Assamese literature


Assamese literature is the entire corpus of poetry, novels, short stories, plays, documents and other writings in the Assamese language. It also includes the literary works in the older forms of the language during its evolution to the contemporary form and its cultural heritage and tradition. The literary heritage of the Assamese language can be traced back to the 9–10th century in the Charyapada, where the earliest elements of the language can be discerned.
Banikanta Kakati divides the history of Assamese literature into three prominent eras—Early Assamese, Middle Assamese and Modern Assamese—which is generally accepted.

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

The first reference to the language of Assam was found in the account of famous Chinese monk-cum-traveler Huen Tsang. He visited the Kamarupa Kingdom during the reign of Bhaskaravarman of Varman dynasty. While visiting Kamrupa in seventh century, Xuanzang noted that the language of the region was slightly different from the language of Middle India. He was able to identify the phonetic differences evident in the region. Even though systematic errors in the Sanskrit of Kamarupa inscriptions portray an underlying Pakrit in the pre-12th century period, scarce examples of the language exist. The Charyapadas, the Buddhist ballads of 8th-10th century some of whose composers were from Kamarupa and the language of which bear strong affinities with Assamese, are considered the first examples of Assamese literature. The spirit of the Charyapadas are found in later-day Deh-Bicharor Geet and other aphorisms; and some of the ragas found their way to the 15th-16th century Borgeets. In the 12th-14th century period the works of Ramai Pandit, Boru Chandidas, Sukur Mamud, Durlabha Mallik and Bhavani Das bear strong grammatical relationship to Assamese; and their expressions and their use of adi-rasa are found in the later Panchali works of Mankar and Pitambar. These works are claimed as examples of Bengali literature as well. After this period of shared legacy, a fully differentiated Assamese literature finally emerged in the 14th century.

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 Hema Saraswati, whose well known works include Prahlad Charita and Hara Gauri Samvada. The story of the Prahlad Charita is taken from the Vamana Purana and the Hara Gouri Samvada includes the myth of Hara-Gouri marriage, birth of Kartik etc. Kaviratna Saravati's Jayadratha-vadha; Rudra Kandali's Satyaki-pravesa are prominent works of this era. Harivara Vipra, a court poet of Kamata Kingdom, composed Babhruvahanar Yuddha based on the Mahabharata, Lava-Kushar Yuddha based on the Ramayana, and Tamradwajar Yudha. Though translated works, they contain local descriptions and embellishments, a feature that describes all translated work of this period. His Babhruvahanar Yuddha, for instance makes references to articles of the Ahom kingdom, which at that time was a small kingdom in the east, and describes the undivided Lakhimpur region, and in Lava-Kushar Yuddha he departs from the original and describes local customs for Rama and Sita's pumsavana ceremony. All these works are associated with Durlabhanarayana of Kamata and his immediate successors.The major work from this period that left a lasting impression is Saptakanda Ramayana, composed by Madhava Kandali in verse, and recited in the court of a 14th-century Baraha king Mahamanikya who ruled either in the Nagaon or the Golaghat region. In chronology, among vernacular translations of the original Sanskrit, Kandali's Ramayana comes after Kamban's, and ahead of Kirttivas', Tulsidas', Balaram Das' etc. Thus the Saptakanda Ramayana becomes the first rendition of the Ramayana into an Indo-Aryan language in the Indian subcontinent. The literary language 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 Sankardev's tribute to the "opromadi purbo kobi".
The pada form of metrical verse 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 were rarely used.
In the pre-shankari era, a renowned mathematician, Bakul Kayastha from Kamarupa Kingdom, compiled Kitabat Manjari, which was a translation of the Līlāvatī by Bhāskara II into Assamese. 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.

Choral songs

Choral 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. Though some of these works are contemporaneous to Sankardev's, they hark back to older forms free of Sankardev's influences and so are considered pre-Sankardev literature. 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. The poets—Pitambar, Durgabar, Mankar and Sukavi Narayan—are well known for the compositions.

Shankari literature (1490-1700 AD)

In Assamese literature, the era of Sankardev or Shankari era, incorporates the literary works that were produced mostly as pertinent to the Neo-Vaishnavite movement which propagated the Ekasarana Nama-Dharma. Sankardev’s contribution to Assamese literature is multidimensional and spread through different genres of literature. He is credited with building on past cultural relics and devising new forms of music, theatrical performance, dance, literary language. Sankardev produced a large body of work. Though there were others before him who wrote in the language of the common man, it was Sankardev who opened the floodgates and inspired others like Madhavdev to carry on where he left off. His magnum opus is the 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, Harishchandra-upakhyana, Bhakti-pradip, Nimi-navasiddha-samvada, Bhakti-ratnakara, Anadi-patana, Gunamala and many plays like Cihna yatra, Rukmini haran, Patni prasad, Keli Gopal, Kurukshetra yatra and Srirama vijaya.
Madhavdeva, a disciple of Sankardev, has a large scale contribution to Assamese literature. His 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.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 Viṣṇupurī in Sanskrit. Other prominent works include Naam Maalikaa, Janma Rahasya, 191 Borgeets and several plays.
After Sankardev and Madhavdev, several other writers emerged and contributed to Assamese literature. Ananta Kandali's Mahiravana Vadha, Harihara Yuddha, Vrttrasura Vadha, Kumara Harana and Sahasra Nama Vrttanta; Rama Saraswati's translation of the Mahabharata, Geeta Govinda and Vadha Kavyas; a part of Naam Ghosa by Ratnakar Kandali; Sridhar Kandali's Kumara Harana; Janmajatra, Nandutsav, Gopi-Uddhab Sambad and Sitar Patal Pravesh by Gopaldev; compilation of Kirtan Ghosha by Ramcharan Thakur; Nava Ghosha, Santasaar, Burha-Bhashya by Purushottam Thakur etc. are notable of the period.
Bhattadeva, another notable writer of this period, is acknowledged as the father of Assamese prose. Katha Bhagavata, Katha Gita, Bhaktiratnavali, Bhakti Viveka 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.''

Post-Shankari literature (1700-1826 AD)

Along with the expansion of power and border of the Ahom kingdom, literary works other than Neo-vaishnavite centric started gaining momentum in the 18th century. However the tradition of composing works based on Sanskrit scriptures still continued. Raghunath Mahanta was one of the most important figures of this period whose well known works include Katha-Ramayana, Adbhut Ramayana and Satrunjoy- all of them are based on the Ramayana. Kabiraj Chakravarti's translation of Brahma Vaivarta Purana and Shakuntala, Gitar Puthi of Kabiraj Chakravati mentions several songs themselves composed by the Ahom Rajas Rudra Singha and Siva Singha. Kavichandra Dwija's Dharma Purana, Bishnu Dev Goswami's Padma Purana, Putala Charitra by Borruchi, Ramchadra Borpatra's Hoigrib-Madhva Kahini, Acharya Dwija's Ananda-Lahari, Ruchinath Kandali's translation of Chandi Aakhyana are important works of this period. Among translation of texts related to practical knowledge include translation of Srihastha Muktavali on Dance and mudra by Suchand Ojha, translations of Kaamratna- Tantra, Bhaswati by Kaviraj Chakraborti. Hastividyarnava, commissioned under the patronage of king 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.
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.