The author makes an attempt to bring Bodo literature from margin to center. Protest and acquiescence are the recurrent themes in Indian literatures. The idea of being an Indian is steeped in heterogeneity which has been our way of life right from the ancient time. The paper does not just focus on Bodo literature; it also shows the various influences which contribute to its making. Search for identity, enlightenment, memory, history and democratic spirit form the central focus of contemporary Bodo literature. Influenced both by Indian and Western poets, Bodo poets, at present, deal with the complex political and social issues. Although Bodo poetry is yet to reach a maturity, the energy with which the poets write shows that they are committed to uphold vision and values.

The Bodos1 are the aboriginal people of Assam, a state of North-East India, and they have been passing through trial and tribulation down the ages. They were scattered over a large stretch of this part of country once upon a time. There are various factors that contributed to their eroding identity. The most important is the large-scale influx of the Bangladeshi nationals and the corresponding government policy of appeasing the immigrants for getting votes at the cost of the preservation and development own representation.4 But the ‘representation’ itself is a critical term in post-modern perspective. It is significant to mention what W J T Mitchell says in this context, in Critical Terms for Literary Study.

A survey of post-modern experiments in literary representation … in any case is intended to raise the issue of representation as a problem that runs out throughout the history of literary production. Suffice it to say that concepts such as the identity of the text, the determinacy of meaning, the integrity of the author and the validity of interpretation play a role in the representational
(or anti-representational) character of literary texts (p. 17).

Although Bodo language has its Mongoloid root, the process of the growth and the development of the language and literature owe more to the Indian languages and cultural context. The languages to which Bodo language has immediate access are Assamese and Bengali. English as a global language has a large impact on it. Needless to say, for the making of the Bodo identity many cultures are responsible. The Bodos as such have their moment of protest as well as acquiescence in their cultural expressions. Bodo literary genres project this posture well. In contemporary Bodo poetry, there is more of assimilation and a romantic exploration like that of Keats. Keats confesses in his letter To Richard Woodhouse, 27 October1818.

English Studies Journal, Intra-Psychic Defense Mechanisms, Anita Desai, Humanistic Psychoanalyst, Neurotic Development, Familial Obligations, Biological Limitations, Psychological Limitations, Foreign Universities, English Governesses.