Assamese literature
| Assamese literature অসমীয়া সাহিত্য | |
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History of Asamiya literature | |
| Asamiya language authors | |
| List of Asamiya writers | |
| Asamiya writers | |
| Dramatists & playwrights • Poets • Writers | |
| Forms | |
| Books – Poetry
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Assamese literature (
Banikanta Kakati divides the history of Assamese literature into three prominent eras—Early Assamese, Middle Assamese and Modern Assamese[2]—which is generally accepted.
| Indian literature |
|---|
| Ancient |
| Early Medieval |
| Medieval to early Modern |
Ancient era: Literature of the beginning period, 950–1300 AD
- Charyapada
- Mantra Sahitya
Medieval era: 1300–1826 AD
- 1st period: Pre-Shankari literature, 1300–1490 AD
- 2nd period: Shankari literature, 1490–1700 AD
- 3rd period: Post-Shankari literature, 1700–1826 AD
Modern era: 1826 AD–present
- 1st period: Missionary literature, 1826–1870 AD
- 2nd period: Hemchandra-Gunabhiram Barua's era, 1870–1890 AD
- 3rd period: Romantic era or Bezbaruah's era, 1890–1940 AD
- 4th period: Current period, 1940 AD–present
History
Old Assamese
| Part of a series on the |
| Culture of Assam |
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The first reference to the language of Assam was found in the account of famous Chinese monk-cum-traveler
Medieval era
Pre-Shankari literature (1300-1490 AD)
This period saw the flourishing of two kinds of literary activity: translations and adaptations, and choral songs.
Translations and adaptations
The earliest known Assamese writer of this period was
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 Awadhi, 16th century), Balaram Das' (Oriya) etc.[16] Thus the Saptakanda Ramayana becomes the first rendition of the Ramayana into an Indo-Aryan language in the Indian subcontinent.[17] The literary language (as opposed to the colloquial Assamese) this work adopted became the standard literary language for much of the following periods, till the rise of new literature in the 19th century. That his work was a major influence can be inferred from Sankardeva's tribute to the "Opromadi Kobi/ অপ্ৰমাদী কবি" ("unerring predecessor poet").[18]
The pada form of metrical verse (14 syllables in each verse with identical two syllables at the end of each foot in a couplet) became a standard in Assamese kavya works, something that continued till the modern times. Though a translated work, it is infused with local color, and instead of the heroic, Kandali instead emphasized the homely issues of relationships etc. Among the two kinds of alamkara's, arthalankaras were used extensively, with similes and metaphors taken from the local milieu even though the original works are set in foreign lands; whereas the shabdalankara (alliteration etc.) were rarely used.[19] In the pre-shankari era, a renowned mathematician, Kamarupa Kingdom, compiled Kitabat Manjari(1434), which was a translation of the Līlāvatī by Bhāskara II into Assamese.[20] Kitabat Manjari is a poetical treatise on Arithmetic, Surveying and Bookkeeping. The book teaches how accounts are to be kept under different heads and how stores belonging to the royal treasury are to be classified and entered into a stock book. The works of Bakul Kayastha were regarded as standards in his time to be followed by other Kayasthas in maintaining royal accounts.[21]
Choral songsChoral songs composed for a popular form of narration-performances called Oja-Pali, a precursor to theater and theatrical performances, came to be known as Panchali works.[22] Though some of these works are contemporaneous to Sankardeva's, they hark back to older forms free of Sankardeva's influences and so are considered pre-Sankardeva literature.[23] The Oja-palis follow two different traditions: biyah-gowa which tells stories from the Mahabharata and Maroi, which tells stories on the snake goddess Manasa.[22] The poets—Pitambar, Durgabar, Mankar and Sukavi Narayan—are well known for the compositions.[22] Shankari literature (1490-1700 AD)
In Assamese literature, the era of Kirtana-Ghosha which contains narrative verses glorifying Shri krishna, meant for community singing. His other prominent literary works include the rendering of eight books of the Bhagavata Purana including the Adi Dasama (Book X), Harishchandra-upakhyana, Bhakti-pradip, Nimi-navasiddha-samvada, Bhakti-ratnakara (Sanskrit verses, mostly from the Bhagavata, compiled into a book), Anadi-patana, Gunamala and many plays like Cihna Yatra, Rukmini haran, Patni prasad, Keli gopal, Kurukshetra yatra and Srirama vijaya.[27][28][29]
Magnum opus, Naam Ghosa is based chiefly on the Bhagavata Purana. The Naam-Ghosa is known by the name of Hajari Ghosa as well, as it contains one thousand verses (ghosas).His Guru Bhatima, a long poem of praise to his Guru Sankardev, is also popular. Bhakti-Ratnavali is another notable work, rendered by Madhavadeva from the original work by Visnupuri in Sanskrit. Other prominent works include Naam Maalikaa, Assamese rendering of the Adi Kanda of Valmiki's Ramayana, Janma Rahasya, 191 Borgeets and several plays.[30][31][32][33][34]
After Sankardev and Madhavdev, several other writers emerged and contributed to Assamese literature. Kirtan Ghosha by Ramcharan Thakur; Nava Ghosha, Santasaar, Burha-Bhashya by Purushottam Thakur etc. are notable of the period.[35][36][27][37]
Bhattadeva, another notable writer of this period, is acknowledged as the father of Assamese prose.[38] Katha Bhagavata, Katha Gita, Bhaktiratnavali, Bhakti Viveka (Sanskrit) etc. are his prominent works. BhattadevBhattadeva's erudition in Sanskrit grammar and literature, and his command over the Bhagavata earned him the title of Bhagavata Bhattacharya.[39][40] Post-Shankari literature (1700-1826 AD)Along with the expansion of power and border of the Siva Singha and translated by Sukumar Barkaith, is based on the Sanskrit text Gajendra-Chintamoni by Sambhunath. Books like Ghora Nidaan, Aswanidaan by Surjyakhari Daivajna were also compiled during this period.[44][45][46]
Attached to the palace of the Ahom Kings there was a set of apartments for the preservation of royal manuscripts, records, letters despatches, and maps in charge of a high official named Gandbia Barua. There was another officer named Likhakar Barua literally the superintendent of scribes who supervised the work of an army of clerks and copyists.[47] Modern eraThis is a period of the prose chronicles ( Effect of British ruleThe British imposed Bengali in 1836 in Assam after the state was occupied and annexed with the Bengal Presidency. As a result of this language imposition, the progress of education in Assam remained not only slow but highly defected and a lot of Bengalis were imported and employed in the different schools of Assam. Writing of text books in Assamese for school children did not get any encouragement and Assamese literature naturally suffered in its growth.[48] Due to a sustained campaign, Assamese was reinstated in 1873 as the state language. Since the initial printing and literary activity occurred in eastern Assam, the Eastern dialect was introduced in schools, courts, and offices and soon came to be formally recognized as the Standard Assamese. In recent times, with the growth of Guwahati as the political and commercial center of Assam, the Standard Assamese has moved away from its roots in the Eastern dialect. Influence of missionariesThe modern Assamese period began with the publication of the has its roots in the Sibsagar dialect of Eastern Assam. As mentioned in Bani Kanta Kakati's "Assamese, its Formation and Development" (1941, Published by Sree Khagendra Narayan Dutta Baruah, LBS Publications, G.N. Bordoloi Road, Gauhati-1, Assam, India) – "The Missionaries made Sibsagar in Eastern Assam the centre of their activities and used the dialect of Sibsagar for their literary purposes". The American Baptist Missionaries were the first to use this dialect in translating the Bible in 1813.The missionaries established the first Arunodoi, and in 1848, Nathan Brown published the first book on Assamese grammar. The Missionaries published the first Assamese-English Dictionary compiled by M. Bronson in 1867.
One of the major contributions of the American Baptist missionaries to the Assamese language is the reintroduction of Assamese as the official language in Assam. In 1848 missionary Nathan Brown published a treatise on the Assamese language.[50] This treatise gave a strong impetus towards reintroducing Assamese the official language in Assam. In his 1853 official report on the province of Assam, British official Moffat Mills wrote:
Beginning of modern literature
The period of modern literature began with the publication the Assamese journal The modern Assamese literature has been enriched by the works of Kanchan Baruah, Saurabh Kumar Chaliha and others. Moreover, as regards the spreading of Assamese literature outside Assam, the complete work of Jyoti Prasad Agarwala has been translated into Hindi to reach a wider audience by Devi Prasad Bagrodia. Bagrodia has also translated Shrimanta Shankardev 's 'Gunamala' into Hindi.
In 1917 the Asam Sahitya Sabha was formed as a guardian of the Assamese society and the forum for the development of Assamese language and literature. Padmanath Gohain Baruah was the first president of the society. Contemporary literatureContemporary writers include Arupa Patangia Kalita, Parismita Singh, Monikuntala Bhattacharya, Mousumi Kondoli, Monalisa Saikia, Geetali Borah, Juri Borah Borgohain. Emerging trends are marked by experiments with post modernist literary technique and growing fascination of young writers with magic realism and surrealism. In the realm of literary criticism young literary critics Areendom Borkataki, Bhaskar Jyoti Nath, Debabhusan Borah are exploring different possibilities and ideas to meet the needs in literary criticism. Assamese literature is currently booming in Assamese-speaking world, with readership of Assamese books gradually increasing over the last decades. A huge success can be seen in North East book fair and Nagaon book fair, when selling of Assamese books increased then English books.[53]
See also
Notes
References
Further reading
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