ASSAM LITERATURE NOTE

 

Assam Literature Note for APSC mains exam : 

Q. Write about the history of Assamese literature.

Ans: Assamese is the primary language of the people of Assam . Assamese  language is developed out of the Sanskrit language.Its direct ancestor was Magadhi Apabhramsa.

Assamese Language-its Origin and Development :The history of the Assamese Language may be broadly divided

into three periods :

 (1 ) Early Assamese-from the fourteenth to the end of the sixteenth century. This period may be subdivided  into

 (a) the Pre-Vaishnavite :  The pre-Vaishnavite sub-period belonged  Hema Sarasvati, Harihara Vipra, Kaviratna Sarasvati, Rudra Kandali, Madhava Kandali. .

The Assamese language was cultivated in the royal court of Durlabhanarayana, the king of Kamata who possibly ruled at the end of the 13th century A.D. The Kamata kings encouraged poets to write verses in Assarnese. Both Harivara Vipra and Hem Saraswati , who were contemporaries praised king Durlabha- Narayana for his patronage. About the same period Madhava Kandali undertook the stupendous work of translating the whole of the Sanskrit epic Ramayana into Assamese verse. A great Sanskrit Scholar, Madhava Kadali was the court poet of king Mahamanikya and was known also as Kaviraja Kandali. Of vernacular translations of Valmiki Ramayana, Madhava Kandali's appears to be the earliest. Hindi, Bengli and Oriya versions appeared ,about a century and a half later. Sankara Deva who gave the greatest impetus to the cause of Assamese literature later, was greatly influenced by the legacy of rich and beautiful diction Madhav Kandali left in his Ramayana ; he held Madhava Kandali in high esteem. In his rendering, Madhava Kandali constantly kept in view two things-literary beauty and popular taste.

 (b) The Vaishnavite Sub-periods :Sankaradeva the great Vaishnavite reformer and his followers embellished the Vaishnavite sub-period.

 Bhatta Deva's translations of the entire Bhagavad Gita and the Bhagavata Purana into Assamese Prose in about 1593, are specimensof early Assarnese Prose-style. 

The Sankarite movement produced far-reaching religious and social effects and gave a great impetus to the advancement of learning, literature, art -and culture. A distinguished Sanskrit Scholar, Sankardeva ( 1449- 1569) wrote mainly in Assamese. He was a versatile genius and wrote poetry, songs and plays. Sankardeva drew inspiration chiefly from the Bhagavata, being the quintessence of the Vedanta philosophy and made an early attempt to translate it into Assamese. Sankaradeva was accused before the Koch king Nara-Narayana by the Brahmans as an ardent reader, teacher and translator of the Bhagavata. Sankaradeva's next outstanding literary production was the 'Kirtana-ghosa' (Lyrics in Praise of God's Glory). Even today it is a perennial source of spiritual elation in Assam and is as fondly revered in Assam as is Ramacharita-Manasa of Tulsidas in Northern India. There is no Assamese Hindu home which does not possess ,a copy. of Kirtana either in manuscript written on Sanchi-leaves or in print, no house which does not recite some of its verses on religious occasions and during illness.

(2) Middle Assamese :(From the Seventeenth century to the beginning of the nineteenth century.) This is the period of the Prose Chronicles of the Ahom court. In the Ahom court, historical chronicles were at first composed in Ahom  language, but with the adoption of Assamese as the court language the Buranjis began to be written in Assamese and in large number from the beginning of the Seventeenth century.

(3) Modern  Assamese : )From the beginning of the nineteenth century till present times.) With the publication of the Bible in Assamese prose by the American Baptist missionaries in 1819, the modern period began. The starting of the monthly periodical Arunodaya in 1846, and the publication of William Robinson's 'A Grammar of the Assamese Language' in 1839 and N. Brown's Assamese Grammar in 1848 were important landm'arks in the modern period.