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Assamese Language

Assamese, which is actually known as Asamiya is a state language spoken in the state of Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, and also in Bangladesh & Bhutan. Nearly 15 to 20 million people speak the language of Assamese.Most of the areas along the Brahmaputra valley speak Assamese.There are lot of similarities between Bengali and the Assamese language except for a few differences. This can be proved from the ancient text Charya Padas which is even today being claimed both by the Old Assamese and Old Bengali.

'Assamese' is an anglicized form of the actual language name Asamiya.Assamese is a branch of the Indo-Aryan language which evolved in the 7th century AD having its roots from the Sanskrit language. The Assamese language is also been declared as one of the major languages of the Republic of India by the Indian Constitution. Though the language originated in the 7th century, its literature came only in the early 14th century. But history says that Assamese literature has existed even before the 14th century for there is evidence of rich heritage of oral traditions including folk songs, religious hymns, pastoral ballads, festival songs and even children's stories.


There are not much records seen in the history regarding the language of the Assamese.However there is related history which says that from Magadhi Prakrit the initiation of the Assamese and the other related languages, such as Maithili, Bengali and Oriya started branching out.Magadhi Prakrit later evolved into the Eastern Indo-Aryan languages, including Bengali, Assamese, and the Bihari languages which is also the source for the Apabhramsa dialects in the valley of Brahmaputra.In course of years the Assamese language has developed a lot and is been now spoken by a large number of people.


Apart from the Assamese language, its literature is also very ancient and rich.Hema Saraswati who was one of the renowned and oldest Assamese writer wrote the most popular "Prahlada Charita" towards the end of the 13th century AD. Another prominent figure in the Assamese literature was Madhava Kandali who belonged to the 14th century and he wrote the famous epic Ramayana in the native language. In the 15th century the Assamese literature witnessed a number of eminent writers and literary works like Giti Ramayana by Durgavara, poems and songs from the Puranas by Pitambara and Manakara and the mass of literature called 'Mantras'. The author of the 'mantras' is not known.

The following generations saw a number of excellent novelists, writers and poets like Rajanikanta Bardaloi (1867-1939), Chandra Kumar Agarwala (1867-1938), Padmanath Gohain Baruwa (1871-1946), Hiteshwar Bezbarua (1871-1931), Benudhar Raj Khowa (1872-1935) and many more. Political topics like social reforms and nationalism were also written by contemporary writers like Raghunath Chaudhari. During the same period a number of throbbing short stories belonging to a particular class were also written in Assamese literature. Some of the most popular Assamese writers of today's generation are Harendra Kumar, Aruba Patangia Kalita, Phul Goswami, Indira Goswami and Manoj Kumar Goswami.

Assamese literature got a facelift during the period of Shankara Deva who wrote a number of devotional songs. Lot of translations were also made in the Assamese literature from the Sanskrit canon. The epic Mahabharata and stories from the puranas known as Vadha Kavya had a lucid translation in the Assamese language and were considered to be excellent and gained lot of popularity among the people for it was considered as the best thing that could ever happen to the Assamese literature.

There was also technical literature written in the Assamese language on various topics like astrology, medicine, mathematics, music, dancing, etc. Ahoms of Burma, who ruled Assam also wrote a unique collection of prose works called Buranjis during the period 1228 to 1824 which was liked by the people a lot. The modern period is now coming up with a number of political writings which is very prominent in the literary scene. However the mid of the 19th century came up with a lot of good literary activities in Assam which is even continued in the present century. Dictionaries, like Hema Chandra Baruwa's Hema Kosha, were written and magazines, such as Arunodaya Samvad Patra (1846) and Asam Bandhu (1885), were launched. The two most famous writers of the 19th century were Anandaram Dhekial Phukan (1829-96) and Gunabhiram Baruwa (1837-95).Lot of novels and dramas are also coming up in the Assamese literature of late.


The script of the Assamese language varies from that of the Eastern Nagari script. The Assamese script has its source from the Gupta script. The Assamese script has a very unique style of writing basically on the bark of the `saanchi tree`.Initially in those days some of the religious texts and chronicles in Assamese can also be seen in this bark. At the time when people started to write in Assamese language the spellings were not phonetic. But later specific spellings were brought which were more based on Sanskrit. The introductions of these spellings were mainly done through Hemkosh, which is the second dictionary of Assamese.