By: Anjan Baskota
‘Brahmaputraka Legacyhoru’ is a collection of twenty research-based essays along with other essays of varied taste and flavour written by Rudra Baral and published by Purbayon Publications, Guwahati in 2021. Rudra Baral; the chief secretary of Assam Nepali Sahitya Sabha; a premier literary organization of Assam is a well-known poet, critic, translator, and essayist. Baral was born on January 6, 1967, to the late Jaynarayan Baral and late Rukmini Devi. Baral has been serving as an assistant teacher in Borsola Higher Secondary school. Baral; a known editor of many research-based voluminous books, books on literary history, etc are well hand in both Nepali and Assamese languages. The well-known edited books include ‘Asomiya Aru Nepali Bhasha, Sahitya, Sanskriti’, (2016), ‘Nepali Sahitya Alokpat’, (2018), ‘Samakalin Bharateli Nepali Sahitya Ko Gati Ra Prabritti’, (2019) etc. Baral’s known translated books include ‘Swahid-E-Azom Bhagat Singh’, ‘Ideological Development of Revolutionary movement’, ‘Damitako Dastabez’, ‘Grand Mother Told the Story’, Pragya made up her mind. A number of well-read books that go to his credit are ‘Charitra Haruko Khojima Almalida’ (a Collection of Nepali Short Stories, 2014), ‘Tesro Aakho’, (a collection of Nepali poems, 2020).
As stated earlier, ‘Brahmaputraka Legacyhoru’ is a collection of twenty articles. The title of the very first article is ‘Kathghorama Asameli Nepali Sahitya: Nyayadhish Ko?’ It is a critical essay on the Nepali literature of Assam depicting the pros and cons of the Nepali literature of this region along with discussing with merits, demerits, and shortcomings. Many a time, the Nepali literature of Assam has to face criticism for its inability to produce masterpieces except Padmashree Lil Bahadur Khatry and some selected writers. At this juncture, the author has highlighted both the merits and demerits of Nepali literature. He has recommended some valuable suggestions for the development and enhancement of the same. In short, we can say that the lead but a critical article of this collection says more about the present-day condition of Nepali literature.
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Another research-based article of this collection is ‘Nepali Bhasha-Sahityama Geir Nepalihoruko Yogdan: Sandharvama Asom totha Purvottar Bharat’. The very meaning of the second article is ‘Contribution of Non-Nepali writers towards the development of Nepali language and literature: with special reference to Assam and NE region’. The methodology applied in this article is scientific. Here, the author has recalled the contributions made by the writers from others other than the Nepali community towards the development and up-gradation of the Nepali language and literature as well. Baral didn’t forget to recall the contributions of J.A. Ayton who had compiled ‘A Grammar of the Nepalese Language’ (Aug. 1820), R. L. Turner who published ‘A Comparative and the Etymological Dictionary of the Nepali Language’ (1931, London), Okay Yama Gawain etc. Similarly, the author fondly recalls the distinguishing contributions of Chandra Shekhar Dubey, Bhubaneswar Baruah ‘Angshu’, C. Kamloba including other researchers, students, etc. Baral mentions the contributions of non-Nepali publishers who had published many journals, periodicals and newspapers including Govinda Chandra Paira (Bina), Suvash Biswas (Desh Barta), Hemanta Saikia (Saparivar) etc. Translators and other scholars and writers from other than the Nepali community had played a significant role in this regard.
The third article of this collection is ‘Purvottar Bharatko Samakalin Nepali Sahitya-Ek Sarbekhyan’ meaning contemporary Nepali literature of NE. Here, the author has traced the origin of Nepali literature and discussed its developmental stages up to present-day context. The methodology applied in this article is scientific. All the literary trends including poetry, short story, novel, essays, drama, translation, children’s literature, periodicals, and journals, etc. have been discussed vividly. The fourth article is ‘Meche: Nepal ko ek loponmukh jati’ which describes the meche tribe of Nepal and its origin and elements of extinction. Similarly, the fifth article is ‘Uttar-purbi Bharatma Nepali Patra-Patrikako Bikashkram ra bartaman abasta’ which is also a research-based article that traces the origin, growth, and development of Nepali journals, periodicals, magazines, and newspapers published from Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland, Mizoram, and from Arunachal Pradesh. “NBTI ko karyasala, Nepali Bhasha lekhan ra batuleka kehi anubhav’ is the seventh article of this collection written in a memorabilia style where the author states a historical fact about a translation workshop. It was organized by the NBTI (National Book Trust of India) in collaboration with MIL&LS (Modern Indian Language and Literary Studies), Gauhati University and Assam Nepali Sahitya Sabha that held at Gauhati University campus for five days w.e.f from Feb 10 to 14, 2020 wherein a total of 45 books were translated into the Nepali language from Hindi and English. Scholars, language experts from Delhi, Sikkim, West Bengal, Manipur, Meghalaya, and Assam had participated in the historic workshop.
‘Brahmaputra hamro legacy ho’ is placed as the eighth article in which the influence, impact, and existence of the mighty river the Brahmaputra on the life, art, culture, and in the literature of the Nepali speaking Gorkhas of Assam have been discussed. Other important articles of this collection are ‘constitutional recognition of Nepali language and issues related to it’, ‘Facebook literature’, ‘Parijat and her literary contribution’ etc. Many articles of this collection discuss various issues and problems of Nepali literature of this region. They include- ‘Chunouti yugou yug’, ‘Samalochanaka gathahoru’, ‘Aba afeilai bujna sakina yo umersamma’. One of the thought-provoking articles of this collection is ‘Asam ma Gorkhahoruko sthiti boudhik riktata ki samaj prati jimmebariko kami?’. ‘Nandalal Upadhyaya: orka ek Lincoln is an obituary on the legendary personality. The twentieth article of this collection is a travelogue that covers the author’s literary tour to Kokrajhar, Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong etc.
The name of the article collection attracts the attention of the readers. The essayist tries his best to assemble all possible data in his write-ups. Baral shoulders the responsibility of assembling all data relating to the history of Nepali literature of Assam in particular and the NE region in general. It would be better claimed as a ready reference of the literary history of Nepali of the Northeast region if the author tries to accommodate only the literary history and text pertaining to it. But this claim is denied because some of the articles other than literary history and subjects matters from different arenas are placed herein. All the articles included here do not follow research methodology but many of them follow popular writing styles. Many important articles are made concise instead of writing them covering a wide range. By doing so, the author has ignored the scope of widening the arena of the write-ups and topic concerned. The author is advised to update and enlarge some of the literary articles with new and up-to-date information. In short, I must say anyone willing to know and learn about the literary history of Nepali literature must read this book. The language applied here is colloquial and the presentation style or style manual is extraordinary.
