"The Legends of Pensam" as a Cultural Archive of Indigenous Adis of Arunachal Pradesh

This paper examines "The Legends of Pensam" (2006) as a cultural archive of Arunachal Pradesh, focusing on its preservation of oral traditions, indigenous cosmology, social customs, ecological ethics, and subaltern histories. Drawing upon Cultural Memory Studies and Subaltern theory, the paper argues that Mamang Dai transforms fiction into a repository of collective memory. Through its episodic structure and the philosophical concept of ?Pensam,? the novel records a society negotiating continuity and change. It thus functions not only as a literary text but as an archival space safeguarding indigenous identity within Indian literature.