Nagaon, Jan. 27: Karbi literature will take a big step towards universal recognition tomorrow when the first novel in the tribal language is released. Authored by Lunse Timung, Kanthop Tang Angne (Bitter Hatred) holds a mirror to the Karbi tribe, whose conflict with the Kuki community has kept Karbi Anglong tense for several months now.
The writer today said he could not have hoped for a bigger stage ? the inaugural session of the Karbi Lamet Amai?s annual conference in Diphu ? to release the pioneering novel.
It will actually be a double celebration for patrons of tribal literature with Timung also ready with the Karbi version of Rongbong Terang?s award-winning Assamese novel, Rongmilir Hanhi. Terang, a Karbi, said his mother tongue had evolved into a fuller language since he sat down to write Rongmilir Hanhi.
?I initially thought of writing it in Karbi, but abandoned the idea because of the limitations of the language. When I began work on the novel in the 1980s, the Karbi vocabulary was poor and I would have found it difficult to express myself, specially the emotions, with a limited stock of words.? Lauding Timung for taking up the task of translating the novel into Karbi, Terang said it was ?a dream come true?.
Karbi Sahitya Sabha functionary Som Ranghang acknowledged the strides made by the tribal language during the past two decades. ?The language has become richer because of the assimilation of words from other languages, creation of new words and the linguistic progressiveness of young Karbi writers.?
Ranghang said as many as 30 books would be released during the course of the 16th annual session, to be held at the Rang Teprang Kshetra. President-elect Khonsing Togbi will take over the reins of the literary organisation from Bidyasing Cro, who edited the first Karbi dictionary, during the session.