Assam’s Jonaki Jug shines at Cal Univ literary meet

Kolkata: Contributions of Assamese littérateurs like Lakshminath Bezbaroa, Chandra Kumar Agarwala and others who ushered in the Jonaki Jug — the dawn of romanticism in Assamese literature — during their stay in Kolkata took centre stage at the Doneshchandra Sen Sabhagriha at Calcutta University on Saturday morning. The seminar ‘Retracing the literary journey of Assamese authors in Kolkata during the 19th century’ was organised by Asam Sahitya Sabha (ASS), the apex literary organisation of Assam and the department of comparative Indian language and literature of University of Calcutta. “The Assamese students studying in Calcutta formed a literary club in 1888 known as ‘Asamiya Bhasa Unnati Sadhini Sabha’. Jonaki was an Assamese language magazine that started publishing from Calcutta in 1889 and Chandra Kumar Agarwala was its first editor. Pioneers like Lakshminath Bezbaroa and Hemchandra Goswami were associated with the publication,” said Kuladhar Saikia, president of ASS. He added that the seminar was an attempt to revisit the era. The English translation of Lakshminath Bezbaroa’s ‘Patmugi and other stories’ by Mitra Phukan and Gayatri Bhattacharya and Saktimoy Das’s Bengali translation of Sayed Abdul Malik's novel ‘Dhanya Nara Tanu’, based on Shri Sankaradeva, was released at the seminar. Focusing on Calcutta University’s contribution towards the development of Assamese language and literature over the past 100 years, Mrinmoy Pramanick, assistant professor at the university’s department of comparative literature, said, “In 1919, Ashutosh Mukherjee started the Indian vernacular department in Calcutta University, where for the first time, Assamese was introduced as an alternative language. This department was later closed. In 2005, the department of comparative Indian language and literature was introduced where Assamese literature is taught”. The seminar saw the presence of translators and academicians both from Kolkata and Assam. Sangita Saikia, teacher-in-charge of the Assamese department at Vishwa Bharati University, said Assamese poetry was earlier religion-centric but modern poetry tried to explore heritage, humanism, nationalism and also dealt with social issues. Translator and author Basudev Das feels that in a multilingual and pluralistic country like India, such initiatives are important to make people aware of the bond that the states share.
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