Sahitycharjya Atual Chandra Hazarika

One of the most authentic and realistic modern day litteratur, Atual Chandra Hazarika was a poet, dramatist, children story writer and translator. He contributed to the Assamese literature especially with his dramas and poems. He is regarded as one of the pioneer of the Assamese drama literature. His contributions towards drama literature is vastly cherished and attributed. Hazarika was one of the most notable and well-known contributor to the Assamese drama literature, he is an eminent and acclaimed drama activist of the modern era of Assamese drama and literature.
 

Atul Chandra Hazarika was born on September 9, 1903 in Assam. He completed his post graduation from Calcutta University and started his career as a teacher of Assamese literature and retired as a professor and head of the department of Assamese in Cotton College. Atul Chandra Hazarika was among those prominent Assamese writers who contributed to a good extent for children with his creations along with his other valuable contributions in Bezbarua era of Assamese literature. He was one of the pioneers who translated novels of various languages into Assamese, in the Jonaki era of the Assamese literature in a very naturalistic and realistic way. A very sincere novelist he was a prominent Assamese litterateur. He was as a poet, dramatist, children story writer and a translator as well. He was bestowed the Honorary Title “Sahitycharjya” by Asom Sahitya Sabha, the premier literary organization of Assam.
 

Hazarika wrote over 100 books and authored a record number of Assamese dramas to give a new lease of life to the Assamese stage. He was also a great poet and his poems are filled with great emotions, which also reflect his love for nature. The poet has a number of bird-poems, namely Dahikatara, Patmadai and flower-poems like Kanchan, Indramalali to his credit. Devadasi is one of Hazarika`s best poems, which is about Devadasi who is determined to touch the marble heart of the temple deity through dance and music. His other poetical works are Manimala, Mukutamala (1930), Panchajanya (1931), Dipali (1938). He uses verse for mythological and prose for historical plays. Ahuti is also written against the background of the freedom movement of 1942. He translated many western classics like ‘Nila Chorai’, ‘Grisor Sadhu’, Andersonor Sadhu’ were very popular. He compiled and edited many works of great as well as many lesser known writers of Assamese, ‘Moroha Phoolor Koroni is an example. He compiled and edited several works of Sahityarathi Lakhinath Bezbaruah Atul Hazarika was also a very socially involved person. His mythological plays include Narakasur (1930), Beula (1933), Nanda dulal (1935), Kurushetra (1936), Ramchandra (1937), Champavati, Sakuntaia, Savitri (1939), Rukmini haran (1949) and Nirjita (1952). He was associated with the founding committee, which organized for the first time Bihu festival on stage at a city pavilion in Guwahati some sixty years back. He was the President of Asom Sahitya Sabha during the year 1959.
 

In the year 1969, he won Sahitya Akademi Award for Monchalekha, which traced five hundred years of Assamese drama and stage and in the year 1971, he was honored with Padma Shri by the Indian Government. Sahitycharjya Atual Chandra Hazarika left for his heavenly abode in the year 1986. This great writer has given a new dimension to Assamese drama.