Assamese literature (, ) is the entire corpus of poetry, novels, short stories, plays, documents and other writings in the Assamese language. It also includes the literary works in the older forms of the language during its evolution to the contemporary form and its cultural heritage and tradition. The literary heritage of the Assamese language can be traced back to the 9–10th century in the Charyapada (IAST: caryāpada), where the earliest elements of the language can be discerned."(T)he Charyapadas or dohas (dohā) may be taken to be the starting point of Assamese language and literature."
Banikanta Kakati divides the history of Assamese literature into three prominent eras—Early Assamese, Middle Assamese and Modern Assamese—which is generally accepted.
Ancient era: Literature of the beginning period, 950–1300 AD Charyapada Mantra Sahitya
Medieval era: 1300–1826 AD
1st period: Pre-Shankari literature, 1300–1490 AD 2nd period: Shankari literature, 1490–1700 AD 3rd period: Post-Shankari literature, 1700–1826 AD
Modern era: 1826 AD–present 1st period: Missionary literature, 1826–1870 AD 2nd period: Hemchandra-Gunabhiram Barua's era, 1870–1890 AD 3rd period: Romantic era or Bezbaruah's era, 1890–1940 AD 4th period: Current period, 1940 AD–present
History Old Assamese
The first reference to the language of Assam was found in the account of famous Chinese monk-cum-traveler Huen Tsang. He visited the Kamarupa Kingdom (Kāmarūpa) during the reign of Bhaskaravarman of Varman dynasty. While visiting Kamrupa in seventh century, Xuanzang noted that the language of the region was slightly different from the language of Middle India (Magadha). He was able to identify the phonetic differences evident in the region. Even though systematic errors in the Sanskrit of Kamarupa inscriptions portray an underlying Pakrit in the pre-12th century period, scarce examples of the language exist. The Charyapadas, the Buddhist ballads of 8th-10th century some of whose composers were from Kamarupa and the language of which bear strong affinities with Assamese (besides Bengali, Maithili and Oriya), are considered the first examples of Assamese literature. The spirit of the Charyapadas are found in later-day Deh-Bicharor Geet (dehavicārar gīta) and other aphorisms; and some of the ragas found their way to the 15th-16th century Borgeets. In the 12th-14th century period the Bengali works of Ramai Pandit (Sunya Puran), Boru Chandidas (Krishna Kirtan), Sukur Mamud (Gopichandrar Gan), Durlabha Mallik (Gobindachandrar Git) and Bhavani Das (Mainamatir Gan) bear strong grammatical relationship to Assamese; and their expressions and their use of adi-rasa are found in the later Panchali works of Mankar and Pitambar. After this period of shared legacy, a fully differentiated Assamese literature finally emerged in the 14th century.
Medieval era
Pre-Shankari literature (1300-1490 AD) This period saw the flourishing of two kinds of literary activity: translations and adaptations, and choral songs.
Translations and adaptations The earliest known Assamese writer of this period was Hema Saraswati, whose well known works include Prahlad Charita (prahlādacarita) and Hara Gauri Samvada (haragaurīsaṃvāda). The story of the Prahlad Charita is taken from the Vamana Purana and the Hara Gouri Samvada includes the myth of Hara-Gouri marriage, birth of Kartik etc. Kaviratna Saravati's Jayadratha-vadha; Rudra Kandali's Satyaki-pravesa are prominent works of this era. Harivara Vipra, a court poet of Kamata Kingdom, composed Babhruvahanar Yuddha (babhruvāhanar yuddha) based on the Mahabharata,example of language:age yena manusye laware kharatari chaga buli baghar galata ache dhari manusye erante galara nere baghe "if a man runs fast and catches hold of the neck of a tiger thinking it is only a goat and then tries to leave it, the tiger would not let him go" Lava-Kushar Yuddha (lavakuśar yuddha) based on the Ramayana, and Tamradwajar Yudha (tāmradhvajar yuddha). Though translated works, they contain local descriptions and embellishments, a feature that describes all translated work of this period. His Babhruvahanar Yuddha, for instance makes references to articles of the Ahom kingdom,References to camua (verse 176), cor (verse 57), and phura (verse 70) indicated that Vipra was either acquainted with the Ahom Kingdom, or even belonged there. which at that time was a small kingdom in the east, and describes the undivided Lakhimpur region, and in Lava-Kushar Yuddha he departs from the original and describes local customs for Rama and Sita's pumsavana ceremony. All these works are associated with Durlabhanarayana of Kamata and his immediate successors.The major work from this period that left a lasting impression is Saptakanda Ramayana (saptakāṇḍarāmāyana), composed by Madhava Kandali in verse, and recitedThe text indicates change overs from time to time (madhava bolanta aita acho ehimana, let me leave this here) and that the poet directed the course of the narration as the courtiers desired . in the court of a 14th-century Baraha king Mahamanikya (Mahamanikpha) who ruled either in the Nagaon or the Golaghat region. In chronology, among vernacular translations of the original Sanskrit, Kandali's Ramayana comes after Kamban's (Tamil, 12th century), and ahead of Kirttivas' (Bengali, 15th century), Tulsidas' (Awadhi, 16th century), Balaram Das' (Oriya) etc. Thus the Saptakanda Ramayana becomes the first rendition of the Ramayana into an Indo-Aryan language in the Indian subcontinent. The literary language (as opposed to the colloquial Assamese) this work adopted became the standard literary language for much of the following periods, till the rise of new literature in the 19th century. That his work was a major influence can be inferred from Sankardev's tribute to the "opromadi purbo kobi" (apramādī pūrvakavi, unerring predecessor poet).purvakavi apramadi madhav kandali adi pade virachila rama katha hastira dekhiya lada sasa yena phure marga mora bhaila tenhaya avastha. The pada form of metrical verse (14 syllables in each verse with identical two syllables at the end of each foot in a couplet) became a standard in Assamese kavya works, something that continued till the modern times. Though a translated work, it is infused with local color, and instead of the heroic, Kandali instead emphasized the homely issues of relationships etc. Among the two kinds of alamkara's, arthalankaras were used extensively, with similes and metaphors taken from the local milieu even though the original works are set in foreign lands; whereas the shabdalankara (alliteration etc.) were rarely used.
In the pre-shankari era, a renowned mathematician, Bakul Kayastha from Kamarupa Kingdom, compiled Kitabat Manjari(1434), which was a translation of the Līlāvatī by Bhāskara II into Assamese. Kitabat Manjari is a poetical treatise on Arithmetic, Surveying and Bookkeeping. The book teaches how accounts are to be kept under different heads and how stores belonging to the royal treasury are to be classified and entered into a stock book. The works of Bakul Kayastha were regarded as standards in his time to be followed by other Kayasthas in maintaining royal accounts.
Choral songs Choral songs composed for a popular form of narration-performances called Oja-Pali, a precursor to theater and theatrical performances, came to be known as Panchali works. Though some of these works are contemporaneous to Sankardev's, they hark back to older forms free of Sankardev's influences and so are considered pre-Sankardev literature. The Oja-palis follow two different traditions: biyah-gowa which tells stories from the Mahabharata and Maroi, which tells stories on the snake goddess Manasa. The poets—Pitambar, Durgabar, Mankar and Sukavi Narayan—are well known for the compositions.
Shankari literature (1490-1700 AD)
In Assamese literature, the era of Sankardev or Shankari era, incorporates the literary works that were produced mostly as pertinent to the Neo-Vaishnavite movement which propagated the Ekasarana Nama-Dharma. Sankardev's contribution to Assamese literature is multidimensional and spread through different genres of literature. He is credited with building on past cultural relics and devising new forms of music (Borgeet), theatrical performance (Ankia Naat, Bhaona), dance (Sattriya), literary language (Brajavali). Sankardev produced a large body of work. Though there were others before him who wrote in the language of the common man, it was Sankardev who opened the floodgates and inspired others like Madhavdev to carry on where he left off. His magnum opus is the Kirtana-Ghosha which contains narrative verses glorifying Shri Krishna, meant for community singing. His other prominent literary works include the rendering of eight books of the Bhagavata Purana including the Adi Dasama (ādidaśama, Book X), Harishchandra-upakhyana (hariścandra upākhyāna), Bhakti-pradip (bhaktipradīpa), Nimi-navasiddha-samvada (niminavasiddhasaṃvāda), Bhakti-ratnakara (bhaktiratnākara; Sanskrit verses, mostly from the Bhagavata, compiled into a book), Anadi-patana, Gunamala and many plays like Cihna yatra (cihna-yātrā), Rukmini haran (rukmiṇī-haraṇa), Patni prasad (patnī-prasāda), Keli Gopal (keli-gopāla), Kurukshetra yatra (kurukṣetra-yātrā) and Srirama vijaya (śrīrāma-vijaya).
Madhavdeva, a disciple of Sankardev, has a large scale contribution to Assamese literature. His Magnum opus, Naam Ghosa (nāmaghoṣa) is based chiefly on the Bhagavata Purana. The Naam-Ghosa is known by the name of Hajari Ghosa as well, as it contains one thousand verses (ghoṣas).His Guru Bhatima, a long poem of praise to his Guru Sankardev, is also popular. Bhakti-Ratnavali (bhakti-ratnāvalī) is another notable work, rendered by Madhavadeva from the original work by Viṣṇupurī in Sanskrit. Other prominent works include Naam Maalikaa (nāma-mālikā, Assamese rendering of the Ādi Kāṇḍa of Vālmīki's Ramayana), Janma Rahasya, 191 Borgeets and several plays.
After Sankardev and Madhavdev, several other writers emerged and contributed to Assamese literature. Ananta Kandali's Mahiravana Vadha, Harihara Yuddha, Vrttrasura Vadha, Kumara Harana and Sahasra Nama Vrttanta; Rama Saraswati's translation of the Mahabharata, Geeta Govinda and Vadha Kavyas; a part of Naam Ghosa by Ratnakar Kandali; Sridhar Kandali's Kumara Harana; Janmajatra, Nandutsav, Gopi-Uddhab Sambad and Sitar Patal Pravesh by Gopaldev; compilation of Kirtan Ghosha by Ramcharan Thakur; Nava Ghosha, Santasaar, Burha-Bhashya by Purushottam Thakur etc. are notable of the period.
Bhattadeva, another notable writer of this period, is acknowledged as the father of Assamese prose. Katha Bhagavata, Katha Gita, Bhaktiratnavali, Bhakti Viveka (Sanskrit) etc. are his prominent works. BhattadevBhattadeva's erudition in Sanskrit grammar and literature, and his command over the Bhagavata earned him the title of Bhagavata Bhattacharya.
Post-Shankari literature (1700-1826 AD)