Contemporary poetry recitations in urban public spaces in Assam are rare now – many have switched to slam genres or remain limited to select circles. But the nostalgic aspect of a poetry recitation leaving people captivated is very much present in contiguous parts of western Assam and North Bengal. This nostalgia assumes a hyperbolic nature in people's memories after the pandemic, when public poetry readings and recitations are scarce. When I was in Cooch Behar four years ago, local speakers of the Rajbanshi language told me that community folklore finds itself anew in poetic diction. It is musical and the music itself carries its politics.
In Southasia, for the uninitiated, Rajbanshi is the language spoken by the Koch Rajbanshi community. Yet, it is not such a simple definition. With multiple demographic and linguistic changes, names of languages, communities and how they are formed also undergo changes. Paresh Borah in his paper, Demand for Separate Statehood and The Koch Rajbanshi's Quest for Revival of Their Past in The Indian State of Assam writes, "Koch Rajbanshis are one of the oldest aboriginal ethnic groups of Southasia… Presently they are found in three Southasian countries viz. India, Bangladesh and Nepal. In India they are predominantly found in four Indian states, ie. West Bengal, particularly in North Bengal, Assam, and some parts of Bihar and Meghalaya."
But the complexity that arises as a result of shared borders, large expanses of territory is stated by academic Baniprasanna Misra in his 2015 essay "Revisiting the Rajbanshi Identity". He states, "In West Bengal, at present, the 'Rajbanshis' and the 'Koches' are recognised by the state as two independent 'Scheduled Castes'." I've written before that "within India and Southasia currently, the term "Koch" has been (almost) replaced by "Rajbanshi" in North Bengal, Bihar and Nepal. Since 1996, the terms 'Koch' and 'Rajbanshi' are officially used as one term 'Koch–Rajbanshi' in Assam." These attempts at definitions are also prone to flaws in specific social and cultural contexts. Poetry then can become a vehicle of resisting such territory marking and also vice-versa – as we will see.
Languages and subnationalism in Assam