The River as a Witness: Indigenous Knowledge and Cultural Identity in Mamang Dai’s Small Towns and the River

Mamang Dai's poem evokes the timeless bond between her people and their homeland. Flowing through the lines is the perpetual river, symbol of enduring ties between the living and those passed on. Its waters reflect facets of existence entwined with the natural realm and spirit world, as generations arise and find rest in an eternal cycle. Towns dotted along shorelines witness this ongoing rhythm, community born again each spring as life stirs and revives. Though scripts now capture her verses, the essence remains unchanged tradition flows as constant, oral legends and written word joining to convey ancestral wisdom through the ages. Dai's reflection on the existential musings of Indigenous communities speaks to their profound interconnectedness with the natural order. This poem investigates how a poem safeguard inherited insight, emphasizing the sustaining role of Indigenous literature as a living repository of collective remembrance and a people's source of themselves.