Sexual Violence and
Misuse of Power: An Analysis of Temsula Ao’s ‘The Last Song’
Dr. Nupur Sinha
Guest Faculty,
National Law University and
Judicial Academy,
Assam, India
Abstract: The north-east region of India has been
engaged in insurgency and civil-war like conditions since the period of
independence. The indigenous tribes of the north-eastern states have been
determined in their demands for separate states, or in some cases, a complete
freedom from the republic of India. Their demands are bound up by a necessity
for the preservation of their ethnic, linguistic and cultural identity. The
conflict between the central government and the insurgent groups have only
increased as these groups took up arms and launched organized attacks on the
central and state machinery. Several militant factions have emerged, over the
years, with the renewed demand for regional autonomy or complete freedom. The
continuous confrontation between the Indian Army and the insurgent groups has
adversely affected the common life in the states. As in the cases of war or any
kind of violent movement, the ordinary folks, women and children become the
worst victims. The lives of the tribal men have been a long battle entangled
within the tempest of insurgency. Temsula
Ao, as a Naga writer, has closely dealt with insurgency and its aftereffects in
her short story collection ‘These Hills Called Home: Stories from a War Zone’.
The ten short stories highlight the conflict between insurgent groups and the
Indian Army, and its devastating effects on the lives of the common, innocent
people.
Keywords: Insurgency, Nagaland, North East, Temsula Ao
1. Insurgency in
Nagaland
With
the independence of India, the problem of insurgency erupted in all the regions
of north-east. The root of the cause of insurgency is the ethnic, cultural and
linguistic diversity of north-eastern tribes from the rest of India. The nagas,
under the leadership of Phizo, were among the first to voice protest against
consolidation of their state with the republic of India in 1947. Other states
including Assam joined later. The ‘nagas’, like the other tribals, consider
themselves, racially and ethnically isolated from the mainstream India.
Therefore, they do not want to surrender or lose their identity in order to
mingle with the pan-indian identity. There are other reasons as well. The
people strongly reacted to the infiltration of huge number of people from
neighbouring countries, and other parts of India. The intrusion of these people
in their territories effected a cultural tension among the natives. They
considered it as interference to their lifestyle, social and cultural setup.
Thus, infiltration and the urge to preserve the cultural identity is also one
of the boosting factors behind the problem of insurgency in Nagaland as in
other north-eastern states. The demand for complete freedom was firmly rejected
by the central government. This led to the rise of armed revolt against all the
central and state administrative agencies. The Phizo led group was the first to
launch protest and revolt in 1947 following the independence of India. With the
repeated attempts on the life of Phizo, the group went underground in 1956.
From the 1980s onwards, there have been renewed demands for a greater,
sovereign Nagaland including some parts of Manipur and Assam. Several military
factions have been created leading to a lot of violence and innocent killings.
The insurgents repeatedly attack the governmental agencies and hinder all kinds
of administrative, developmental projects. Although the insurgent groups were
created with the objective of an autonomous state, they often involve in
illegal activities like extortion, kidnapping, innocent killings, inflicting
violence on other communities, imposing taxes on the commercial enterprises
thereby closing doors for the economic development of the region. The central
government has tried to counter the problem of insurgency through strict
military rule. Although, officially a ceasefire period has been called from
both the sides, the cold war continues. The insurgents leave no stone unturned
to hamper the Central-state machinery while there are reports of absolute
lawless and inhuman behavior by the army: plundering villages, opening fires
into the innocent common people, torturing people with false charges of spying,
rape , etc. Thus, under the façade of apparent peace and talks between the
government and insurgent agencies, the state of Nagaland lives under constant
political tensions. And the brunt of both the combating groups is endured by
the common people.
2. The Author
Temsula Ao has emerged as one of the major literary
voices from the north-east region. A
poet, short-story writer, and ethnographer, her writings capture the essence of
the life of Naga people. A recipient of Padma Shri Award, she has published
five volumes of poetry till date, and two short-story collections. The
short-story collection deals with the problem of insurgency in Nagaland, and
its effects on the lives’ of the common people. It also faithfully renders the
day-to-day life of the naga people.
Her major work, however, is the
ethnographic book that rediscovers the oral narrative tradition of the Ao-Naga
tribes’ people. The book is one of its kinds, and the most original account of
the Ao-Naga tribes.
2.1 Insurgency and
its effect on the common lives’
A
collection of ten short stories, ‘These Hills Called Home’, broadly deals with
the insurgency and its effect in the life of common rural folks. Apart from it,
the stories provide a rich insight into the life of the rural naga people,
their rituals, customs and lifestyle. In fact, it is one of the most undiluted,
untampered, rendering of the life of the naga people, specifically the Ao-naga
community, of which the writer herself is a part. There is a calm, relaxed tone
running throughout the narrative. The striking fact is the sheer simplicity,
and unpretentious manner in which the narrative has been handled by the author.
The stories are set in the local villages. The characters are ordinary men and
women confined to their own immediate surroundings, and narrow limits. Temsula
Ao highlights how the calm and peaceful life of these people comes under the influence
of political and military activists, and the situations turn everything
topsy-turvy throwing them into absolute dilemmatic situations with their
loyalty being tested, challenged and manipulated by both the underground
insurgent groups and the government machinery. The sub-title ‘Stories from a
War Zone’ itself indicates that the main concern of the stories is to focus on
the state of the people from a war-inflicted area. As stated above, there is a
constant truck between the insurgent groups who operate from underground and
the army. In their constant battle to outwit with each other, they victimize
common people for their own interests. The stories ‘The Curfew Man’ and ‘Soaba’
throws light on these issues. The husband of Jemtilla, in ‘The Curfew Man’,
works as the spy for the government official unwillingly. The man, once a
popular basketball player, injures himself badly and becomes ineligible for any
other job. His physical disability is utilized by the establishment. The couple
lives under the constant threat lest their activities be discovered by any
member of the insurgent group. One can feel the almost torturous pain when the
second knee of the husband is broken, and Jemtilla feels relieved that it would
fetch him freedom from the ‘sinister bondage’ of the establishment. ‘Soaba’ is
the story of the mentally retarded boy Soaba who ends up being a spy for the
‘Boss’ who although is a entrepreneur in the daylight but acts the informant of
the government agencies ostensibly. ‘Boss’ acts as the member of those group
who cleverly deceive the common people , and act on the interests of the
administration in exchange for some luxuries which they cannot afford to have
otherwise. Both the stories reflect the way the government agencies take
advantage of the poor economic condition of these people and use it to their
advantage. The people are entrapped in the throes of danger as and if they
ignore the commands of the government people or are discovered by the
insurgents, mean torture and death for their families and themselves.
2.2
Sexual Violence and Abuse of Power
The
most painful account of the inhuman treatment meted out to the innocent
villagers, especially the womenfolk, is described in ‘The Last Song’. The
little girl Apenyo, is brought up by her widowed mother Libeni. As she grows up
to be a young girl, the mother discovers her daughter’s love for music
inherited from her father. Her only dream is to perform in the church. As she
grows up, she begins singing with the church choir. The village was mostly
peaceful except the villagers were compelled to pay taxes to the underground
army. Their man would come right before Christmas to collect taxes from the
people. For the villagers, it was a double-edged sword dealing with the rebel
outfits and the Army. They would be killed by both the party if they failed to
comply with their orders. So the village men would calmly comply with the
orders. Unfortunately, the army somehow got the whiff of the villagers
corroborating with the rebel groups. Thus, the Major decided to teach a lesson
to the villagers.
“These were, however, troubled
times for the Nagas. The Independence movement was gaining momentum by the day
and even the remotest villages were getting involved, if not directly in
terms of their members joining the
underground army, then certainly by
paying ‘taxes’ to the underground ‘government’. This particular village was no
different. They had been compelled to pay their dues every year, the amount
calculated on the number of households in their village.” (31)
On
this fateful Sunday in December, the whole village gathered to celebrate the
opening of the new church building. Apenyo was to perform with their choir, and
was scheduled to play a solo song after the group performance. As the
celebration began and the choir was to start singing, the army breaks into the
church campus to teach the villagers a lesson for paying taxes to the
underground rebels. The army personnel start blindly shooting the villagers. As
the villagers attempt to save themselves, Apenyo begins to sing. At that
moment, Apenyo, somehow, became immune to her surroundings. The lecherous eyes
of the captain fall on the beautiful Apenyo. He is enraged at her calm
diffidence of his authority, and drags her to the ruins of the old church, where
she and her mother Libeni, are gang raped by the captain and other soldiers.
The girl continues singing throughout the act. Finally, she dies with her
mother with the song on her lips. One of the most painful accounts of the
traumatic experiences inflicted on the women. The story demonstrates how the
very people supposed to protect the common people become their worst
perpetrators. The violence against women have been a long issue in the northeastern
states. Unable to contain the insurgent groups, the tribal women often become
the object of violence. Apenyo’s song becomes a haunting oral testament to the
torture, suppression that the valleys have seen. Men have always used ‘rape’
whether it is ethnic conflicts or wars as historically seen in the Japanese
occupation of Nanjing in 1937, the Pakistan-Bangladesh war in 1971 and the
current Russia-Ukraine and the Palestinian conflict. As Neil K.G. quotes Brown
miller (1975): “Beyond the use of rape
as a weapon of war, a larger question would be to ask how each rape exploits
women. For asking, it sets in motion an examination of the culture of abuse.
When men are set apart from women and issue a rifle, as in war, are women
abused sexually because they are representatives of the enemy, or questions
Brownmiller-because women are specifically women and therefore the enemy? As
such, sexual aggression becomes an instrument of contempt against women and not
necessarily a part of the activity of war.” (47)
Men
used sexual violence as a means to assert dominance over the ethnic groups by
violating the women. It also shows the beastly side of toxic masculinity and a
violent patriarchal system which unleashes its terror on women in the absence
of equally powerful & violent male counterparts. Apenyo is raped not for the
gratification of lust. Her rape is the result of the rage at her act of
‘singing’: an act of calm resistance where she refuses to surrender, or show
fear at the sight of terror and bloodshed. Her calmness stokes the male ego
ending in her violation. Apenyo and her mother’s death, however, doesn’t end
with the violation. Their blood-soaked decayed corpses are violated once again
as the villagers refuse to give them a respectful burial because of the nature
of their deaths. Both mother and daughter are buried together outside the
graveyard without any headstone, tomb or epitaphs.
The
story ends with a grim and haunting description, ‘‘for years afterwards, we are
told, on certain nights a "peculiar
wind blows through the village"(36) and the old storyteller chides
a group of youngsters that they "have
forgotten how to listen to the voice of the earth and the wind"(36).
When they concentrate, the youngsters, who have only heard stories about the
atrocities that took place in their village on one Sunday long before they were
born, can hear "Apenyo's last song". The ending is a reminder to the
readers that although there are no written records, no dignified burial spot
but the song of Apenyo lives on. The hills and mountains encompassing the
valley and the winds coursing through it still carry her story and her last
song. For, it is not just her story- there are many Apenyo’s in this land, and
the collective memory of the valley still remembers.
Temsula
Ao assumes the role of an indifferent narrator, and coveys the stories in the
most objective manner. Being a member of the Ao tribe, she steers clear of any
personal involvement to establish her own views on the situations prevailing in
the region. Her opinions and concern over the situations are spelled out in the
brief introduction to the text:
“These stories however, are not
about 'historical facts'; nor are they about condemnation, justice or
justification of the events which raged through the land like a wildfire half a
century ago. On the contrary, what the stories are trying to say is that in
such conflicts, there are no winners, only victims and the results can be
measured only in human terms. For the victims the trauma goes beyond the realm
of just the physical maiming and loss of life —their very humanity is assaulted
and violated, and the onslaught leaves the survivors scarred both in mind and
soul.” (8)
Thus,
the concern of the writer is not to address any large political issues. Her
only concern is the violation of human rights going on throughout the region.
Works Cited
Ao, Temsula.
These Hills Called Home: Stories from a War Zone. Penguin, India
Bora,
Munmi. “Women’s Body as the Site of
Violence: A Critical Reading of Temsula Ao’s short story “The Last Song”. Srotaswini,
2020-21
Chetia,
Longdoon. Temsula Ao’s The Last Song: A Critique of the Postcolonial Nation. International
Journal of English Language, Literature and Translation Studies, Vol 9,
Issue 2, 2022
Kohli, Suresh.“Review of Temsula Ao’s
These Hills Called Home”.Indian Literature, vol.50, No.2 (232)
(March-April 2006), pp. 192-194, Sahitya Academy
Manjula,
Y.S. Charyulu, GomatamMohana. “Peace in the middle of Violence: A Study of
Temsula Ao’s Short Stories.”Library of Progress, Library Science,
Information Technology &Computer, vol. 44, Issue 3, 2024, p.20824
Neil, K.G.
“Duty, Honor, Rape: Sexual Assault against Women During War.”Journal of
International Women’s Studies, vol 2 Issue I, 2000