Birendra Kumar Bhattacharya (14 October 1924 – 6 August 1997) was an Indian writer. He was one of the pioneers of modern

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 contempor ...

. He was the first ever Assamese writer to receive the

Jnanpith Award The Jnanpith Award is the oldest and the highest Indian literary award presented annually by the Bharatiya Jnanpith to an author for their "outstanding contribution towards literature". Instituted in 1961, the award is bestowed only on Indian ...

, which was awarded to him in the year 1979 for his novel ''Mrityunjay'' (Immortal), followed by

Indira Goswami Indira Goswami (14 November 1942 – 29 November 2011), known by her pen name Mamoni Raisom Goswami and popularly as Mamoni Baideo, was an Indian writer, poet, professor, scholar and editor. She was the winner of the Sahitya Akademi Award (198 ...

in 2001. He was also a recipient of

Sahitya Akademi Award The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India, which the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the 22 languages of the ...

in Assamese in 1961 for his Assamese novel ''Iyaruingam'', which is considered a masterpiece of

Indian literature Indian literature refers to the literature produced on the Indian subcontinent until 1947 and in the Republic of India thereafter. The Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India has 22 officially recognised languages. Sahitya Akadem ...

. In 2005, a translation of the work published by

Katha Books Katha Books is a publishing house owned by Katha, that works in the fields of Indian language translations, community empowerment and child welfare.Asam Sahitya Sabha The Asam Sahitya Sabha (; ) is a non Government, non profit, literary organisation of Assam. It was founded in December 1917 in Assam, India to promote the culture of Assam and Assamese literature. A branch of the organisation named ''Singapor ...

(Assam Literary Society) during 1983-1985. In 1997, Bhattacharyya died due to a brief illness at the private college hospital in

Guwahati Guwahati () the largest city of the Indian state of Assam, and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the seat of the Government of Assam. Th ...

Editor of 'Ramdhenu'

Bhattacharya was a respected figure in the Assamese modern literary sphere for his role in discovering, nurturing and promoting young literary talent in Assam from 1960s as the editor of the Assamese literary journal Ramdhenu. His role as the editor of this journal was so prominent that the period of its publication in the mid-20th century in Assam is referred as ''Ramdhenu Era'' of Assamese literature and considered as a golden era. His major discoveries of ''Ramdhenu Era'' are deemed to be the top Assamese and Indian litterateurs of the second half of the 20th century. His most prominent literary discoveries during the ''Ramdhenu Era'' who left undeniable mark in different domains of Assamese literature during the next half century are

Lakshmi Nandan Bora Lakshmi Nandan Bora (15 June 1932 – 3 June 2021) was an Indian novelist and short story writer in the Assamese language, known for over 60 books he has authored, including award winning novels, ''Patal Bhairavi'' and ''Kayakalpa''. A recipient ...

Bhabendra Nath Saikia Bhabendra Nath Saikia (20 February 1932 – 13 August 2003) was a novelist, short-story writer, editor and film director from Assam, India. Saikia received his doctorate in physics from the University of London. He began his career as a reader ...

, Saurav Kumar Chaliha,

Navakanta Barua Nabakanta Barua (29 December 1926 – 14 July 2002) was a prominent Assamese people, Assamese novelist and poet. He was also known as Ekhud Kokaideu. As Sima Dutta he wrote many poems in his early life. Biography Early life Nabakanta Barua was ...

, Bhabananda Deka,

Nirmal Prabha Bordoloi Nirmal Prabha Bordoloi (1932/1933 – 1 June 2004) was an Indian poet, songwriter and folklorist associated with Assamese literature. She was president of the Asam Sahitya Sabha in 1991 held at Dudhnoi in Goalpara district. She received several ...

, Padma Barkataki,

Homen Borgohain Homen Borgohain (7 December 1932 – 12 May 2021) was an Assamese author and journalist. He was awarded the 1978 Sahitya Akademi Award in Assamese language for his novel ''Pita Putra''. He was also the President of Assam Sahitya Sabha from 2 ...

Hiren Bhattacharya Hiren Bhattacharyya (28 July 1932 – 4 July 2012), popularly known as Hiruda, was an Indian poet and lyricist best for his works in the Assamese literature. He had innumerable works published in Assamese language, Assamese and achieved many p ...

, Chandraprasad Saikia, Nilmoni Phukan Sr,

Hiren Gohain Hiren Gohain (born 1939) is an Assamese polymath, scholar, writer, literary critic, and social scientist from the Indian state of Assam. Academic life Gohain studied in Cotton College, and did his graduation from Presidency College, Calcut ...

, Mamoni Raisom Goswami and several others. Even after ''Ramdhenu'' stopped publication, he remained active as the leading Indian literary critic, and continued his mission of discovering extraordinary literary talent in Assam. He used to write literary criticism and reviews of much younger authors till the mid-1980s, if he found unparalleled literary works having bright promise to emerge as influential writers in the next few decades. His penultimate literary discovery was a school student named Arnab Jan Deka, about whose first published book ''Ephanki Rhode''('A Stanza of Sunlight'), published during his school-student days as 10th standard matriculate in 1983, Dr Bhattacharya wrote his swan-song critical literary article, which was published in a literary journal ''Gandhaar'' in 1987. Through such magnanimity and impartial literary credentials, Dr Bhattacharya became part of legend and folklore in the domain of Indian literature during his lifetime. His gift of discovering extraordinary literary talents and further acts of selfless promotion of such genuine such writers made his a part of legend and folklore during his lifetime.

Works

Novels

* ''Dhanpur Lashkar'' (1986) * '' Rajpathe Ringiay'' (1957) * '' Aai'' (1958) * '' Iyaruingam'' (1960) –

winning novel * '' Sataghni'' (1964) * ''Mrityunjay'' (1979) –

Jnanpith award The Jnanpith Award is the oldest and the highest Indian literary award presented annually by the Bharatiya Jnanpith to an author for their "outstanding contribution towards literature". Instituted in 1961, the award is bestowed only on Indian ...

winning novel * ''Pratipaad'' * ''Ranga Megh'' * ''Billari'' * ''Daaini'' * ''Love in the Time of Insurgency'' * ''Blossoms in the Graveyard''

Other works

* '' Kolong Aajiu Boi'' (1962) – collection of short stories * ''Satsori'' (1963) – collection of short stories * published some poems in the magazine ''Jayanthi''.

References

External links