Intersecting Narratives

Mamang Dai’s recent novel The Black Hill is fascinating. Written in the genre of historical novel, it is an account set in the middle of the nineteenth century among the Himalayan societies of present day Arunachal Pradesh. The story mainly revolves around the lives, (between 1847 and 1855), of three individuals, Kajinsha, Gimur and Nicholas Krich, all belonging to different communities. Kajinsha was a Mishimi, a leader (if one may use the term) and Gimur, an Adi, was his wife. Nicolas Krick was a French catholic priest, who attempted to set up a mission in Tibet. To reach Tibet, the route he followed from Sadiya (in Assam) to the Zayul valley (in eastern Tibet) brought him in contact with Kajinsha and Gimur. Nicolas Krick’s writings, colonial records and popular memories generally provided the information to write the novel.