Padmanath Gohain Baruah - the first President of Assam Sahitya Sabha

The first president of Assam Sahitya Sabha, Padmanath Gohain Baruah was an eminent writer, novelist, dramatist, poet and analyst. He was a famous name in the early part of modern Assamese literature. He was the pioneer of nationalist movement in Assam and his contribution towards Assamese literature and society is noteworthy. Padmanath Gohain Barua was a multifaceted personality and since his childhood, he showed his interest in different fields. He is also one of the founder members of Baan stage of Tezpur, the first theater group of Assam.
 

Padmanath Gohain Brauah was born in 1871 at Nakari village in North Lakhimpur and he started his primary education in a Bengali medium school. Later, for pursuing higher education, he went to Kolkata and there he joined a group named Asomiya Bhasar Unnati Sadhini Sabha, which was founded by some Assamese students for the upliftment of Assamese language and literature. Although he could not complete his graduation, he learnt a lot while he was in Kolkata. On returning back to his home, he started working for the betterment and upliftment of his mother tongue i.e. Assamese Language and wrote a number of books. In the year 1836, British government had introduced Bengali as the vernacular language in the schools of Assam replacing Assamese but with the inexorable effort by a number of nationalist leaders Assamese was re-established in the year 1872. However, the main problem that came up was with the unavailability of text books and he along with his friend Panindranath Gogoi started writing text books in Assamese for students as well as teachers. But unfortunate and sudden demise of his friend, he had to complete the work on his own and wrote a number of textbooks on history, geography, moral science, teachers hand book and a book on physical exercise.
 

In the year 1892, the first Assamese novel named Lahori, which was written by Padmanath Gohain Baruah was published. 'Bhanumoti' was his other novel and besides these he wrote a number of historical dramas like Joymoti, Gadadhar, Lachit Borphukan and Sadhani. He wrote a mythological drama named Ban Raja, which was based on the historical love story of Usha and Aniruddha. He was also a great poet and his poetic works are ‘Jurani’, ‘Leela’ and ‘Fulor Chaneki. He is considered to be the pioneer of journalism in Assam was closely associated with a number of Assamese journals and magazines. While his stay in Kolkata, he along with Krishnaprasad Duwara published an Assamese monthly named Bijuli and later became its editor. In the year 1901, he together with Mathura Mohan Baruah published a weekly named Asom Banti from Tezpur. In the year 1917, he was the President of the first session of Asam Sahitya Sabha was held on 26 December in Sivasagar. He was even conferred with the title of Raibahadur by the British Government, which is a rare honor and was the first one to receive literary pension. On 7th April, 1946, this great author passed away but his contribution towards Assamese society and literature is still remembered.