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 ( as, অসমীয়া সাহিত্য, translit=ɔxɔmiya xaɦitjɔ}) is the entire corpus of poetry, novels, short stories, plays, documents and other writings in the Assamese language. It also includes the lite ...

. He was the first ever

Assamese Assamese may refer to: * Assamese people, a socio-ethnolinguistic identity of north-eastern India * People of Assam, multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic and multi-religious people of Assam * Assamese language, one of the easternmost Indo-Aryan language ...

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 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 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 Republic of India has 22 officially recognised languages. The earliest works of Indian literature were ...

. In 2005, a translation of the work published by Katha Books with the title ''Love in the Time of Insurgency'' was released. Another famous novel written by Bhattacharya is ''Aai'' (Mother). He was the President of

Asam Sahitya Sabha The Asam Sahitya Sabha (; Literary Society of Assam) 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 organi ...

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

Guwahati Guwahati (, ; formerly rendered Gauhati, ) is the biggest 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 ...

Editor of 'Ramdhenu'

Dr Birendra Kumar Bhattacharya earned the respect of the entire Assamese modern literary sphere for playing a very crucial torch-bearer's role in discovering, nurturing and promoting young literary talents in Assam from 1960s as the Editor of the historic Assamese literary journal Ramdhenu. His role as the Editor of this milestone Assamese literary journal was so prominent and effective that the entire period of its publication in the mid-20th century in Assam is still referred as revered as ''Ramdhenu Era'' of Assamese literature. This ''Ramdhenu Era'' is deemed to be the golden era of in the long journey of the modern Assamese literature. All the major discoveries of Dr Bhattacharya during the famous ''Ramdhenu Era'' are deemed to be the top Assamese and Indian litterateurs of the second half of the 20th century, and their reign writ large over the social conscience of the Assamese nationhood in the early decades of the 21st century. His most prominent literary discoveries of during the ''Ramdhenu Era'' who left undeniable mark in different domains of Assamese literature during the next half century and more till the dawn of 21st 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 a Film director from Assam, India. Dr. Saikia received his doctorate in physics from the University of London. He began his career as ...

Saurav Kumar Chaliha Saurabh Kumar Chaliha ( as, সৌৰভ কুমাৰ চলিহা; 1930 – 25 June 2011) is the pen name of a famous Assamese short story writer. His real name was Surendra Nath Medhi. His short story collection ''Ghulam'' won the pres ...

, Navakanta Barua, Bhabananda Deka,

Nirmal Prabha Bordoloi Nirmal Prabha Bordoloi (1932/1933 – 1 June 2004) was an Indian poet, lyricist 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 aw ...

, Padma Barkataki, Homen Borgohain,

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 and achieved many prizes and accolades ...

Chandraprasad Saikia Chandra Prasad Saikia (1927–2006) was a writer from Assam, India. He was the president of the Asam Sahitya Sabha held at Hajo and Jorhat district, Assam in 1999 and 2000, respectively. Saikia was born on 8 July 1927 in Jalukgaon, Jhanji ...

, Nilmoni Phukan Sr, Hiren Gohain, Mamoni Raisom Goswami and several others. Even after ''Ramdhenu'' stopped publication, Dr Bhattacharya remained active as the leading Indian literary critic, and continued his mission of discovering extraordinary literary talents 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) * '' Yaruingam'' (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