, world literature. The Princess and the Political Agent will also be translated into many Indian languages by Sahitya Akademi. The dances she wrote will also be revived by the Sangeet Natak Akademi.
Contd from prev issue
For instance, David Peterson is coming to the Listener to deliver a talk on Wonder Child. It is a story of a child whose father was killed and his sons when they are on a mission of revenge. In some versions, the mother delivers the son while in other versions, a sister delivers a child while they are away. The boy has superpowers and he takes revenge for his slain father and brothers. This particular story is told in many Kuki chin languages according to David, and there are different versions of the story from South Western Tibet to South East Asia including Thadou and Manipuri. The Wonder Child version in Manipuri is called Lai Pangganba. How did this story travel ? How the variations happen ? It is because of the fact that the story was not written or printed. That is the beauty of languages and orality.
Q: So the festival is about Oral literature ?
A: Sometimes people consider a community without a script to be less developed. Or that they do not have literature. I say, not so fast; how dare they ! Without knowing a language or understanding its expressions, how can anyone declare that what is oral and tribal is not literature ? Song writer Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize for Literature. It is still in question whether the song lyrics could be considered as literature. The answer Bob Dylan gave when asked on this point was–it is and it is not. What an answer. So we are also going to be questioning and extending ideas. Are Tangkhul lyrics written by Ngachonmi Chamroy for Rewben Mashangva poetry - is it literature? If Gulzar’s song can be literature why not Chamroy’s ? Just because you happen to know Urdu, or Hindi and he is famous cannot be the parameter. I am yet to understand the quality of the lyrics of Rewben’s songs. Just because we do not know the lyrics, we cannot claim that it is not literature. This is a question I am asking. I am pushing the envelope; we are going to push the envelope of definitions of category.
Q: Tell me something about MK Binodini’s work in connection to Oral Literature ?
Ans : Song lyrics are written to be heard. The words become complete when music is added and then it becomes a song. It is not written to be read, but heard. Roop Raag, which she dearly loved and was housed in her own residence in Yaiskul, will be performing some of the songs written by MK Binodini at the opening of The Listener to start the process of questioning and discussion. Language is first spoken. Writing comes later. Tangkhul, Mizo or Ao, their stories will come alive with performances even if not written in a book format. Coming up with a script is itself a technology. Printing is also a technology. Starting in the 1920s with the birth of radio transmission, came the form called the radio plays. For MK Binodini, more than the novels, more than song lyrics, more than the short stories she is famous for, MK Binodini’s favorite literary genre was the radio plays, as filmmaker and artistic collaborator Aribam Syam Sharma once said to me. That may be the reason why her dialogues are marvellous and seen in her film screenplays. Imagi Ningthem and Asangba Nongjabi are radio plays. They were made into films later.
The radio play is a magical form. Each listener’s imagination while listening to a particular radio play differs from other listeners’ and that is the beauty of this form. There are a lot of special techniques when writing a radio play. It is written for a listening audience. Some say the radio play is not the form of oral literature. But this festival we are going to celebrate is not an academic conference. I am not an academic, so I am free to explore. Even song lyrics are a point of discussion. Some hold that any writing with an author is not oral literature. They consider folk to be the same as oral literature. Maybe yes, maybe no. Maybe there is oral literature with an author. Can we say that MK Binodini’s song lyric does not come under oral literature because it has an author ? Film screenplays are also written for filming not for reading purposes.
So it will be interesting to discuss these points at the festival.
Q: I heard that MK Binodini’s novel ‘The Princess and Political Agent' is included in Modern Classics by Penguin ?
Ans : Yes, my translation of MK Binodini’s Boro Saheb Ongbi Sanatombi is published as a Penguin Modern Classic, the first of its kind from North East India. So it is placed among famous writers of India in the Penguin classic series such as Rabindranath Tagore, Raja Rao etc. The Princess and Political Agent has also been chosen as one of 35 books by Penguin to celebrate 35 years in India. The special collector’s edition was published last November and we are doing a book launch during the festival. Penguin is also bringing out an audio book of my reading of my translation “The Princess and Political Agent” by MK Binodini. It will be available at Amazon's audible.com. It is going to be Manipur’s first audio book.
So I am a performer now as I read the audio book ? Amusing. While recording, I read over 8 days from 10 am to 3 pm. The entire audiobook of the novel will be 9 hours long.
Q: Oral Literature comes with technology in modern times ?
Ans: Yes, I think technology also impacts upon orality. How can audio books come about without digital technology? Or the podcast. Like, you need a radio to have the radioplay.
Q: Khongjom Parva is a rich oral tradition ?
Ans : There will be a Khongjom Parba performance by Sundari in the festival. Dhobi Leinou’s interpretation of Khongjom War, as an eye witness, or Sundari’s interpretation, is a point of view of the vanquished. We take pride in the story that our soldiers put up a fight against the British. Dhobi Leinou’s writing and MK Binodini’s writing on the Khongjom War are different in form as one is a song, the other is a historical novel. We Manipuris remember the Khongjom War by song. It is not remembered by visual arts or photography. Manipur does not have a strong culture of painting and sculpture. Not every culture has distinguished in every art form. The big ones have, but the English do not have classical dance; they have great poetry. The dance of the Royal English Ballet comes from France. For Manipur, dance and music are world class.
Q : What would be the takeaway from the festival by the public?
Ans: A Collaborative scholarship workshop by CIIL is featured. A culture can begin to understand itself only by comparison and juxtaposition with other cultures. We need collaborative study with the outside world or else North East culture will be repeatedly discussed internally; we would be studying only what we already know. But if we compare our manuscripts to Hindu manuscripts or Egyptian manuscripts, we will better know what manuscript traditions are about. Knowledge has to be collaborative especially for small cultures like ours in North East India.
Q: Any plans for Imasi Foundation in the future for the MK Binodini Devi Centenary ?
Ans:– India’s famous artist Ramkinkar Baij’s original paintings of Binodini will be displayed in Manipur later this year. It will also be mounted in Delhi, Bombay, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata. The Ministry of Culture is supporting this initiative of the Imasi Foundation. Our desire is to place Binodini on the National and international stage. Here, her writings are presently studied in Manipur University. I am firmly convinced that she is a great writer. It is good literature, world literature. The Princess and the Political Agent will also be translated into many Indian languages by Sahitya Akademi. The dances she wrote will also be revived by the Sangeet Natak Akademi.