The novel follows the life of Mukunda Khound, who grows up from a sensitive child unable to bear the pressures of his school and family, to a powerful man, grown rich from his dealings with the underworld, to, in the end, a humble, selfless, social worker. It explores not only how the human spirit can be so severely shaped by socio-political conditions, but also how, despite everything, the possibility of self-redemption is persistent. The author writes about a previously unexplored territory—the role of the underworld, of smuggling, violence and drugs. Further, in the words of academic Nagen Saikia, “though Bora’s pen has migrated from rural life to city life, it continues to be effective in drawing the rusticity of village life… [which] has brought uncommon taste and flavour for the Assamese readers.”

About the Author
Lakshminandan Bora (1932—) is a scientist, novelist and short story writer in Assamese literature.  In his career, he has served as President of the Assam Sahitya Sabha (1996-7), founded and edited the Assamese weekly Rangpur, and authored 77 books in total which include novels, anthologies of short stories, travelogues, autobiographies etc. His works are known for their empathetic, comprehensive and thoroughly humanistic depictions of life in villages in rural Assam, having grown up in one. For his contributions, he has received the Saraswati Samman(2009), and the Padma Shri (2015).

Also read
Kayakalpa
Bora’s most famous novel, it was awarded the Saraswati Samman in 2009, and has been translated into 11 languages, including English as Kayakalpa: The Elixir of Everlasting Youth by Biman Arandhara (2010). It depicts the journey of a scientist who returns to India, and his experiences in trying to rediscover himself, and the secret to rejuvenation.

Set in the background of the Japanese invasion of Burma during the Second World War, the novel tells the story of the suffering of the Burmese-Indians who escaped Burma in search of safety in Indian territory. It painstakingly describes the mix of violence, destruction and suffering, along with a continued, relentless hope in the minds of the refugees making their way across the mountainous terrain and war-torn countryside. To this day, the novel stands as one of the only depictions of this exodus in literature. Despite that, the beauty of the novel lies, in the words of author Arabinda Nath Sharma, in the fact that it is “a human story where historical characters are not only prototypes of those in modern society, but some of them symbolize a deeper philosophy which is the result of the author’s probe into himself”. It received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1984.

About the Author
Debendranath Acharya (1937 – 1981) was an engineer, novelist, and scholar of Sanskrit. He was the Principal of Assam Engineering College. He wrote multiple popular Assamese novels, along with collections of children’s literature. Despite his short life, he was instrumental in popularizing the trend of historical fiction in Assamese literature.

Mamare Dhare Tarowal, typically translated as ‘The Rusted Sword’ revolves around a long-drawn strike by the labourers of a famous construction company of India about an aqueduct over the River Sai in Raebareli Dist. Partially based on her experiences of strikes in the region, Goswami explores how the strike ultimately became a failure due to the betrayal of some of the labour leaders and the lack of unity and foresight among the strikers. Thus, a powerful tool of revolt and resistance ends up being as ineffective as a rusted sword. Throughout, Goswami infuses the novel with detailed contrasts of the impressive, gargantuan constructions being made by the workers, with the minute disagreements and secret plots play out amongst the workers, gradually eroding their unity, despite their knowledge of the hurdles they face as individual labourers. According to the academic Prafulla Kotoky, the success of the novel lies in how it is at times “poignant [but] in places where the writer tells us about the degradation, moral and physical, it is almost unbearably grotesque”. The novel received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1983.

About the Author
Indira Goswami (14 November 1942 – 29 November 2011) known by her pen name Mamoni Raisom Goswami and popularly as Mamoni Baideo, was an Assamese editor, poet, professor, scholar and writer. Her writing has consistently contained feminist and post-colonial themes, with a particular focus on the lives of the Indian subaltern, all while retaining a distinctly Assamese identity. Her work has received great acclaim, appreciation, and at times criticism for her bold representations and critiques of religious practices and North-Eastern secessionist movements. In fact, she played a critical role as the mediator between the Indian government and the United Liberation Front of Asom. For her immense literary contributions, she received the Jnanpith Award (2001) and Netherland’s Prince Claus Laureate (2008).

Also read
Tej Aru Dhulire Dhushorito Prishtha (Pages Stained with Blood)
Perhaps Goswami’s most famous work, Pages Stained with Blood is considered a classic of modern Assamese literature. In the novel, Goswami portrays the pogrom of the Sikh community in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi’s assassination through a semi-autobiographical lens, piecing together the deaths of Sikh people in Delhi. Following a first-person narrative, it resembles a sort of diary of thoughts and experiences, that progressively become more chaotic and violent.

In Pita Putra, Homen Borgohain presents a psychological realist study of the impact of India’s transition to independence over two generations. The first generation, represented by protagonist Sivanath Phukan, born into an orthodox zamindari family in pre-Independence Assam, struggles to deal with his five children who grew up after Independence, questioning the authority of their traditions, their caste and community, and even their father’s authority over them. The novel has received a great deal of literacy critique: considered by some to be a rejection of post-colonial ideals of liberality, modernity and democracy, and by others as a realistic portrayal of the complex debates of nation-building, institutions, and tradition through a generational perspective of change and continuity that defined the Independence movement, and continue to reverberate today. Pita Putra received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1978 (returned in 2015).

About the Author
Homen Borgohain (1932—) is a well-known Assamese writer, columnist and journalist, who currently serves as chief editor to the Assamese newspaper Niyomiya Barta. Borgohain is known for exploring the intricacy and nuance of urban and rural life in Assam, and their intersections with each other. Over the decades, Borgohain has accumulated a large collection of novels, short stories and poetry, served as President of Assam Sahitya Sabha (2001), and pioneered new trends in Assam’s literature (particularly realism). Today, he is considered to be one of the most respected and authoritative figures on Assamese and North-Eastern life, both in literature and media.

The title, Koka Deutar Har, translates to ‘Ancestral Bone’ or ‘Forefather’s Fossils’. The plot of the novel traces the story of the changing lives of a village inhabited in the valley of Kolong river of Assam, and how the people there respond to and grapple with ideas of modernity, ancestry and tradition. It follows the story of two feudal lords, and brothers-in-law – the royal Bhogai Barua and the nouveau riche Bakhar Bora, and how their disputes are mediated and determined by their relationships with their ancestry, represented through their grandmother, the familial matriarch. Although the writing is infused with Barua’s poetic style, he emphasises the historical authenticity of the period – the early nineteenth century, with all its power, pride, politics, traditions, and generational continuity. In the words of Assamese critic Amrit Jyoti Mahanta, Barua, in the novel “enjoy[s] losing himself in that great motion which is cosmic, universal, and at the same time personal”. Kokadeutar Har received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1975.

About the Author
Nabakanta Barua (1926-2002), also known as Ekhud Kokaideo, was an eminent Assamese author and poet. Barua’s contribution to Assamese art and literature came through his academic work in Cotton College, his translations of many Western and Bengali authors and poets into Assamese, his presidency of the Assam Sahitya Sabha and of course, in his vast collections of poetry, essays, novels, and children’s literature (a total of 39 books). He was recognized for these immense contributions most famously through being awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1976. Along with Amulya Barua and Hem Barua, he is considered to be one of the founders of the renaissance of modern poetry in the state.

The title ‘Aghari Atmar Kahini’ translates to ‘Tale of Nomadic Souls’. And much as the title connotes, the story revolves around the minutiae of the lives of seemingly insignificant people – an unhappy couple, being visited by an old friend. In a loosely structured flow, the story explores the lives of these people: their worldviews, ambitions, personalities, marital troubles, and interactions with an expanding cast of people in their overlapping communities. Malik masterfully portrays the alienation, ennui and uneasiness of an increasingly urban, ‘modern’ life, and its complex interactions with Assamese society, language and culture.  It won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1972.

About the Author
Syed Abdul Malik (1919–2000) was one of the most widely known and popular writers in Assamese literature. In his long career, he wrote nearly fifty novels, dozens of plays, short stories, poems, travelogues and children’s fiction, was elected as the president of the Assam Sahitya Sabha (1977) and recognized nationally for his contributions – especially with the Padma Shree (1984) and Padma Bhushan (1992). His writing is known for its emphasis on love; according to Assamese critic Satyendranath Sarma, his representations of love were unique for “the variety of form and colour” it was portrayed. Today, his writings are considered to be a bridge in Assamese literature, stylistic and thematic representations of the socioeconomic and political changes Assam underwent before Independence (and the Second World War), and after it.

The title ‘Mrityunjay’ means Conqueror of Death or Immortal. The novel depicts a clear picture of the struggle and commitments of the Assamese society in 1942 against British rule. It narrates how Assamese people were influenced by the Quit India Movement, and how they implemented it in their state. The story is based on the Barpathar railway derailment caused by freedom fighters. It symbolizes the debates of the movement in individual Assamese freedom fighters, who go through intense internal dilemmas while determining the means they wanted to use to fight – Gandhi’s non-violent satyagraha or Bose’s violent uprising. Characteristically for Bhattacharya, the book explores these political questions through the milieu of Assamese daily life – its traditions, customs, and environment. When the book was awarded the Jnanpith Prize in 1979, its citation recognized Bhattacharya for the power of its narrative structure – “The capacity to detect the significance of the moment and endow it with the permanence and universality of art is what make Dr Bhattacharya an outstanding writer”.

About the Author
Birendra Kumar Bhattacharya (14 October 1924 – 6 August 1997) was one of the pioneers of modern Assamese literature. He was the first Assamese author to win the nation’s most prestigious literary award, the Jnanpith Award (1979). He wrote 20 novels, 6 Short stories, a 100 poems and innumerable essays and articles besides translating classics from Bengali and Assamese into English, including many of his own works. Nearly all of his novels are written with a political tone, particularly around the Independence movement and its often unrecognized by-products in peoples’ lives.

Yaruingam is one of the earliest books published that deals with the lives of Tangkhul Nagas, and is also one of its most influential representations. In the novel, Bhattacharya presents the life of Nagas against the background of the Second World War with imaginative sympathy and understanding. He portrays the profound disagreements of Naga people reckoning with the intersection of various ideas – Christianity, traditionalism, the Indian Independence movement, and the nascent, controversial movement for Naga sovereignty. Today, the novel is widely considered to be a masterpiece of Indian literature. It won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1961.

About the Author
Birendra Kumar Bhattacharya (14 October 1924 – 6 August 1997) was one of the pioneers of modern Assamese literature. He was the first Assamese author to win the nation’s most prestigious literary award, the Jnanpith Award (1979). He wrote 20 novels, 6 Short stories, a 100 poems and innumerable essays and articles besides translating classics from Bengali and Assamese into English, including many of his own works. Nearly all of his novels are written with a political tone, particularly around the Independence movement and its often unrecognized by-products in peoples’ lives.