Indira Goswami known by her
pen nameA pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
Mamoni Raisom Goswami and popularly as
Mamoni Baideo, was an
AssameseThe Assamese people are a well-defined subgroup of People of Assam. Though sometimes they are defined as the Assamese-speaking Indo-Aryans of the Brahmaputra valley,, this definition is not legally binding...
editorEditing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
,
poetPoetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
,
professorA professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
, scholar and
writerA writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
.
She was the winner of the
Sahitya Akademi AwardSahitya Akademi Award is a literary honor in India which Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of outstanding works in one of the following twenty-four major Indian languagesAssamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri,...
(1983), the
Jnanpith AwardThe Jnanpith Award is a literary award in India. Along with the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship, it is one of the two most prestigious literary honours in the country...
(2001) and
Principal Prince Claus LaureateThe Prince Claus Fund was inaugurated in 1996, named in honor of Prince Claus of The Netherlands. It receives an annual subsidy from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs....
(2008) A celebrated writer of contemporary
Indian literatureIndian 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 recognized languages....
, many of her works have been translated into
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
from her native
AssameseAssamese is the easternmost Indo-Aryan language. It is used mainly in the state of Assam in North-East India. It is also the official language of Assam. It is also spoken in parts of Arunachal Pradesh and other northeast Indian states. Nagamese, an Assamese-based Creole language is widely used in...
which include
The Moth Eaten Howdah of the Tusker,
Pages Stained With BloodPages Stained With Blood originally published as Tej Aru Dhulire Dhushorito Prishtha is an Assamese novel by Indira Goswami that depicts the gory Sikh pogrom in Delhi as an aftermath of the assassination of the Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in June 1984...
and
The Man from ChinnamastaThe Man from Chinnamasta is a novel published in 2005 and written by Indira Goswami, who was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1983, the Jnanpith Award in 2001 and the Prince Claus Awards in 2008...
.
She was also well known for her attempts to structure
social changeSocial change refers to an alteration in the social order of a society. It may refer to the notion of social progress or sociocultural evolution, the philosophical idea that society moves forward by dialectical or evolutionary means. It may refer to a paradigmatic change in the socio-economic...
, both through her writings and through her role as mediator between the armed militant group
United Liberation Front of AsomThe United Liberation Front of Asom is a separatist group from Assam, among many other such groups in North-East India. It seeks to establish a sovereign Assam via an armed struggle in the Assam Conflict...
and the
Government of IndiaThe Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...
. Her involvement led to the formation of the
People's Consultative GroupThe People’s Consultative Group was a citizen’s group in Assam constituted by ULFA to initiate the talk process as mediator between the central government and the outfit itself. It was constituted on September 8, 2005 with 11 members in it.It was dissolved by ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa on the...
, a peace committee. She referred to herself as an "observer" of the peace process rather than as a mediator or initiator.
Her work has been performed on
stageIn theatre or performance arts, the stage is a designated space for the performance productions. The stage serves as a space for actors or performers and a focal point for the members of the audience...
and in
filmA film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
. The film
AdajyaAdajya is a 1996 Assamese language film directed by Santwana Bardoloi based on a novel by Indira Goswami.-Plot:The film is set in 1940s Assam. Three widows in 1940's Assam struggle to lead dignified lives despite the extreme restrictions mandated by law and custom...
is based on her novel won international awards.
Words from the Mist is a film made on her life directed by
Jahnu BaruaJahnu Barua is a multiple national and international award-winning Indian film director from Assam. He has directed a number of Assamese and Hindi films, and along with Bhabendra Nath Saikia was one of the pioneers of Assamese Art cinema...
.
Early life and education
She was born
Indira Goswami to a
BrahminBrahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...
family in
GuwahatiGuwahati, Pragjyotishpura in ancient Assam formerly known as Gauhati is a metropolis,the largest city of Assam in India and ancient urban area in North East India, with a population of 963,429. It is also the largest metropolitan area in north-eastern India...
,
IndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
; her father is Umakanta Goswami. She studied at the Pine Mount School in
Shillong-Connectivity:Although well connected by road, Shillong has no rail connection and a proper air connection. Umroi Airport exists but has only limited flights.-Roadways:Shillong is well connected by roads with all major north eastern states...
, which was the capital of undivided
AssamAssam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...
. She later majored in
Assamese literatureAssamese literature is the entire corpus of poetry, novels, short stories, documents and other writings in the Assamese language. It also includes popular ballads in the older forms of the language during its evolution to the contemporary form. The literary heritage of the Assamese language can...
at
Cotton CollegeCotton College is a premier institution for higher education located in the heart of Guwahati, Assam, a northeastern state of India.240px|right|thumb| Cotton College, the premier college of Assam-History:...
in Guwahati.
Career
In 1962, she published her first collection of short stories,
Chinaki Morom, when she was a student.
Popularly known as
Mamoni Raisom Goswami in Assam, she was encouraged by Kirti Nath Hazarika who published her first short stories — when she was still in Class VIII (thirteen years old) — in a literary journal he edited.
Depression
Goswami has suffered from
depressionDepression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person's thoughts, behaviour, feelings and physical well-being. Depressed people may feel sad, anxious, empty, hopeless, helpless, worthless, guilty, irritable, or restless...
since her childhood. In the opening pages of her
autobiographyAn autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
,
The Unfinished Autobiography, she mentions her inclination to jump into the Crinoline Falls located near their house in Shillong. Repeated
suicideSuicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
attempts marred her youth. After the sudden death of her husband, Madhaven Raisom Ayengar, in a car accident in the
KashmirKashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range...
region of India, after only eighteen months of marriage, she became addicted to heavy doses of
sleeping tabletsHypnotic drugs are a class of psychoactives whose primary function is to induce sleep and to be used in the treatment of insomnia and in surgical anesthesia...
. Once brought back to Assam, she joined the Goalpara Sainik School as a teacher.
At this point she went back to writing. She claims that she wrote just to live and that otherwise it would not have been possible for her to go on living. Her experiences in Kashmir and
Madhya PradeshMadhya Pradesh , often called the Heart of India, is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and Indore is the largest city....
, an
Indian stateIndia is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.-List of states and territories:...
where her husband had worked as an
engineerAn engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
, was used in her novels
Ahiron and
The Chehnab's Current, respectively.
Life in Vrindavan
After working at the
Sainik SchoolThe Sainik Schools are a system of schools in India established and managed by the Sainik Schools Society. They were conceived in 1961 by V. K. Krishna Menon, the then Defence Minister of India, to rectify the regional and class imbalance amongst the Officer cadre of the Indian Military, and to...
in
GoalparaGoalpara is the district headquarter of Goalpara district, Assam, India. It is situated west of Guwahati.-Etymology:The name of Goalpara is said to have originally derived from `Gwaltippika` meaning `Guwali village` or the village of the milk men. In the local dialect "para" means...
, Assam, she was persuaded by her teacher Upendra Chandra Lekharu to come to
VrindavanVrindavan also known as Vraj is a town in the Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh, India...
,
Uttar PradeshUttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...
, and pursue research for peace of mind.
Her experiences as a
widowA widow is a woman whose spouse has died, while a widower is a man whose spouse has died. The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed widowhood or occasionally viduity. The adjective form is widowed...
as well as a
researcherA researcher is somebody who performs research, the search for knowledge or in general any systematic investigation to establish facts. Researchers can work in academic, industrial, government, or private institutions.-Examples of research institutions:...
finds expression in her novel
The Blue Necked Braja (1976), which is about the plight of the
RadhaswamiRadhaswami can refer to:* Krishna* Radhaswami , a Brahmin Buddhist sage, under whose guidance the Mauryan emperor Ashoka adopted Buddhism* Radha Soami, a spiritual movement founded by Shri Shiv Dayal Singh Sahab...
s of Vrindavan who lived in abject poverty and sexual exploitation in everyday life. One of the main issues that the novel touches upon is the plight of young widows for whom companionship beyond the confines of their
ashramTraditionally, an ashram is a spiritual hermitage. Additionally, today the term ashram often denotes a locus of Indian cultural activity such as yoga, music study or religious instruction, the moral equivalent of a studio or dojo....
s and fellow widows become impossible. Their urge to live, as well as the moral dilemma that they face
vis-a-vis the order of precepts of religion in this regard, are brought out with astonishing clarity and feeling in the novel. The novel exposed the uglier face of Vrindavan — the city of
KrishnaKrishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...
, an
HinduHindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
deityA deity is a recognized preternatural or supernatural immortal being, who may be thought of as holy, divine, or sacred, held in high regard, and respected by believers....
— inviting criticism of Goswami from conservative sections of the society. It remains a classic in modern
Indian LiteratureIndian 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 recognized languages....
. It is autobiographical in character as she says the anguish of the main character Saudamini, reflects what she had gone through after her husband had died. It was also the first novel to be written on this subject. The novel was based on Goswami's research on the place as well as real-life experience of living in the place for several years before she joined the
University of DelhiThe University of Delhi is a central university situated in Delhi, India and is funded by Government of India. Established in 1922, it offers courses at the undergraduate and post-graduate level. Vice-President of India Mohammad Hamid Ansari is the Chancellor of the university...
as a
lecturerLecturer is an academic rank. In the United Kingdom, lecturer is a position at a university or similar institution, often held by academics in their early career stages, who lead research groups and supervise research students, as well as teach...
.
In Vrindavan she was involved in
RamayanaThe Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon , considered to be itihāsa. The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India and Nepal, the other being the Mahabharata...
studies. A massive volume of
TulsidasTulsidas , was a Hindu poet-saint, reformer and philosopher renowned for his devotion for the god Rama...
's
RamayanaThe Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon , considered to be itihāsa. The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India and Nepal, the other being the Mahabharata...
purchased during her stay there for just eleven
rupeeThe rupee is the common name for the monetary unit of account in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan, Mauritius, Seychelles, Maldives, and formerly in Burma, and Afghanistan. Historically, the first currency called "rupee" was introduced in the 16th century...
s was a great source of inspiration in her research. This finds expression in the unparalleled comparative study of Tulsidas's
Ramayana and the fourteenth-century
Assamese RamayanaKotha Ramayana is a poem written by the powerful Assamese poet Madhava Kandali during the 14th century and is one of many versions of Ramayana in a regional Indian language other than Valmiki's Ramayana in Sanskrit...
(the first Ramayana to be written in any
modern Indian languageOriginating more than 5,000 years ago, records of the linguistic history of India began with early pictures that transformed into pictorial scripts and engravings and eventually to modern orthographies...
) written by
Madhava KandaliKaviraja Madhava Kandali was an Assamese poet of India, notable for the earliest rendering of the Valmiki Ramayana into Assamese verse . His another work is a narrative poem, Devajit on superiority of Krishna over the other avatars of Vishnu...
in her work
Ramayana from Ganga to Brahmaputra.
Life at the University of Delhi
After relocating to
DelhiDelhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
, India, to become Head of Assamese Department at the University of Delhi, the most glorious phases of her life begins. While at the university, she wrote most of her greatest works. Several short stories, including
Hridoy,
Nangoth Sohor,
Borofor Rani, used Delhi as the background.
Her two classics —
Pages Stained With Blood and
The Moth Eaten Howdah of a Tusker— were also written during this period. The other books completed while she lived in Delhi were
Ahiron,
The Rusted Sword,
Uday Bhanu,
Dasharathi's Steps and
The Man from Chinnamasta.
In
Pages Stained With Blood she writes about the plight of
SikhA Sikh is a follower of Sikhism. It primarily originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region of South Asia. The term "Sikh" has its origin in Sanskrit term शिष्य , meaning "disciple, student" or शिक्ष , meaning "instruction"...
s in the
1984 anti-Sikh riotsThe 1984 Anti-Sikh pogroms / riots or the 1984 Sikh Massacre was a sikh genocide there was four days of violence in northern India, particularly Delhi, during which armed mobs killed Sikhs, looted and set fire to Sikh homes, businesses and schools, and attacked gurdwaras, in response to the...
following the
assassination of Indira GandhiIndira Gandhi, then Prime Minister of India, was assassinated on 31 October 1984, 9.20 am, at her 1, Safdarjung Road, New Delhi residence.She was killed by two of her Sikh bodyguards, Satwant Singh and Beant Singh, to avenge the military attack on the Harmandir Sahib during Operation Blue...
, the
Prime Minister of IndiaThe Prime Minister of India , as addressed to in the Constitution of India — Prime Minister for the Union, is the chief of government, head of the Council of Ministers and the leader of the majority party in parliament...
. Goswami had witnessed the riots while staying in the
Shakti NagarShakti Nagar is a neighborhood of Delhi, in the North district of Delhi.the article shakti nagar page is a stub . you can help wikipedia by expand it through editing....
area of Delhi. She visited many of the other sites to complete this novel. She even went to
G. B. RoadG. B. Road or guru teg bahadur marg is the biggest red light area in New Delhi, India. Its name was officially changed to Swami Shradhanand Marg in 1965.- History :...
, Delihi's
red-light districtA red-light district is a part of an urban area where there is a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, adult theaters, etc...
, to depict the lives of the
prostituteProstitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
s who lived there which forms a part of her novel.
In
The Moth Eaten Howdah of a Tusker she writes about the plight of Assamese Brahmin widows in Satra, religious institutions of Assam. This novel was
anthologisedAn anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...
in the
The Masterpieces of Indian Literature and was made into a film,
Adajya, which won several national and international
film-festivalA film festival is an organised, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theaters or screening venues, usually in a single locality. More and more often film festivals show part of their films to the public by adding outdoor movie screenings...
awards. The novel was also made into two
televisionTelevision is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
mini-seriesA miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a television show production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...
;
Nandita DasNandita Das is an award-winning Indian film actress and director. As an actress, she is known for her performances in Fire , Earth , Bawandar , Kannathil Muthamittal and Aamaar Bhuvan . As a director, she is known for her directorial debut Firaaq , which has won a number of national and...
played the role of Giribala in one of the mini-series.
At the peak of her literary career she wrote the controversial novel
The Man from Chinnamasta, a critique of the thousand-years-old tradition of
animal sacrificeAnimal sacrifice is the ritual killing of an animal as part of a religion. It is practised by many religions as a means of appeasing a god or gods or changing the course of nature...
in the famous Hindu
ShaktiShakti from Sanskrit shak - "to be able," meaning sacred force or empowerment, is the primordial cosmic energy and represents the dynamic forces that are thought to move through the entire universe in Hinduism. Shakti is the concept, or personification, of divine feminine creative power, sometimes...
temple to
KamakhyaKamakhya is an important Tantric mother goddess closely identified with Kali and Maha Tripura Sundari, according to the Tantric texts that are the basis for her worship at the Kamakhya temple, a 16th century temple in the Kamrup district of Assam...
, a
mother goddessMother goddess is a term used to refer to a goddess who represents motherhood, fertility, creation or embodies the bounty of the Earth. When equated with the Earth or the natural world such goddesses are sometimes referred to as Mother Earth or as the Earth Mother.Many different goddesses have...
, in Assam. Goswami reported that there was even threat to her life after writing the novel. In this novel she quotes scriptures to authenticate the argument she puts forward in the novel — to worship the Mother Goddess with flowers rather than blood. She said in an interview, "When the novel was serialized in a popular magazine, I was threatened with dire consequences. Shortly after this, a local newspaper,
Sadin, carried an appeal about animal sacrifice, which resulted in quite an uproar—the editor was
gheraoGherao, meaning "encirclement," is a word originally from Hindi and is a typically Indian way of protest. Usually, a group of people would surround a politician or a government building until their demands are met, or answers given...
ed and a
tantrikTantra , anglicised tantricism or tantrism or tantram, is the name scholars give to an inter-religious spiritual movement that arose in medieval India, expressed in scriptures ....
warned me. But when the appeal was published, the response was overwhelmingly in favour of banning animal sacrifice. I also had to contend with rejection from a
publisherPublishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...
who was initially keen and had promised me a huge
advanceAn advance payment, or simply an advance, is the part of a contractually due sum that is paid in advance for goods or services, while the balance included in the invoice will only follow the delivery. It is called a prepaid expense in accrual accounting.-See also:*Advance against royalties*Pay or...
, but who later backtracked, offering instead to publish any other book of mine. But the rest, as they say, is history and
Chinnamastar Manuhto went on to become a runaway
bestsellerA bestseller is a book that is identified as extremely popular by its inclusion on lists of currently top selling titles that are based on publishing industry and book trade figures and published by newspapers, magazines, or bookstore chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and...
!"
Another major piece of her fiction during the period was
Jatra (
The Journey), based on the problem of
militancyThe word militant, which is both an adjective and a noun, usually is used to mean vigorously active, combative and aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in 'militant reformers'. It comes from the 15th century Latin "militare" meaning "to serve as a soldier"...
/
secessionSecession is the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or especially a political entity. Threats of secession also can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals.-Secession theory:...
ism that has affected almost the entire
North-East IndiaNortheast India refers to the easternmost region of India consisting of the contiguous Seven Sister States, Sikkim, and parts of North Bengal...
frontierA frontier is a political and geographical term referring to areas near or beyond a boundary. 'Frontier' was absorbed into English from French in the 15th century, with the meaning "borderland"--the region of a country that fronts on another country .The use of "frontier" to mean "a region at the...
ever since Indian independence.
Mamoni Raisom Goswami passed away in Guwahati on 29th November, 2011 at 7:45 AM IST.
Success
She received the
Sahitya Akademi AwardSahitya Akademi Award is a literary honor in India which Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of outstanding works in one of the following twenty-four major Indian languagesAssamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri,...
(1982). She received the
Jnanpith AwardThe Jnanpith Award is a literary award in India. Along with the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship, it is one of the two most prestigious literary honours in the country...
(2000), India's highest literary award, for writing about the subalterns and marginalised. Two of the main features in Goswami's writing has been the focus on women and the cultural and political construct of the Assamese society. However, it is also to her credit that she also created possibly one of the finest male characters in contemporary Assamese literature,
viz. the character of Indranath in
Datal Hantir Une Khowa Howdah (
The Moth Eaten Howdah of a Tusker).Her contribution in the Assamese feminist literature is self evident in this work.She takes up the issue of patriarchy existing within Assamese Brahmin families with an illustration taken from a small place in Assam known as Amranga,Borihat.This work is also encrusted with a post-colonial tinge in it as we see the mimicry of the colonizers among the colonised. It is also to her credit that she made extensive use of the relation between different variants of the modern Assamese language as both signifiers of the politics of social and cultural differences among the various Assamese communities. But the overall emphasis remained on the unity of the Assamese identity. This may be taken as her way of dealing with the nature of contemporary politics in Assam marked by ethnic confrontation, besides the larger politics of the militant secessionism.She also contributed a major sum of the Claus Laureate[2008] to a Public Health Centre of Amranga,Borihat in Assam.This contribution is not merely material in its nature but a dream since her childhood,come true.
she left the mortal world on 29 th of november , 2011 after suffering a long ailment in GUWAHATI MEDICAL COLLEGE.
Novels
- Ahiron (1980)
- Budhasagar, Dhushar Geisa aru Mohammad Mucha (The Budha Sea, Hazy Geishas and Mohammad Mucha)
- Chinavar Srota (The Chenab's Current) (1972)
- Chinnamastar Manuhto (The Man from Chinnamasta
The Man from Chinnamasta is a novel published in 2005 and written by Indira Goswami, who was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1983, the Jnanpith Award in 2001 and the Prince Claus Awards in 2008...
)
- Dashorothir Khuj (Dashorothi's Footsteps)
- Datal Hatir Une Khowa Howda (The Moth Eaten Howdah of a Tusker)
- Mamore Dhora Tarowal aru Dukhon Uponyas (The Rusted Sword and Two Other Novels) (1980)
- Nangoth Sohor
- Budhosagor Dhukhor Geisha Aru Mohammed Musa
- Nilakanthi Braja (The Blue-Necked Braja) (1976)
- Ekonshor Dostabej
- Shadow Of The Dark God (1986)
- Tej Aru Dhulire Dhusarita Prishtha (Pages Stained With Blood
Pages Stained With Blood originally published as Tej Aru Dhulire Dhushorito Prishtha is an Assamese novel by Indira Goswami that depicts the gory Sikh pogrom in Delhi as an aftermath of the assassination of the Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in June 1984...
)
- Udaybhanur Choritro (Udaybhanu) (1986)
Short stories
- Beasts
- Dwarka and His Gun
- Parasu's Well
- The Journey
- Sanskar
- To Break a Begging Bowl
- Udang Bakach
Non-fiction
- Ramayana from Ganga to Brahmaputra, Delhi 1996. (Research work on Kotha Ramayana
Kotha Ramayana is a poem written by the powerful Assamese poet Madhava Kandali during the 14th century and is one of many versions of Ramayana in a regional Indian language other than Valmiki's Ramayana in Sanskrit...
)
Online Works
Awards
- 1982 — Sahitya Akademi
The Sahitya Akademi ', India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India...
Award (for Mamore Dhora Tarowal)
- 1988 — Asam Sahitya Sabha Award
- 1989 — Bharat Nirman Award
- 1992 — Sauhardya Award of Uttar Pradesh Hindi Sansthan of Government of India.
- 1993 — Katha
Katha may refer to:* The Sanskrit for "speech, narration, story, fable", see Katha * The Kaṭha or Caraka-Katha school of the Black Yajurveda** Katha Upanishad, a Hindu text associated with the Katha school...
National Award for Literature
- 1996 — Kamal Kumari Foundation National Award in 1996
- 2000 — Jnanpith Award
The Jnanpith Award is a literary award in India. Along with the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship, it is one of the two most prestigious literary honours in the country...
- 2002 — D Litt Degree from Rabindra Bharati University, West Bengal
- 2002 — Mahiyoshi Jaymati Award with a citation in gold by Ahom Court of Assam
- 2002 — Padma Shri
Padma Shri is the fourth highest civilian award in the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan...
(She refused to accept)
- 2007 — D Litt Degree from Rajiv Gandhi University Arunachal Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh is a state of India, located in the far northeast. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south, and shares international borders with Burma in the east, Bhutan in the west, and the People's Republic of China in the north. The majority of the territory is claimed by...
- 2008 — D Litt Degree from Indira Gandhi National Open University
The Indira Gandhi National Open University , known as IGNOU is a national university with its headquarters in New Delhi, Delhi, India. Named after former Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, the university was established in 1985 with a budget of 2000 crore, when the Parliament of India passed...
- 2008 — Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar Gold Plate from Asiatic Society
The Asiatic Society was founded by Sir William Jones on January 15, 1784 in a meeting presided over by Sir Robert Chambers, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court at the Fort William in Calcutta, then capital of the British Raj, to enhance and further the cause of Oriental research. At the time of...
- 2008 — Principal Prince Claus Award
The Prince Claus Fund was inaugurated in 1996, named in honor of Prince Claus of The Netherlands. It receives an annual subsidy from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs....
- 2009 — Krishnakanta Handique Award, Asom Sahitya Sabha
- Awarded the Ambassador for Peace from the Inter Religious and International Federation for World Peace
- The International Tulsi Award from Florida International University for her book, Ramayana From Ganga To Brahmaputra
See also
- 1984 anti-Sikh riots
The 1984 Anti-Sikh pogroms / riots or the 1984 Sikh Massacre was a sikh genocide there was four days of violence in northern India, particularly Delhi, during which armed mobs killed Sikhs, looted and set fire to Sikh homes, businesses and schools, and attacked gurdwaras, in response to the...
- Assamese literature
Assamese literature is the entire corpus of poetry, novels, short stories, documents and other writings in the Assamese language. It also includes popular ballads in the older forms of the language during its evolution to the contemporary form. The literary heritage of the Assamese language can...
- Bhabananda Deka
Prof Bhabananda Deka , is a multi-faceted writer of one hundred twelve books, textbooks on economics, literature and political science, and articles from Assam, a state in the north-eastern part of India.-Biography:...
- Jyoti Prasad Agarwala
Jyoti Prasad Agarwala was a great Assamese playwright, songwriter, poet, writer and film maker from Assam. He was considered as Assamese cultural icon, deeply revered for his creative vision and output and is popularly called the Rupkonwar of Assamese culture...
- Krishna Kanta Handique
Krishna Kanta Handique was a Sanskrit scholar, an Indologist and philanthropist from Assam.-Biography:...
- Laxminath Bezbarua
Lakshminath Bezbaruah was a great Assamese personality in Assamese literature. He gave a new impetus to the Assamese literature that had stagnated for some time and enriched it through his essays, plays, fiction and poetry. As a sensitive artist he responded to the influences of social environment...
- Literature from North East India
Literature from North East India refers to literature of Languages of North East India, and also the body of work by English-language writers from this region. North-East India is an under-represented region in many ways...
- Mahapurusha Srimanta Sankardeva
- Music of Assam
The music of Assam, a state in the northeastern part of India, can be divided into various categories of folk music. In recent times starting the late eighties popular artistes have modernized the music that caters to local popular demand....
- People's Consultative Group
The People’s Consultative Group was a citizen’s group in Assam constituted by ULFA to initiate the talk process as mediator between the central government and the outfit itself. It was constituted on September 8, 2005 with 11 members in it.It was dissolved by ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa on the...
External links