Assamese literature is the body of writings produced in the Assamese language, one of the major eastern group of Indo-Aryan languages of India. Assamese, along with Bengali and Oriya, grew from the same eastern Apabhramsa and Magadhi Prakrit roots, but over the centuries it developed its own independent character. The language of the land, called Asamiya, has its own rich sound system, vocabulary and script, and it is one of the languages recognised in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India.

Scholars do not fully agree on the exact beginning of Assamese literature. Many scholars, such as Banikanta Kakati and Birinchi Kumar Barua, hold the view that the Buddhist mystical songs known as the Charyapada are among the earliest specimens of the language, while some others place them as early as the eighth or ninth century. The history of Assamese literature is therefore usually divided into three broad periods — the ancient or early period, the medieval period dominated by the Vaishnava movement, and the modern period which began with the arrival of the Europeans and western education.

1. The early period: This includes the earliest specimens, the Charyapada, and the pre-Sankardeva poets of the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries who wrote in Kamrupi, the western dialect of Assamese.

2. The medieval or Vaishnava period: This is the richest classical age, dominated by the great saint-reformer Srimanta Sankardeva and his disciple Madhavdeva. The literature of this age is deeply religious and includes the Kirtana, Namaghosa, Saptakanda Ramayana, the Borgeet or great songs, the Ankia Naat or one-act plays, prose translations of the Bhagavata and many other works composed in a special literary language called Brajavali.

3. The modern period: This began after the British occupation of Assam in 1826. The American Baptist missionaries introduced printing and published the first Assamese journal Orunodoi in 1846. A new prose literature, the novel, the short story, the essay and the modern drama took birth, and with the Jonaki magazine of 1889 a romantic age began. After independence, Assamese literature entered a very productive modern and contemporary phase in poetry, the novel, the short story and criticism.

Assamese literature has a very strong folk and oral tradition which runs parallel to the written literature. Folk songs such as the Bihu geet, songs of marriage, lullabies and boat songs, folk tales, proverbs, riddles and the wise sayings attributed to Khona have been handed down from generation to generation. The written literature was greatly influenced first by Sanskrit learning and the Bhakti movement and later by western education, journalism and the printing press.

The main literary forms of Assamese literature are poetry, prose, the novel, the short story, the drama, the essay, biography and autobiography, literary criticism and children's literature. Assamese has produced a large number of writers in every one of these forms, and this e-book deals with them chapter by chapter.

Key points to remember:

• Assamese belongs to the eastern group of Indo-Aryan languages, related to Bengali and Oriya.
• Assamese is in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.
• Three broad periods: early, medieval (Vaishnava) and modern.
• Charyapada is considered by many scholars to be the earliest specimen.
• Orunodoi (1846) and Jonaki (1889) are two landmark journals in modern Assamese literature.
• Brajavali was the literary language of the Vaishnava lyrics and dramas.

The Charyapada, also called Charyageeti, is a collection of about fifty mystic verses or songs composed by the Buddhist Siddhacharyas. These verses are considered by many scholars of Assamese, Bengali, Oriya and Maithili literature to be the earliest specimens of the eastern group of Indo-Aryan languages. The songs were composed between about the eighth and the twelfth centuries, though the exact dates are disputed.

These songs were meant for the followers of the Sahajayana and Vajrayana schools of Buddhism and describe, in symbolic language, the yoga and inner spiritual practices of the sadhakas. The songs were composed by masters such as Luipa, Kanhupa, Sarhapa, Bhusukupa, Dombipa and others. The great Buddhist teacher Sarhapa, according to tradition, belonged to the Kamarupa region, and because of this the Assamese claim over the Charyapada becomes stronger.

The Charyapada was discovered in a palm-leaf manuscript in the royal library of Nepal by the Sanskrit scholar Haraprasad Shastri, who published it in 1916. The language of the songs is a transitional stage of the eastern Apabhramsa. Assamese scholars like Banikanta Kakati tried to show through the grammar and vocabulary of the verses that the language of the Charyapada has very close relations with Assamese. Because of such evidence, the Charyapada has a special place in the history of Assamese literature, though Bengali, Oriya and Maithili scholars also claim it.

After the Charyapada, the next clearly identified stage of Assamese literature begins with the poets of Kamrupi, who wrote from about the thirteenth to the fifteenth century. Their works show that a mature literary tradition already existed before Sankardeva. However, the first specimens of truly independent Assamese prose and literature begin to appear only from this Kamrupi period onwards.

It should also be remembered that before the spread of writing, Assam had a very rich oral literature — the ritual songs, the folk tales and the proverbs. In a sense, the Charyapada stands at the meeting point of the oral and the written traditions.

Key points to remember:

• Charyapada: about fifty mystic Buddhist verses, eighth to twelfth centuries.
• Composed by the Siddhacharyas such as Luipa, Kanhupa and Sarhapa.
• Sarhapa is traditionally connected with the Kamarupa region.
• Discovered by Haraprasad Shastri in the Nepal royal library; published 1916.
• Claimed by Assamese, Bengali, Oriya and Maithili literatures.
• The Charyapada is the earliest specimen of the eastern group of Indo-Aryan languages.

Between the age of the Charyapada and the great Vaishnava revival of Sankardeva, there flourished a group of poets who are today grouped together as the pre-Sankardeva or pre-Vaishnava poets. They lived mainly between the thirteenth and the fifteenth centuries in the kingdom of Kamatapur in western Assam, and they wrote in the Kamrupi dialect of Assamese. Their patrons were the kings of the Kamata dynasty, especially Durlabh Narayana and Indranarayana, and other local rulers. These poets freely drew their subjects from the two great Sanskrit epics and the Puranas, and their works mark the real beginning of Assamese narrative poetry.

The principal poets of this period are the following:

1. Harivara Vipra: He is considered one of the earliest of these poets. At the request of King Durlabh Narayana of Kamatapur, he wrote the 'Bavaru-Vahana' (Babaruvahana Parva) describing the episode of the warrior Babhruvahana from the Mahabharata, and later the 'Lava-Kusa Upakhyana' (Lava-Kusa Parva) describing the story of the twin sons of Rama. His language is simple, sweet and fluent Kamrupi Assamese.

2. Kaviratna Saraswati: He also enjoyed the patronage of King Durlabh Narayana. His famous work is the 'Jayadratha-Vadha', which retells the story of the killing of Jayadratha from the Mahabharata. The work shows the poet's command over Sanskrit learning as well as his skill in Assamese verse.

3. Hema Saraswati: He wrote during the time of King Indranarayana. His chief works are the 'Prahlada-Charitra', based on the story of Prahlada from the Bhagavata Purana, and the 'Hara-Gauri-Samvada', which is a dialogue between Shiva and Parvati. These works are marked by fine descriptive passages and a pure Kamrupi diction.

4. Rudra Kandali and others: Some other names of this early age are also recorded. Rudra Kandali is regarded by some scholars as the earliest of the group. The period also saw other renderings of episodes from the Mahabharata and the Bhagavata, showing that a whole school of court poets existed in western Assam before Sankardeva.

The importance of the pre-Sankardeva poets is very great. They proved that Assamese was fully capable of expressing the high themes of Sanskrit literature, they developed a smooth narrative style, and they kept the tradition of translating the epics and the Puranas alive. When Sankardeva began his work in the fifteenth century, he had this ready tradition before him, and even Sankardeva freely acknowledged the excellence of the poets who had gone before him.

Key points to remember:

• Pre-Sankardeva poets lived in the 13th to 15th centuries in Kamatapur (western Assam).
• They wrote in the Kamrupi dialect of Assamese.
• Harivara Vipra: Bavaru-Vahana and Lava-Kusa Upakhyana.
• Kaviratna Saraswati: Jayadratha-Vadha.
• Hema Saraswati: Prahlada-Charitra and Hara-Gauri-Samvada.
• Patrons: the Kamata kings Durlabh Narayana and Indranarayana.
• Their works mark the beginning of Assamese narrative poetry.

Madhava Kandali is the most important poet of the pre-Sankardeva period. He is believed to have lived in the first half of the fourteenth century, and tradition says that he composed the whole of the Ramayana in Assamese verse at the request of King Mahamanikya of the Kachari kingdom. His great work is known as the 'Saptakanda Ramayana', that is, the Ramayana of the seven books or kandas.

The Saptakanda Ramayana is the earliest Assamese rendering of the story of Rama, and it is one of the masterpieces of medieval Assamese literature. Madhava Kandali wrote it in the pure, flowing Assamese of his time, without the artificial literary language used by the later Vaishnava poets. The work shows a mature poetic power — vivid description, fine similes, dramatic narration and deep feeling for nature and human emotion. Though the poet followed the Ramayana of Valmiki and later sources, he gave the story a local Assamese colour so that the readers of Assam could understand and enjoy it easily.

Several kandas of the original work of Madhava Kandali have been lost. What survives today is the portion from the beginning up to the Yuddha Kanda, while the Uttara Kanda is lost. Even in its incomplete form, the Saptakanda Ramayana is regarded as the greatest achievement of the pre-Sankardeva age.

It is worth noting that Srimanta Sankardeva himself had the highest regard for the poetic skill of Madhava Kandali. In his own works, Sankardeva says that he found the language of the earlier poet so beautiful that he only polished or revised the portion of the Ramayana which needed correction rather than writing a new one. This shows the respect in which Madhava Kandali was held by the greatest figure of Assamese literature.

The language of the Saptakanda Ramayana is an important proof of the independent growth of the Assamese language. Because it was written in Assamese and not in the Brajavali of the Vaishnava poets, scholars consider it a very valuable document for the study of the old Assamese language.

Apart from the Ramayana, a few small works are also attributed to Madhava Kandali. His contribution is remembered chiefly, however, through the Saptakanda Ramayana, which remained popular among the people of Assam for centuries and was often read and recited in homes and satras.

Key points to remember:

• Madhava Kandali lived in the 14th century and wrote the Saptakanda Ramayana.
• He wrote at the request of the Kachari king Mahamanikya.
• Saptakanda Ramayana is the earliest Assamese Ramayana.
• The Uttara Kanda of the original work is lost.
• Sankardeva praised and revised the language of his Ramayana.
• The work was written in pure Assamese, not in Brajavali.

Srimanta Sankardeva (1449–1568) is the greatest single figure in the history of Assamese literature and culture. A saint, religious reformer, poet, playwright, artist and musician, he was born at Alipukhuri near Bordowa in present-day Nagaon district. He lost his parents in childhood and was brought up by his grandmother Khersuti. After a long period of study, pilgrimage and meditation, he founded the Eka Sarana Nama Dharma, the religion of single-minded devotion to Krishna, which completely changed the religious and cultural life of Assam.

Sankardeva gave Assam a whole new literature. His most important work is the 'Kirtana Ghosa', a collection of devotional verses which is popularly known as the 'Assamese Bhagavata'. It is considered the masterpiece of Assamese Vaishnava literature. Another famous work is the 'Gunamala', which he wrote as a summary of the Bhagavata. His other important works include 'Rukmini-Harana', 'Harishchandra-Upakhyana', 'Bhakti-Pradipa', 'Bhakti-Ratnakara' (in Sanskrit), 'Nimi-Navasiddha-Sambada', 'Kurukshetra-Yatra', 'Anadi-Patana' and several others. Most of these are written in verse, and a few are partly in prose.

Sankardeva also created the 'Borgeet', the great devotional songs set to classical ragas, which are sung to this day in the satras and namghars. He is credited with about two hundred and forty Borgeets, though many have been lost. Along with his disciple Madhavdeva he enriched this musical tradition further.

The most original contribution of Sankardeva in the field of drama was the 'Ankia Naat', a type of one-act play written in a special literary language called Brajavali. The play 'Chihna-Yatra' was probably his first dramatic work, and other famous Ankia Naats of his are 'Patni-Prasada', 'Kaliya-Damana', 'Keli-Gopala', 'Rukmini-Harana' and 'Parijata-Harana'. These plays were not meant for mere reading; they were performed on a stage before the villagers. The tradition of performing these plays is called 'Bhaona', and through the Bhaona Sankardeva introduced the common people of Assam to the art of the stage, of costume, of masks and of music. He also introduced new instruments and even painted the first stage curtain, the 'Saptakanda'? No — he is credited with composing and directing, and he himself acted and played the khol in his first performance.

Sankardeva used Brajavali for his dramas and lyrics. Brajavali is a mixed language which has an Assamese base but uses many forms borrowed from the Braj language of north India, and it was used so that the songs and dramas could be sung and understood in the whole Vaishnava world.

Sankardeva died in 1568 at the court of the Koch king Naranarayana at Cooch Behar, far from his native land. In his long life of about one hundred and twenty years, he created an institution — the satra and the namghar — around which the whole religious, social and literary life of Assam came to be organised. For this reason he is known as Mahapurusha, and in the words of modern scholars he is truly the father of Assamese literature.

Key points to remember:

• Sankardeva: 1449–1568; born at Alipukhuri near Bordowa.
• Founder of the Eka Sarana Nama Dharma.
• Masterpiece: Kirtana Ghosa; other works: Gunamala, Rukmini-Harana, Harishchandra-Upakhyana.
• Created the Borgeet and the Ankia Naat.
• Ankia Naat is written in Brajavali; performance tradition is Bhaona.
• Famous plays: Chihna-Yatra, Patni-Prasada, Kaliya-Damana, Keli-Gopala.
• Died at Cooch Behar in 1568.

Sri Madhavdeva (1489–1596) was the chief disciple of Srimanta Sankardeva and the greatest figure of Assamese literature after him. He was born at Letekupukhuri in present-day Lakhimpur district. He accepted Sankardeva as his guru at a mature age, and from then onwards he dedicated his whole life to the service of the Vaishnava faith. After the death of Sankardeva in 1568, Madhavdeva became the spiritual head of the Vaishnava movement, and he worked in Cooch Behar and in Assam to organise the satras. Because he was regarded as a very great soul, he is known as Mahapurusha, like Sankardeva.

Madhavdeva was a gifted poet. His greatest literary work is the 'Namaghosa', a collection of devotional verses in praise of the name of God. The Namaghosa is considered the second greatest religious book of the Assamese Vaishnavas after the Kirtana Ghosa, and it is recited daily in thousands of namghars. Its verses are full of deep devotion, fine poetic beauty and wise reflections. Madhavdeva also composed many Borgeets, and in the opinion of many scholars his Borgeets are equal to those of Sankardeva in poetic quality.

Madhavdeva also wrote a number of Ankia Naats. His most famous plays are 'Arjuna-Bhanjana', 'Bhojana-Bihara' and 'Chora-Dhara'. Apart from these, he is credited with works such as 'Janma-Rahasya'? In fact, his chief literary works apart from the Namaghosa and the plays include the 'Bhakti-Ratnavali', a Sanskrit work based on devotion. The followers of Madhavdeva are sometimes called the followers of the Kala-Samhati or of his own line, and after his death his disciple Gopaladeva became the head of the movement and organised the satras of the Barpeta region.

Madhavdeva is also remembered as a great musician. He perfected the rules of the Borgeet, introduced many new ragas and talas, and is said to have improved the playing of the khol. It is believed that it was under his guidance that the Borgeets composed by Sankardeva and by himself were given their final musical form.

Together, Sankardeva and Madhavdeva carried Assamese Vaishnava literature to its highest point. While Sankardeva was the more original and many-sided genius, Madhavdeva was the devoted organiser and a master of the lyric. Their disciples and followers carried the tradition forward, and many later poets, dramatists and prose writers enriched the Vaishnava literature of Assam.

Key points to remember:

• Madhavdeva: 1489–1596; born at Letekupukhuri in Lakhimpur district.
• Chief disciple of Sankardeva; became head of the movement after 1568.
• Greatest work: the Namaghosa.
• Wrote many Borgeets and Ankia Naats.
• Famous plays: Arjuna-Bhanjana, Bhojana-Bihara and Chora-Dhara.
• Perfected the musical rules of the Borgeet.
• After his death his disciple Gopaladeva carried on the work.

The Vaishnava poets of the age of Sankardeva and Madhavdeva wrote mostly in verse. Assamese prose was developed as a separate literary form mainly by the scholars who felt that the ordinary people must understand the scriptures in their own language. The greatest name in this movement is Baikunthanath Bhagavat Bhattacharya, popularly known as Bhattadeva (1558–1638). He is regarded as the father of Assamese prose.

Bhattadeva was a learned Brahmin scholar of Sanskrit. He felt that the deep teachings of the Bhagavata and the Gita should be made available to the common man in simple language. He therefore wrote in easy and natural Assamese prose two works called the 'Katha-Gita' and the 'Katha-Bhagavata'. In these works he did not merely translate; he retold the sacred stories and discourses in flowing, simple prose which any villager could understand. The Katha-Bhagavata is considered the most important work of Assamese prose before the modern age.

Bhattadeva was also a great Sanskrit scholar and composed works such as the 'Bhakti-Viveka'. But his fame in Assamese literature rests chiefly on his prose works. His style is marked by clarity, dignity and simplicity. Later writers of prose, including the writers of the modern period, acknowledged him as their forerunner.

Apart from Bhattadeva, prose in the Vaishnava age grew in several other directions. The satras and namghars produced a large body of writing which is sometimes called satra literature. This includes the 'charit puthis' or biographies of the great saints. The most famous of these are the biographies of Sankardeva and Madhavdeva, such as the 'Guru-Charita' and similar works written by their disciples. These biographical works give us a very detailed and lively account of the lives, travels and teachings of the Mahapurushas, and they are valuable documents for history and literature alike. Other prose works include commentaries, letters, records of the satras and manuals of religious practice.

The prose of Bhattadeva and the satra writers proves that Assamese prose was already fully mature several centuries before the coming of the missionaries. When the modern prose literature began in the nineteenth century, it did not have to start from nothing; it had behind it the strong tradition of Katha prose and charit literature. This is why modern Assamese prose developed so quickly and so confidently.

Key points to remember:

• Bhattadeva (Baikunthanath Bhagavat Bhattacharya): 1558–1638.
• He is called the father of Assamese prose.
• Chief prose works: Katha-Gita and Katha-Bhagavata.
• He also wrote in Sanskrit, including the Bhakti-Viveka.
• Satra literature includes the charit puthis or biographies of the saints.
• The Guru-Charita is an important biography of the Mahapurushas.

The age of Sankardeva and Madhavdeva also produced many other gifted writers, and one of the most important literary activities of the Vaishnava age was the translation of the Sanskrit scriptures and epics into Assamese. This translation tradition was not new — it had begun with Madhava Kandali — but in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries it reached its fullest development.

The Bhagavata Purana was the most sacred book of the Vaishnavas, and several scholars devoted themselves to translating it. The most famous of these was Ananta Kandali, a contemporary poet of great learning. Ananta Kandali translated large portions of the Bhagavata into fluent Assamese verse, and he is also the author of other works such as the 'Kumara-Harana'. His scholarship was so great that even Sankardeva is said to have praised it. Later, other poets completed the translation of the remaining portions of the Bhagavata so that in course of time the whole sacred book became available to the Assamese reader.

The Mahabharata also came to be rendered into Assamese in this period. The most notable version of the Mahabharata in Assamese is associated with the poet Rama Saraswati of the Kamrup region, who lived in the sixteenth century. His rendering of the great epic, with its long narratives of war and duty, is considered a work of great literary merit. Thus, within about three hundred years of its history, Assamese literature possessed its own versions of the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Bhagavata.

Apart from translations of the epics and the Bhagavata, the Vaishnava age produced many original poems on stories from the Puranas. Numerous poets composed kavya on the lives of the gods and goddesses, and on the glory of devotion. The works of this age also include didactic and philosophical poems, songs of praise and devotional manuals.

Another important product of this age is the devotional biography known as the charit literature. The 'Guru-Charita' and other similar books record the sayings and deeds of the Mahapurushas. Written partly in prose and partly in verse, these biographies are read with great reverence in the satras, and they form a separate branch of Assamese Vaishnava literature.

The satra literature also included many other kinds of writing — ritual texts, commentaries, collections of discourses and songs. All this material together shows that the Vaishnava age was the most productive period of classical Assamese literature. Its influence continued for centuries, and even today the satras of Assam preserve and recite these works.

Key points to remember:

• Translation of the Bhagavata was a major activity of the Vaishnava age.
• Ananta Kandali: translator of the Bhagavata and author of Kumara-Harana.
• Rama Saraswati (16th century, Kamrup): Assamese rendering of the Mahabharata.
• By this time Assamese literature had its own Ramayana, Mahabharata and Bhagavata.
• Charit literature: biographies of the Mahapurushas such as the Guru-Charita.
• Satra literature includes ritual texts, commentaries and discourses.

The word 'buranji' means a chronicle or a storehouse of knowledge. The Ahoms, who came to Assam from their original homeland in the Shan region of south-east Asia, brought with them the tradition of keeping written chronicles of important events. In the Ahom court this tradition was maintained very carefully, and the records which were produced are called Buranjis. The word is believed to have come from the Tai-Ahom language.

At first the Buranjis were written in the Ahom language by specially appointed officers of the court, but in course of time many of them came to be written in Assamese, and some in a mixed language. They were written on the bark of the agaru or sachi tree in long folded sheets. The Ahom kings kept Buranjis for almost every department of state — there were Buranjis of the royal family, of war, of revenue, of diplomatic relations and of daily court events. The chroniclers recorded the genealogies of the kings, the wars they fought, the peace treaties they signed, their relations with the neighbouring kingdoms such as the Koch, the Mughals, the Kachari and the Jaintia, and the religious and cultural events of the court.

The important Buranjis which are preserved today include the 'Purani Asam Buranji', the 'Satsari Assam Buranji', the 'Tripura Buranji' and the 'Tungkhungia Buranji'. The Tripura Buranji is specially interesting because it was compiled during the reign of the Ahom king Rudra Singha, who sent two officers to Tripura to study the country; the officers came back and wrote this chronicle of the relations between the two kingdoms. In the nineteenth century, Haliram Dhekiyal Phukan wrote an 'Assam Buranji' in Assamese which is one of the earliest printed books of history, and later Harakanta Barua also compiled an 'Assam Buranji'. In the modern period scholars like Hemchandra Goswami discovered and published several old Buranji manuscripts.

The Buranjis are of the greatest value for the reconstruction of the history of Assam. Without them we would know very little about the Ahom administration, the Paik system, the wars with the Mughals, the social life and the economy of medieval Assam. But the Buranjis are not only historical documents; they are also literature. They contain vivid descriptions of battles, fine narrative passages and specimens of a simple and dignified Assamese prose which developed side by side with the religious prose of the satras. For this reason the Buranjis are given a separate and honourable place in the history of Assamese literature.

Key points to remember:

• Buranji means chronicle; the tradition was brought by the Ahoms.
• Earlier Buranjis were written in Ahom language, later in Assamese.
• They were written on the bark of the agaru or sachi tree.
• Buranjis were kept for the royal family, war, revenue and diplomacy.
• Important Buranjis: Purani Asam Buranji, Satsari Assam Buranji, Tripura Buranji, Tungkhungia Buranji.
• Tripura Buranji was compiled during the reign of Rudra Singha.
• Haliram Dhekiyal Phukan and Harakanta Barua wrote 'Assam Buranji' in Assamese.
• The Buranjis are both historical records and literary works.

The modern age of Assamese literature began after the British occupation of Assam following the Treaty of Yandabo in 1826. The single most powerful instrument of change was the printing press, which was introduced into Assam mainly by the American Baptist missionaries. Nathan Brown, Miles Bronson and Oliver Cutter and their associates settled at Sivasagar from 1836 and established schools, translated the Bible into Assamese and set up a printing press. Even before them, William Carey of Serampore had printed some Assamese books, and the first Assamese person to help in this work was Atmaram Sarmah.

The Baptist mission began printing an Assamese monthly journal called the 'Orunodoi' from Sivasagar in January 1846. The Orunodoi was the first Assamese periodical, and it printed articles on religion, science, history, geography and current affairs. But its greatest service was to Assamese prose — it gave the Assamese writers of that time a platform on which to practise the new, simple and vigorous prose which the modern age needed. The group of writers who wrote in the Orunodoi is today known as the Orunodoi school or the Orunodoi age of Assamese literature.

The most important native writer of this age was Anandaram Dhekiyal Phukan (1829–1859). Though he died young, he wrote powerful essays and letters in the Orunodoi urging the Assamese people to take to modern education and to develop their own language. He was one of the first persons to argue strongly that Assamese should be kept as the medium of education and administration instead of being replaced by Bengali. His simple and direct prose is regarded as a model of modern Assamese prose. He is rightly considered one of the founders of modern Assamese literature.

Another great figure of this age was Hemchandra Barua (1835–1896). He was a poet, grammarian and lexicographer. His most famous work is the 'Hemkosh', the first comprehensive Assamese-English dictionary, on which he laboured for many years. He also wrote essays and poems of a social and satirical nature and did much to build up a modern Assamese vocabulary.

Gunabhiram Barua (1837–1894) was a social reformer and a writer. He is remembered for writing the 'Ram-Navami', which is regarded as the first original Assamese drama, and also for writing the biography of Anandaram Dhekiyal Phukan, which is one of the earliest modern Assamese biographies. The missionary scholars also helped the language by writing grammars and dictionaries of Assamese, and the schools opened by them spread education through the Assamese language.

The Orunodoi age thus laid the foundation of modern Assamese literature. Its prose was clear and purposeful, and it prepared the ground for the richer literary flowering that came with the Jonaki magazine in 1889.

Key points to remember:

• The printing press was introduced mainly by the American Baptist missionaries after 1836.
• Orunodoi, the first Assamese journal, began in January 1846 from Sivasagar.
• Atmaram Sarmah helped William Carey in early Assamese printing.
• Anandaram Dhekiyal Phukan (1829–1859): pioneer of modern Assamese prose.
• Hemchandra Barua (1835–1896): author of the Hemkosh dictionary.
• Gunabhiram Barua (1837–1894): writer of Ram-Navami, the first Assamese drama.
• The Orunodoi age laid the foundation of modern Assamese literature.

The Jonaki age is the most important period of modern Assamese literature, and it takes its name from the magazine Jonaki which was first published from Calcutta in 1889. The magazine was brought out by a band of young Assamese students, and its moving spirit was Chandra Kumar Agarwala. The other great writers who wrote in Jonaki were Lakshminath Bezbaroa and Hemchandra Goswami. The Jonaki age is also called the romantic age of Assamese literature, because the writers of this period turned away from the purely informative prose of the Orunodoi age and began to write lyric poetry and essays full of beauty, emotion, love of nature and patriotism.

Jonaki gave a voice to the feelings of the Assamese people at a time when their language and identity were under threat. The young writers who gathered round it looked with tender and poetic eyes upon the hills, rivers, forests and fields of Assam, and they tried to express the sorrows and hopes of their people. In this way the Jonaki writers prepared the ground for the growth of modern Assamese national consciousness. The word 'jonaki' means the light of the firefly, and these writers hoped that their little light would, like the firefly, shine in the darkness of the age.

Chandra Kumar Agarwala (1867–1938) was the chief editor and organiser of Jonaki. He was born at Tezpur and educated at Calcutta. He was a romantic lyric poet whose poems sing of the beauty of the Assam country — its rivers like the Brahmaputra, its green fields, its moonlit nights and its simple village life. Many of his poems are full of a gentle longing for the homeland, and some of them have become immortal lyrics which are sung even today. Because of the beauty and delicacy of his lyrics Chandra Kumar Agarwala is regarded as one of the founders of the romantic school of Assamese poetry. In his later life he became a successful businessman, but he never lost his love for literature.

Hemchandra Goswami (1872–1928) was also one of the leading writers of the Jonaki age. He was a poet, a dramatist, a critic and a research scholar. His poems are full of patriotism and a deep love for the history of Assam. He wrote historical plays such as 'Lilabati', in which he revived on the stage some of the great figures and events of Assamese history. As a scholar he travelled through Assam collecting old manuscripts, and he brought to light many ancient works, including the 'Purani Asam Buranji' which he edited and published. For this patient research into the past, Hemchandra Goswami is honoured as a pioneer of historical and archaeological study in Assamese literature.

Thus the Jonaki age opened a new chapter in Assamese literature. The lyric poets of this age brought into Assamese poetry a new music and a new tenderness, while the essays and stories that appeared in Jonaki gave Assamese prose a new suppleness and charm.

Key points to remember:

• Jonaki magazine was first published from Calcutta in 1889.
• The Jonaki age is the romantic age of Assamese literature.
• Chandra Kumar Agarwala (1867–1938) was the moving spirit and chief editor of Jonaki.
• Chandra Kumar Agarwala was a lyric poet of nature and the beauty of Assam.
• Hemchandra Goswami (1872–1928) was a poet, dramatist and research scholar.
• Hemchandra Goswami wrote historical plays such as Lilabati.
• Hemchandra Goswami discovered and published old manuscripts including the Purani Asam Buranji.

Lakshminath Bezbaroa (1868–1938) is the greatest single figure of the Jonaki age and is honoured as the father of modern Assamese literature. He was born at Ahatguri in the district of Nagaon, and his family had a long tradition of service in the Ahom court. He was educated at Calcutta, where he came under the influence of the spirit of the age, and he returned to devote his whole life to the service of the Assamese language and literature.

Bezbaroa was a man of many gifts. He was the editor of the Jonaki, and under his editorship the magazine became the very soul of the Assamese literary awakening. As a story-writer he created the Assamese short story, and his stories are loved for their humour, their tenderness and their understanding of village life. His short stories were published in collections such as 'Sadhukathar Kotha'. He was also a master of humour and satire; under the pen-name of Sri Xatradhikar he wrote humorous letters and essays in which he laughed at the follies and weaknesses of his society, and the character of the talkative old Xatradhikar has become immortal in Assamese literature.

As a novelist Bezbaroa wrote 'Padum Kunwari', a humorous novel which laughs at the evils of the marriage system of his time while telling the story of an educated Assamese girl. As a dramatist he wrote plays of many kinds; his historical play 'Joymoti Konwari', which is based on the story of the heroic Ahom queen Joymoti, is one of the finest plays in the Assamese language, and it has been staged and filmed several times. He also brought out 'Burhi Aair Sadhu', a delightful collection of old Assamese folk-tales which he retold for children and grown-ups alike, and he wrote patriotic lyrics which stirred the hearts of the people and are sung in Assam to this day.

In all his writings Bezbaroa used a prose which was simple, lively and wonderfully expressive. He showed that the Assamese language could express every mood of human life — mirth and sorrow, satire and tenderness, wit and wisdom. More than any other writer he gave the Assamese people a sense of their own identity and pride in their language. For this reason he is remembered with the greatest honour, and the Assamese people call him, with affection and pride, the architect of modern Assamese literature. He was honoured with the title of Sahityarathi, meaning the charioteer of literature.

Key points to remember:

• Lakshminath Bezbaroa (1868–1938) is the father of modern Assamese literature.
• He was the editor of Jonaki.
• He created the Assamese short story; collections like Sadhukathar Kotha.
• His humorous pen-name was Sri Xatradhikar.
• His novel Padum Kunwari is a satire on the marriage system.
• His historical play Joymoti Konwari is one of the finest Assamese plays.
• Burhi Aair Sadhu is his collection of old folk-tales.
• He was honoured with the title Sahityarathi.

The novel is a literary form which the Assamese language received from the modern age. The first Assamese novel, 'Bhanumati', was written by Padmanath Gohain Baruah (1871–1946) and was published in 1890. Padmanath Gohain Baruah was a scholar, a poet, a dramatist and a politician, and he was one of the most learned men of his time. Bhanumati is the story of a widow who wins back her place in society, and through the story the novelist gives his message on the condition of Assamese women. Padmanath Gohain Baruah wrote several other works also, and he took an active part in the public life of Assam, serving as a leader of the freedom movement and as president of the Asam Sahitya Sabha.

If Padmanath Gohain Baruah introduced the novel, it was Rajanikanta Bardoloi (1867–1939) who established it as a great art. Rajanikanta Bardoloi was a government officer, and he wrote his novels in the spare hours of an official life. He is known above all for the historical novel, and his first novel, 'Mirijiyori' (1894), was the first historical novel in the Assamese language. He was a careful student of the Ahom past, and in novels like 'Monomoti' (1900) and 'Rahadai-Ligiri' (1930) he brought to life the courts, the battles and the romance of Ahom times. Because of the splendour and movement of his storytelling he has been compared with the great Scottish historical novelist Walter Scott, and Assamese readers lovingly call him the Walter Scott of Assam.

Rajanikanta Bardoloi was also one of the first Assamese novelists who drew his characters from the ordinary people of the hills and plains. His novel Mirijiyori tells the love story of a Miri (Mising) girl and an Assamese youth, and in it the novelist shows a deep sympathy for the simple tribal people of the region. His novels were serialised in magazines and were read with eagerness by the growing reading public of Assam.

After these two pioneers the Assamese novel grew steadily in many directions. Novelists of the later age, such as Birendra Kumar Barua, Jogesh Das, Syed Abdul Malik, Bhabendra Nath Saikia, Homen Borgohain, Indira Goswami and Nirupama Borgohain, took the novel into the world of village and town life, of social problems, of the middle classes and of the marginalised people, and brought it to a high level of art. The Assamese novel is today one of the richest branches of Indian literature in translation.

Key points to remember:

• Bhanumati (1890) by Padmanath Gohain Baruah is the first Assamese novel.
• Padmanath Gohain Baruah (1871–1946) was a scholar, writer and politician.
• Rajanikanta Bardoloi (1867–1939) is known as the Walter Scott of Assam.
• Mirijiyori (1894) was the first historical novel in Assamese.
• Manomoti (1900) and Rahadai-Ligiri (1930) are his other famous historical novels.
• Later masters: Birendra Kumar Barua, Syed Abdul Malik, Bhabendra Nath Saikia, Homen Borgohain, Indira Goswami.

The short story in Assamese, like the novel, is a gift of the modern age, and it was Lakshminath Bezbaroa who first gave it a finished artistic form in the pages of Jonaki. His stories of village life, full of humour and sympathy, became the model for the writers who came after him. Since that beginning the Assamese short story has travelled a long way, and today it is one of the most vigorous branches of Assamese literature, in which almost every important writer of the language has tried his or her hand.

In the first half of the twentieth century the story grew under the influence of romanticism and social awareness. Writers like Padmanath Gohain Baruah, the pioneer of Assamese fiction, and others wrote stories of love, patriotism and the changing life of Assam. The arrival of Birendra Kumar Barua (1908–1964) gave the story a new seriousness; his stories deal with the deeper human feelings, and his style is delicate and suggestive rather than loud.

From the middle of the twentieth century the short story came to reflect the realities of Assamese society more closely. Syed Abdul Malik wrote with deep feeling about the lives of the ordinary Muslim peasantry and the poor of the countryside. Jogesh Das, Mahim Bora and others wrote about the daily life of village and small-town Assam with realism and sympathy. Bhabendra Nath Saikia (1932–2003) brought to the story a fine craftsmanship and a deep insight into the psychology of the middle-class Assamese family; he is regarded as one of the finest short-story writers of modern Assam. Saurav Kumar Chaliha is famous for the wit and irony of his stories, and Homen Borgohain, though best known as a novelist, has also written powerful short fiction.

Among women writers the greatest name is that of Indira Goswami (1942–2011), better known by the pen-name Mamoni Raisom Goswami. Her stories and novels portray the sorrows of widows, of women and of the downtrodden with fearless honesty, and her novel 'Adha Lekha Dastabej' is known throughout India in translation. She was honoured with the Jnanpith Award in 2000. Along with her, Nirupama Borgohain and many later women writers have brought the experience of Assamese women into the centre of the story.

The contemporary Assamese short story continues to experiment with new themes and new techniques. Writers of recent decades write about the tensions of modern life, the problems of the tea-garden labourers, the troubles of the hill people, the violence of insurgency and the hopes of ordinary men and women. A large body of these stories has been translated into English and other Indian languages, and the Assamese short story now speaks to readers far beyond the borders of Assam.

Key points to remember:

• Lakshminath Bezbaroa gave the Assamese short story its first artistic form.
• Birendra Kumar Barua brought new seriousness to the story.
• Bhabendra Nath Saikia is a master of the modern psychological story.
• Saurav Kumar Chaliha is famous for wit and irony.
• Indira Goswami (Mamoni Raisom Goswami) won the Jnanpith Award in 2000.
• The contemporary story deals with modern social problems and has been widely translated.

Modern Assamese poetry has passed through many stages since the romantic lyrics of the Jonaki age. In the early decades of the twentieth century a group of poets carried forward the romantic tradition while turning it to new purposes. Raghunath Chaudhary (1879–1967), who wrote under the pen-name Bhanu, was a romantic lyric poet of nature and love who later came under the influence of religious mysticism. Ambikagiri Raichoudhury (1885–1967) wrote patriotic and deeply thoughtful lyrics; he was also a fearless social and political worker who took part in the national movement, and his poems breathe a spirit of freedom and service to the people. Jatindranath Duwara (1892–1964) was a scholar-poet who brought into Assamese poetry a new learning and a mastery of form; he was especially known for his sonnets, and he stands as a bridge between the romantic age and the modern age of Assamese poetry.

The women poets also began to be heard in this period. Nalini Bala Devi (1898–1977) was the first great modern poetess of Assam; her poems express a gentle religious feeling as well as the sorrows and hopes of women, and she was the first woman to become president of the Asam Sahitya Sabha. From the middle of the twentieth century women poets became a regular and honoured part of Assamese literature.

After the nineteen-thirties a new spirit began to move in Assamese poetry. The poet Amulya Barua (1922–1946), who died very young, was the first to break completely with the romantic manner; he wrote free verse full of irony and the anxieties of modern life, and he is honoured as the pioneer of the modernist movement in Assamese poetry. From the nineteen-fifties and sixties a group of 'new poets' carried this modernism further. Nilmani Phukan (1933–2019) wrote poetry of great intellectual power and social concern, while Nirmalprabha Bordoloi (1932–2004) brought into verse the experience and sensibility of a modern woman. Nabakanta Barua (1926–2002), equally famous as a novelist, wrote poems of deep human feeling, and Hiren Bhattacharya (1932–2012) became the most beloved lyric poet of modern Assam, whose poems are loved by ordinary readers and have been widely translated.

In the later decades Assamese poetry has continued to renew itself. Poets have written about nature, love, the countryside and the city, about the life of the tea-garden workers and the tribal peoples, about the violence and unrest that troubled Assam, and about the hopes of the young. Free verse is now the normal medium, and the influence of world poetry is clearly visible. Much of this modern poetry has been translated into English and other languages, and Assamese poetry is today one of the living and respected poetries of India.

Key points to remember:

• Raghunath Chaudhary (Bhanu): romantic lyric poet.
• Ambikagiri Raichoudhury: patriotic and thoughtful poet and freedom worker.
• Jatindranath Duwara: scholar-poet and master of the sonnet.
• Nalini Bala Devi: first great modern poetess; first woman president of the Asam Sahitya Sabha.
• Amulya Barua: pioneer of modernist and free-verse poetry.
• Nilmani Phukan, Nirmalprabha Bordoloi and Nabakanta Barua carried modernism forward.
• Hiren Bhattacharya was the most popular lyric poet of modern Assam.

The drama has a very old history in Assam. From the fifteenth century the Vaishnava saint Sankardeva and his followers created the Ankia Naat, the one-act plays which are staged as Bhaona in the satras and villages, and this tradition of devotional drama has remained alive to the present day. But modern Assamese drama, written in prose and meant for the modern stage, is a creation of the nineteenth century. Its beginning is marked by Gunabhiram Barua's play 'Ram-Navami' (1857), which is generally regarded as the first original play of modern Assamese literature. In the early period plays were written mainly to be read, and many were translations or adaptations from Bengali and English.

With the Jonaki age the drama took a new turn. Hemchandra Goswami wrote historical plays such as 'Lilabati', in which he brought the glorious past of Assam to the stage. Lakshminath Bezbaroa wrote farces and historical dramas, and his 'Joymoti Konwari', which tells the heroic story of the Ahom queen Joymoti, became the most celebrated play of the time. The period between the two world wars saw a steady growth of the drama. Atul Chandra Hazarika (1903–1986) was the most prolific and popular dramatist of this period; he wrote a large number of plays on historical, mythological and social subjects, and by giving the theatre good readable plays he did much to popularise Assamese drama. Phani Sarma (1910–1970) served the stage as actor and director, and his realistic acting did much to create a genuine Assamese theatre. Along with the literary drama, the indigenous jatra and the amateur stage groups of Guwahati and other towns kept the dramatic art alive.

After independence the drama grew in seriousness and in social awareness. The one-act play became a favourite form, and many writers found in drama a vehicle for the discussion of social problems. Bhabendra Nath Saikia, already famous as a short-story writer, wrote plays of great subtlety which examined the tensions of middle-class family life, and the modern stage has continued to produce serious work. Radio and later television gave the dramatist new audiences, and Assamese drama today is a living and developing art.

Alongside this literary drama, Assam developed a remarkable popular theatre. In the twentieth century the 'mobile theatre' groups of Assam, which travel from place to place with their plays, became a unique and much-loved institution of the Assamese people. These groups stage popular social, historical and mythological plays with music and spectacle, and they reach audiences in the smallest towns of the state. The Assamese stage, in its many forms, is thus one of the most active cultural traditions of the region.

Key points to remember:

• Sankardeva created the Ankia Naat, staged as Bhaona.
• Gunabhiram Barua's Ram-Navami (1857) begins modern Assamese drama.
• Hemchandra Goswami wrote historical plays like Lilabati.
• Bezbaroa's Joymoti Konwari is a celebrated historical play.
• Atul Chandra Hazarika was the most popular dramatist of his time.
• Phani Sarma was a great actor and man of the theatre.
• Bhabendra Nath Saikia wrote subtle plays on middle-class life.
• Assam's mobile theatre is a unique popular institution.

The modern Assamese prose which we read today has two roots. The first root goes back to the sixteenth century, when Bhattadeva wrote his simple and noble prose rendering of the Bhagavata, and the second root is the prose of the Buranjis, which recorded the affairs of the Ahom kingdom in a clear and businesslike manner. But the truly modern Assamese prose, flexible enough to express every subject of human thought, was created in the nineteenth century by the writers of the Orunodoi and brought to perfection by the writers of the Jonaki age, above all by Lakshminath Bezbaroa. It was Bezbaroa who made the essay a favourite form of Assamese writing; his essays on the language, the customs, the festivals and the daily life of the Assamese people are full of charm, wit and wisdom.

With the growth of education and scholarship, the essay in Assamese developed many branches. The biographical and autobiographical essay flourished through the twentieth century. The modern biography begins with Gunabhiram Barua's account of the life of Anandaram Dhekiyal Phukan, and it was followed by a rich crop of lives of the Vaishnava saints, the kings of Assam, the leaders of the freedom movement and the writers themselves. Autobiography, memoirs and personal reminiscences also became popular, and in these works the reader finds a direct and intimate picture of Assamese life across the generations.

Literary criticism and literary history grew up mainly in the universities and among the learned societies of the twentieth century. Banikanta Kakati (1894–1952) was the first great critic of modern Assamese literature; he applied the methods of modern scholarship to the study of Assamese language and literature, and his writings gave a new dignity to literary criticism. Birinchi Kumar Barua (1908–1964) was a critic, a folklorist and a historian of Assamese culture; his histories of Assamese literature and culture, written in English, carried the knowledge of Assamese literature to the wider world. The historian Surya Kumar Bhuyan (1894–1964) discovered, edited and published a great many old manuscripts and chronicles, and in doing so he supplied the material on which much of the later study of Assamese literature and history is built. Satyendranath Sarma wrote a comprehensive critical history of Assamese literature which is a standard work of reference for all students.

In the later twentieth century the essay continued to flourish in the magazines and newspapers of Assam. Writers like Hiren Gohain wrote essays of social and cultural criticism which provoked thought and discussion, and many journalists, scholars and public men enriched Assamese prose in their daily writings. Today the Assamese essay, criticism and biography together form a mature and respected body of literature, and they show how completely the Assamese language has become a vehicle of modern thought.

Key points to remember:

• Bhattadeva's prose and the Buranjis are the roots of Assamese prose.
• Bezbaroa made the essay a favourite form of Assamese writing.
• Gunabhiram Barua wrote the first modern Assamese biography.
• Banikanta Kakati was the first great modern critic.
• Birinchi Kumar Barua wrote histories of Assamese literature and culture.
• Surya Kumar Bhuyan edited and published many old manuscripts.
• Satyendranath Sarma wrote a standard critical history of Assamese literature.

Besides its written literature, Assam has a vast and beautiful body of folk literature which has been handed down by word of mouth from generation to generation. The folk literature of Assam is the creation of the nameless men and women of the countryside, and in it we hear the true voice of the Assamese people. It has many forms — folk songs, folk tales, proverbs, riddles, rhymes and folk dramas — and every one of these forms is rich in number and variety.

Among the folk songs the most famous are the songs of the Bihu. The Bihu is the great festival of Assam, and it is celebrated three times in the year. The songs of the Rongali Bihu, which comes in spring, sing of love and longing, of the young men and women who part and meet, and of the beauty of the season. Besides the Bihu songs there are the Husori songs sung by groups of men in the courtyard, the songs of marriage sung by the women of the house, the lullabies with which mothers put their children to sleep, and the simple rhymes and games of children. There are also work songs, such as the songs of the boatmen and of the cultivators, and the Tokari geet, which are sung to the accompaniment of a one-stringed instrument called the tokari. Through all these songs we hear the joys and sorrows, the hopes and the wisdom of the common people.

Assam is also very rich in folk tales. The grandmothers of Assam have told their children for centuries the wonderful stories of Tejimola and other heroines, of princes and princesses, of ghosts and demons and of clever animals. The greatest service to this treasure was done by Lakshminath Bezbaroa, who gathered the best of these tales in his collection 'Burhi Aair Sadhu' and gave them a permanent place in Assamese literature. Along with the tales there are innumerable proverbs and riddles, which show the practical wisdom and the quick wit of the Assamese people, and they are used daily in the villages to teach, to warn and to amuse.

The folk literature of Assam also includes the Ojapali, a narrative performance in which a group of singers recites the stories of the epics with song and gesture, and folk plays which grew up in the villages. It must also be remembered that Assam is a land of many peoples, and every community has its own folk literature. The tribes of the plains and the hills — the Bodos, the Misings, the Rabhas, the Karbis and many others — sing their own songs and tell their own tales in their own languages, and these too are a precious part of the heritage of Assam.

The study of this folk literature is of great value, because it preserves the memory of the people which is not found in books. Scholars such as Birinchi Kumar Barua and Praphulladatta Goswami collected and studied the folk songs and folk tales of Assam, and they showed that this oral literature is a living storehouse of the language and the culture of the Assamese people.

Key points to remember:

• Folk literature is handed down by word of mouth.
• Bihu songs and Husori are the most famous folk songs.
• Marriage songs, lullabies, children's rhymes, work songs and Tokari geet are other forms.
• Folk tales like Tejimola are treasured in Assam.
• Bezbaroa collected folk tales in Burhi Aair Sadhu.
• Proverbs and riddles show the wisdom of the people.
• Ojapali is a narrative folk performance of the epics.
• The tribal communities have their own rich folk literature.

The middle decades of the twentieth century saw a great cultural awakening in Assam, and at the centre of it stood two remarkable men, Jyotiprasad Agarwala and Bishnu Prasad Rabha. Both of them were poets, dramatists, composers and men of the theatre, and both of them gave the Assamese people a new pride in their own culture.

Jyotiprasad Agarwala (1903–1951) was born in a well-to-do family of Tamuli tea planters. He was trained in England as a textile engineer, but on returning home he gave himself wholly to the arts. He wrote poems and plays of great beauty; his plays 'Sonit Kunwari', 'Karengar Ligiri' and 'Labhita' are among the finest in Assamese literature. He composed hundreds of songs which are known today as Jyoti-sangeet; these songs, which deal with love, nature, patriotism and the life of the people, are sung in Assam on every occasion and have become a permanent part of Assamese life. Because of his devotion to beauty and art, the Assamese people lovingly call him Rupkonwar, meaning the prince of art.

Jyotiprasad Agarwala is also remembered as the father of the Assamese cinema. In 1935 he produced and directed 'Joymoti', the first Assamese film, which was based on the story of the brave Ahom queen made famous by Bezbaroa's play. The leading lady of this film was Aideu Handique, who thus became the first actress of the Assamese screen. Jyotiprasad died young, but in his short life he showed the Assamese people what their own language and art could achieve.

Bishnu Prasad Rabha (1909–1969) was a man of even wider activity. He was a freedom fighter, a political worker and a great organiser of the peasants and workers, and at the same time he was an actor, singer, composer, dramatist and dancer. He travelled through the villages and the tribal areas, studied their songs and their arts, and tried to bring the beauty of the common people into the main stream of Assamese culture. His songs are full of the spirit of struggle and of love for the labouring people, and many of them have become immortal. He was connected with the Indian People's Theatre Association, which spread the message of art among the people. For his many-sided genius the Assamese people call him Kalaguru, the master of the arts.

Along with these two leaders, many other writers and artists of the twentieth century enriched the songs, the drama, the dance and the music of Assam. The literary drama grew into the films and the popular stage, and Assamese songs composed by these masters and their followers became the daily music of the Assamese home. The cultural renaissance brought about by Jyotiprasad Agarwala and Bishnu Prasad Rabha is one of the brightest chapters in the modern history of Assam.

Key points to remember:

• Jyotiprasad Agarwala (1903–1951) was a poet, dramatist and composer.
• He is lovingly called Rupkonwar.
• His songs are known as Jyoti-sangeet.
• His play Karengar Ligiri is a classic of Assamese drama.
• He made Joymoti (1935), the first Assamese film; Aideu Handique was its actress.
• Bishnu Prasad Rabha (1909–1969) was a freedom fighter and artist.
• He is called Kalaguru for his many-sided genius.
• Both brought a great cultural renaissance to Assam.

The growth of Assamese literature was helped greatly by the literary associations and magazines which the Assamese people built up from the nineteenth century onwards. The first such association was the Asomiya Bhasa Unnati Sadhini Sabha, which was formed in Calcutta in 1888 by a group of young Assamese patriots. The Sabha worked for the development of the Assamese language, published books and helped young writers, and it was closely connected with the famous magazine Jonaki, which began to appear from 1889. The Jonaki gave the writers of the age a common platform, and from it grew the whole romantic movement of modern Assamese literature.

The greatest of all the literary institutions of Assam is the Asam Sahitya Sabha, which was founded at Sivasagar in December 1917, with Padmanath Gohain Baruah as its first president. The Sahitya Sabha was established to develop the Assamese language, literature and culture, and to bring the Assamese-speaking people of the whole region together. Since its foundation it has held a great session every year, called the Adhibesan, in a different part of Assam, and at these sessions writers, poets and scholars meet, discuss literary questions and receive honours. The Sahitya Sabha has published hundreds of books, has encouraged the collection of manuscripts and folk literature, and has branches all over Assam. In the twentieth century it became the voice of the Assamese literary world, and it played an important part in the movements for the protection of the Assamese language and identity. It has honoured many writers with the title of Sahityacharya.

Besides these two institutions, a large number of magazines and journals have served Assamese literature. In the early twentieth century the magazines of the romantic age carried the new poetry and the new stories to the people. In the years before independence, magazines such as Awahon and Jayanti gave a home to the writers of the age, and after independence the literary journals continued to appear in great numbers, together with the weekly and daily newspapers of Assam, which have always given a place to literature. In the later twentieth century journals and newspapers like Sadin played a great part in the discussion of language, literature and society.

The universities of Assam have also done much for literature. The departments of Assamese in the universities have trained scholars and critics, have edited old manuscripts and have produced standard histories of Assamese literature. Awards such as the Sahityacharya title, the Asam Sahitya Sabha's own prizes, and the national awards given to Assamese writers have encouraged literary work at every level.

Key points to remember:

• Asomiya Bhasa Unnati Sadhini Sabha was founded in Calcutta in 1888.
• Jonaki, from 1889, was connected with this Sabha.
• Asam Sahitya Sabha was founded at Sivasagar in December 1917.
• Padmanath Gohain Baruah was its first president.
• Its annual session is called the Adhibesan.
• The Sahitya Sabha honours writers with the title Sahityacharya.
• Magazines like Awahon and Jayanti helped literature in the early twentieth century.

For quick revision, the whole history of Assamese literature may be divided into the following periods, with the principal writers of each:

1. The Charyapada period (about 10th to 12th century): the earliest specimens of Assamese poetry, written by Buddhist Siddha poets.

2. The pre-Sankardeva period: devotional and narrative works; the most important figure is Madhav Kandali, whose rendering of the Ramayana is a classic of the age.

3. The Sankarite or neo-Vaishnavite period (15th to 17th century): Sankardeva and Madhavdeva created the Borgeet, the Ankia Naat and a vast devotional literature; translations and original kavya flourished under the Koch kingdom.

4. The period of Bhattadeva (16th century): the beginning of Assamese prose in the form of the Bhagavata translations.

5. The Buranji period (17th to 18th century): the historical chronicles written under the Ahom kings.

6. The Orunodoi age (19th century): modern Assamese prose, the printing press, the influence of the missionaries, and the beginnings of modern writing.

7. The Jonaki age (from 1889): the romantic age; Bezbaroa, Chandra Kumar Agarwala and Hemchandra Goswami.

8. The twentieth century after Jonaki: the growth of the novel, the short story, the drama, the essay and criticism; Padmanath Gohain Baruah, Rajanikanta Bardoloi, Atul Chandra Hazarika and many others.

9. The modern and contemporary period (from about the middle of the twentieth century): modern poetry, the psychological story, women writers, and the many-sided work of writers in every branch of literature.

Important works for quick reference:

• Madhav Kandali — Saptakanda Ramayana.
• Sankardeva — the Kirtan-ghosha, the Borgeet, and Ankia Naat plays like the Chihna-yatra and the Parijat-haran.
• Madhavdeva — the Nam-ghosha, the Borgeet, and Ankia Naat plays.
• Bhattadeva — prose translations of the Bhagavata.
• Haliram Dhekiyal Phukan and Harakanta Barua — the Assam Buranji.
• Anandaram Dhekiyal Phukan — essays in the Orunodoi.
• Hemchandra Barua — the Hemkosh dictionary.
• Gunabhiram Barua — Ram-Navami (play), and the biography of Anandaram Dhekiyal Phukan.
• Lakshminath Bezbaroa — the short stories, Padum Kunwari (novel), Joymoti Konwari (play), Burhi Aair Sadhu, and the humorous essays.
• Rajanikanta Bardoloi — Mirijiyori, Manomoti and Rahadai-Ligiri (historical novels).
• Padmanath Gohain Baruah — Bhanumati, the first Assamese novel.
• Hemchandra Goswami — Lilabati (play).
• Jyotiprasad Agarwala — Karengar Ligiri (play), the Jyoti-sangeet, and the film Joymoti.
• Bishnu Prasad Rabha — songs and dramas of the people.
• Indira Goswami (Mamoni Raisom Goswami) — Adha Lekha Dastabej and other novels.

Key points to remember:

• The periods follow the growth of the language from the Charyapada to the contemporary age.
• Each period has its own leading writers and characteristic literary forms.
• This outline helps the student to place any work in its proper age.

In the decades after independence, and especially since the nineteen-seventies, Assamese literature has become very rich and many-sided. The language movement of the nineteen-sixties and the troubled years that followed gave the writers much to think about, and the literature of these years reflects the anxieties of the age. The novel and the short story have continued to develop in the hands of writers like Bhabendra Nath Saikia, Homen Borgohain and a whole new generation of younger writers, while modern poetry has flourished in many styles. The one-act play and the full-length drama are still written and staged, and the essay and criticism are cultivated in the universities and in the journals.

The women writers of contemporary Assam have made a remarkable contribution. Indira Goswami, honoured with the Jnanpith Award in 2000, remains the greatest name, and beside her stand Nirupama Borgohain and many other novelists, story-writers and poets who have written with courage and honesty about women and about the poor. In recent decades writers have also come from the tea-garden labour community, from the tribal peoples and from every section of Assamese society, so that the literature of today speaks with many new voices. The difficulties of the small communities, the life of the workers, the sorrows of the insurgency years and the hopes of a new generation are all reflected in the literature of our time.

Translation has become a great force in recent years. A large number of Assamese novels, stories and poems have been translated into English, Hindi and other languages of India, and through these translations the world has come to know the literature of Assam better. At the same time, the literatures of other countries are being translated into Assamese, and the Assamese writer is today in living contact with the literatures of the whole world. Electronic media and the internet have opened new possibilities, and Assamese literature is now also created and shared through websites, blogs and social media.

The story of Assamese literature is thus a continuous story of more than a thousand years. Beginning with the mystic songs of the Charyapada, passing through the great religious age of Sankardeva and the historical age of the Buranjis, and growing through the Orunodoi and the Jonaki into a full modern literature, it has come down to us as one of the oldest and richest literatures of India. Its future depends on the love of the Assamese people for their language, and that love has never been stronger than it is today.

Key points to remember:

• Assamese literature has grown rich and many-sided after independence.
• Writers have reflected the language movement and the unrest of the age.
• Women writers, tribal writers and writers from every community are active today.
• Translation in both directions has linked Assam with the wider world.
• Electronic media and the internet have opened new possibilities.
• Assamese literature is more than a thousand years old and still growing.