“The Voice of the Mountain”

-Mamang Dai

From where I sit on the high platform

I can see the ferry lights crossing

criss-crossing the big river.

I know the towns, the estuary mouth.

There, beyond the last bank
where the colour drains from heaven
I can outline the chapters of the world.

The other day a young man arrived from the village.

Because he could not speak
he brought a gift of fish
from the land of rivers.
It seems such acts are repeated:
We live in territories forever ancient and new,
and as we speak in changing languages.

I, also, leave my spear leaning by the tree

and try to make a sign.

I am an old man sipping the breeze

that is forever young.
In my life I have lived many lives.
My voice is sea waves and mountain peaks,
In the transfer of symbols
I am the chance syllable that orders the world
Instructed with history and miracles.

I am the desert and the rain.

The wild bird that sits in the west.
The past that recreates itself
and particles of life that clutch and cling
For thousands of years –
I know, I know these things
as rocks know, burning in the sun’s embrace,
about clouds, and sudden rain;
as I know a cloud is a cloud is a cloud,
A cloud is this uncertain pulse
that sits over my heart.
 In the end the universe yields nothing
except a dream of permanence.
Peace is a falsity.
A moment of rest comes after long combat:

From the east the warrior returns

with the blood of peonies.
I am the child who died at the edge of the world,
the distance between end and hope.
The star diagram that fell from the sky,
The summer that makes men weep.
I am the woman lost in translation
who survives, with happiness to carry on.

I am the breath that opens the mouth of the canyon,

the sunlight on the tips of trees;
There, where the narrow gorge hastens the wind
I am the place where memory escapes
the myth of time,
I am the sleep in the mind of the mountain.
Summary
‘The Voice of the Mountain’ by Mamang Dai describes the language of the mountain and what it
experienced in the past and the present.

‘The Voice of the Mountain’ by Mamang Dai presents the worldview seen from the eyes of the
ancient mountain. In this poem, the speaker is none other than the mountain itself which finds its
utterance in the poetic words. It describes what it has been experiencing throughout. Within it,
there are different personalities. One is of an old man that gets rejuvenated with the winds that
soothe. The mountain, being a part of nature, contains everything. Be it a desert, or the rain, each
element of nature is there inside its heart. Moreover, there is a lady within it, lost due to the
translation of time. However, in the last stanza, it seems that the poet is sitting in the mind of the
mountain and utters what the mountain suggested to her.

Stanza-wise Analysis
Stanza One

‘The Voice of the Mountain’ by Mamang Dai talks about the mountain in the first stanza. The
mountain being at a higher platform visualizes everything like God. The mountain says that he can
see the ferry lights that cross the big river below. As it is at a distance, the movement of the ferry
appears as the “criss-crossing” light works on the river. The poet uses synecdoche in the “ferry
lights” and the variety used here is “part for the whole”.

Stanza Two

‘The Voice of the Mountain’ by Mamang Dai the mountain says he knows about the towns and
estuary of the rivers. His omniscient view of the landscape makes him appear like the almighty.
Moreover, the mountain point at the sea and says he can see the colors of the sky getting reflected
on the seawater. Here, he metaphorically outlines the chapters of the world. It might be a reference
to the rivers. The metaphor can also refer to the past episodes that the sea observed as it is also
ancient like the mountain. Collectively, they have watched many things that happened in the past.

Stanza Three

‘The Voice of the Mountain’ by Mamang Dai talks about a young man. He brought a fish as an
offering to the spirit of the mountain as he couldn’t speak. The person thought if the mountain took
pity on him, he would grant his voice back. According to the mountain, such acts of pleasing him are
repeated. Moreover, he says as the territories are forever ancient as well as new, there is always a
shift. However, the essence remains the same at the end.

Stanza Four

In this stanza of ‘The Voice of the Mountain’ by Mamang Dai, the second speaker remarks, like the
person who believed in the god-like qualities of the mountain, the speaker also makes a sign of
reverence when the mountain comes in the sight. It seems that the second speaker is the poet
herself. Through this section, she participates in the dramatic monologue of the mountain.
Stanza Five

‘The Voice of the Mountain’ by Mamang Dai the poet again comes to the soliloquy of the mountain.
The mountain says he is like an old man who is sipping the forever young breeze to keep his soul
fresh. In this section, the poet uses the breeze as a symbol of youthfulness and vigor. Moreover, the
mountain says it is the macrocosm of the universe. Within his voice, one can hear the sea waves, and
the wind circling the mountain peak. Whereas the language of humans changes gradually, the voice
of the mountain doesn’t change. It’s eternal.

According to the poet, it is like the “chance syllable” that orders the world. It is the voice of the
creator. In the mountain’s ancient language one can find the history and miracles of mankind.
Through this reference, the poet associates the concept of the “universal language” about which
Paulo Coelho has talked about in ‘The Alchemist’.

Stanza Six

Thereafter, in the sixth stanza of ‘The Voice of the Mountain’ by Mamang Dai, the mountain asserts
his universality. He says he has the aridity of the desert and the moisture of the monsoon. The
mountain even finds its manifestation in a bird that lives in the west. Several episodes of the past
reiterate their importance through the voice of the mountain. Each particle of life that clutch and
cling for thousands of years, was nothing but the echo of the mountainous spirit.

Thereafter, the mountain, like an old man who recollects his thoughts while speaking, says “I know”
twice to emphasize his wisdom and experience. There is a gift from Mamang Dai to the readers in
this simile, “as rocks know, burning in the sun’s embrace,/ about clouds, and sudden rain”. As for the
rocks, the mountain knows about every little thing that occurs in the world.

In the following line, there is a marvelous use of the pun. The mountain says he knows a “cloud” is a
“cloud”. Here, the “cloud” symbolizes uncertainty and pessimism. The poet associates both of the
ideas in this repetition. However, in the last two lines of this stanza, the mountain refers to the
clouds that embrace its heart. Here, the “clouds” symbolize grievous thoughts.

Stanza Seven

In the seventh stanza of ‘The Voice of the Mountain’, Mamang Dai refers to the hopelessness at the
end of the universe. What remains, is a dream of permanence. This dream is what keeps every living
embodiments moving with the spirit of the world. Thereafter, the poet uses a paradoxical
affirmation that “Peace is falsity” or daydream. Only “a moment of rest” comes after long combat.
Whereas, the war of life continues. There are only pauses in the sentence of the universe. To live in
peace is to live in an illusion.

Stanza Eight

In the eighth stanza of ‘The Voice of the Mountain’ by Mamang Dai, the first two lines are connected
using enjambment with the idea of the last stanza. Here, the poet refers to the warrior who returns
with the “blood of peonies”. Such a contrasting image refers to the coexistence of struggle and
beauty. Thereafter, the mountain says that his child-like spirit died at that edge of the world where
he stands firmly. Moreover, the poet creates another contrast in the following lines. Here, she refers
to the starlit sky and the scorching summer. Moreover, the mountain says he was once a woman but
lost in the translation of time. However, he still survives in eternal happiness.

Stanza Nine

In the last stanza of ‘The Voice of the Mountain’, the mountain refers to its magnanimity. He creates
a passage for the canyon to breathe. Moreover, he is like the sunlight on the tip of trees. Thereafter,
he refers to the narrow gorge where the wind is always in haste. He is also there. Apart from that,
the mountain is a place where memory escapes from one’s mind. Here, the “myth of time” doesn’t
work. One loses the track of time as if it halts near the mountain in awe. At last, the poetic persona
says she is the sleep that exists in the mind of the mountain. In this way, the poet presents her
similarity with the spirit of the mountain.

Style
Structure

‘The Voice of the Mountain’ by Mamang Dai consists of nine stanzas. The line-count of each stanza
isn’t regular. It moves how nature moves without predictability or precision. There is an organic
environment just like one can find in nature. The first-person persona present in the poem gives it
the quality of a spontaneous lyric poem. Moreover, like an ode, the poet meditates on a single
theme. It is the voice of the poem and how it expresses itself through the words of humans.
However, there isn’t any specific rhyme scheme in the poem. The poet creates an internal rhythm in
the text for maintaining the flow of the poem. The metrical composition of the poem is also
irregular. One can find the use of spondee, pyrrhic, iambic feet, and anapestic feet in this poem.

Literary Devices

‘The Voice of the Mountain’ by Mamang Dai contains several literary devices. Likewise, in the first
stanza, there is a personification and epanaphora. In the second stanza, there is a metaphor in “the
colour drains from heaven”. Here, the poet compares reflection to draining water or color.
Moreover, in “chapters of the world”, there is a metaphor for rivers. In the following stanza, “land of
rivers” is a metonym for the plains of India. Along with that, there is an antithesis in “We live in
territories forever ancient and new”. Moreover, in the fifth stanza, there are several metaphors.
Apart from that, the poet uses alliteration in “clutch and cling” and “these things”. And, she uses
palilogy in “I know, I know these things” and “I know a cloud is a cloud is a cloud”. Such repetition is
meant for the sake of emphasizing the ideas present in the lines.

In the following stanzas, there is an epigram in “Peace is falsity”. The lines, “In the end the universe
yields nothing/ except a dream of permanence” contain a paradox. Moreover, “dream of
permanence” is a metaphor. However, the poet uses irony in the phrase, “the myth of time”. It is a
metaphor too.
Critical Analysis
In Voice of the Mountain, the writer speaks like an omnipresent voice; travelling the river, the towns
and the estuary mouth. Dai says that the mountain is like an old man sipping the breeze that is
‘forever young’. She says that nature is like an old man who has lived many lives. His voice is like sea
waves and mountain peaks. Nature transfers symbols and is a ‘chance syllable that orders the world
with history and miracles’. In the poem, the mountain narrates the story of its omnipresence. The
opening lines, ‘from where I sit on the high platform I can see the ferry lights crossing, crisscrossing
the big river’. The mountain claims to be all-knowing. It sees the towns, the estuary mouth and the
bank of the river. The mountains are so ancient that they can ‘outline the chapters of the world’.

There is a sorrow too related to the mountains as they stand mute witnesses to the pain of an
indigenous people. Despite all the slopes that have been climbed and all the familiarity with the
terrain, the people cannot talk of victory yet. Why is victory elusive? The mountain takes on different
forms throughout the poem and sees all that takes place in a fickle-minded universe. It is a silent
witness to all the activities of human beings, the birds and the beasts and even various land forms.
The mountain remains an omnipresent leitmotif throughout the poem.

In Mamang Dai’s poems the mystique and grandeur of mountains along with myth and folklore
surrounding them weave an ethereal story around these land masses. The mountain, for her, is not
merely another memory of childhood and youth but it forms part of a continuing relationship with
the environment. In The Voice of the Mountain, Dai says that the mountain can identify itself with
the desert and the rain. The mountain tells us of ‘life with particles of life that clutch and cling for
thousands of years’. It represents life forms and contributes to a churning of life of ‘thousands of
years’. The tribes’ belief systems are intrinsically entwined with nature and its preservation and their
lifestyles replicates the traditional practices. The mountain is like an oracle, telling stories of change
and yet bearing the nature of permanence. In an interview with Nilanshu Aggarwal, Mamang Dai has
explicated the beliefs of union among the Arunachali tribes. She says that the traditional belief of the
Adi community to which she belongs is full of respect for nature. Everything has life - rocks, stones,
trees, rivers, hills, and all life is sacred. They worship Donyi-Polo, literally meaning ‘Sun-Moon’ as the
physical manifestation of a supreme deity, or what she calls ‘world spirit.’ In The Voice of the
Mountain, Dai says that the mountain is like an old man sipping the breeze that is ‘forever young’. In
the poem, the mountain narrates the story of its omnipresence and the mountain claims to be
allknowing. These memories hibernate in the minds and thus the mountain becomes symbolic of
being a repository of traditions and events of the past. “I am the place where memory escapes/ the
myth of time/ I am the sleep in the mind of the mountain”. In the end of the poem, the mountain
knows that the universe gives nothing but ‘an appearance of being permanent’. The last line of the
poem is significant as it is a resonance of the conditions of the world. Regimes may change and the
dream of a true homeland may be fulfilled, but peace ever eludes. The existence of truth is an
existential reality, but behind it is the turmoil and dissatisfaction of a nation. Thus for Mamang Dai,
the mountains are not merely a landmass or a hunting ground for tribal folk; it is a living oracle of
the past and the future.
P.S.- THE ABOVE CONTENT HAS BEEN COMPILED FROM VARIOUS WEBSOURCES AND IS HENCE SUBJECT TO
CORRECTIONS.

-HS