Understanding Ecoethics in The Black Hill

Mamang Dai’s The Black Hill while depicting the adventurous journey of Father Nicolas Krick from 1847 to 1855 and his sad murder, narrates the ecoethics of the Mishmees (also spelt as Mishmis), Abors,¹ and partially of Tibetans in the midst of the sky, the mountains, the black hill and deep and dense valleys.

The shaman is the interpreter of dreams. He can read the dreams and tell the future (Dai 2014:67). There are legends regarding the evil spirits like the serpent spirits. These spirits are described to be very long like a river. They keep themselves hidden in water to avenge the killing of their children by men(Dai 2014:84). The birth of twins is unlucky. Hence the twins are killed at birth. It is also believed that the souls of children who died at birth go to a middle world under the earth and when they dance joining their hands, it causes earthquakes (Dai 2014:85).

Claim over the land is a challenge as well as right, which the Mishmees, Abors, and sister tribes observe. Clan brothers fought so hard to win the land.

If a man clears the forest and builds a house and harvests his fields the land belongs to him. If a man owns land he owns rest. He can live his life with nothing to worry about. He can plant crops and fish in the river, and he can raise his sons and daughters and live on from generation to generation

(Dai 2014:112)

“Land is a place of ownership and rest” (Dai 2014:112). The nomadic Brokpa herdsmen were the trespassers who wandered across borders in search of grazing ground. But life on the black hill was his own where a man could fall asleep at night without guilt or fear (Dai 2014:114-115). The family life in tribal society as a whole is cordial amidst the green environment. But a couple without any child has no acceptance in society (Dai 2014:128).

There are several stone stories. Some evil stones swallow up children and even a bride. The stones were living and malleable beings. “They were soft like dough; they could change shape, migrate from one place to another. Sometimes they rolled right up to your doorstep and stayed there resting, waiting” (Dai 2014:128). In the chapter titled 1852, Kajinsha pronounces some names of Gods like “Matai, Amik, Broh, Khroney” (Dai 2014:139). He mentions that they honour the gods when their Kambring tells them. But again he mentions that they honour only their land.

land is our book. Everything here on this hill, the grass and rocks and stones is saying something. And what falls from the sky - rain, thunder and lightning - are the voices of spirits telling us something. It is how we have learnt what is good and what is sweet or bitter, by living here and remembering what happens during the day and the night, every day, for hundreds of years.

(Dai 2014:140)

He again says,

The time we have is what we call our life. It is how I stand, hunt, sleep, breathe. Who knows when life will end, and how death will come - by fire, water, a falling tree, ill­ness, or from the hand of an enemy? But whether one will live a long life, a successful life, these are not considerations. The desire is to live!

(Dai 2014:140)

From the above-mentioned lines, it is understood, the tribals do not have gods and the idea of god, as the other religions have. The nature/biodiversity along with the elements of the environment like the trees, rain, hill, stones and all other moveable and immoveable all over the land is their god and the desire to live is their religion and the activities connected with the desire to live are the rites and rituals. The time they spend in different activities is their life. At difficulties they do not pray to any God. They pray to earth and sky: “‘We must pray to earth and sky for bringing you home safely’: he said. ‘Don’t speak anymore. Now we must only say the words we give to the living. Pray, Do not let death enter this house” (Dai 2014:167). Even they believe in the humans as a shape of god and do not believe in an unseen faceless god: “It was something only a mother could do, not an invisible, faceless god, she silently hissed at the shaman” (Dai 2014:169). They also believe that the innocents are always protected by the god: “The innocent are in God’s hands” (Dai 2014:168).

The prayers and rituals have a special place in the life of the Mishmees and Abors. The miri (shaman) tells stories of mysteries in their lives. His chants and prayers mesmerise them:

I know about prayer. I have prayed all my life. Since the day I was born I have been moving from ritual to ritual. The miri says we came from a land beyond the skies. It is there we will return when we die. So be it. Every prayer, every ritual is a knot. This is the way we measure time. But all the prayers and rituals will not ease what has hap­pened. This is fixed forever as another knot in my life.

(Dai 2014:171-172)

Trusting the instinct is also another ecoethical praxis the tribals follow to survive peacefully (Dai 2014:238). They pronounce: “Benevolent spirits, loving mother, sky father, hear the words of the living: We offer sacrifice! Do not let death enter this house”! For such a ritual they would require preparation of food-rice, maize, sacrifice of chal and baskets of meat and fish (Dai 2014:258).

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