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Early Assamese ( as, পুৰণী অসমীয়া, translit=Puroni Oxomiya) or Proto-Eastern Kamarupa is an ancestor of the modern
Early Assamese was written in
Early Assamese ( as, পুৰণী অসমীয়া, translit=Puroni Oxomiya) or Proto-Eastern Kamarupa is an ancestor of the modern Assamese language
Assamese (), also Asamiya ( ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken mainly in the north-east Indian state of Assam, where it is an official language, and it serves as a ''lingua franca'' of the wider region. The easternmost Indo-Iranian language, ...
. It is found in the literature from the 14th century to the end of 16th century in Kamata kingdom
The Kamata Kingdom (pron: ˈkʌmətɑ) emerged in western Kamarupa probably when Sandhya, a ruler of Kamarupanagara, moved his capital west to Kamatapur sometime after 1257 CE. Since it originated in the old seat of the Kamarupa kingdom, a ...
and rest the Brahmaputra valley
The Brahmaputra Valley is a region situated between hill ranges of the eastern and northeastern Himalayan range in Eastern India.
The valley consists of the Western Brahmaputra Valley covering the regions of Goalpara and Kamrup; the Central ...
of Assam
Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...
.
Literature
Early Assamese literature period can be split into: a) The Pre-Vaishnavite period and b) The Vaishnavite sub periods. The Pre-Vaishnavite period covers the period before the advent ofSankardeva
Srimanta Sankardev( শ্ৰীমন্ত শংকৰদেৱ )(; ; 1449–1568) was a 15th–16th century Assamese polymath; a saint-scholar, poet, playwright, dancer, actor, musician, artist social-religious reformer and a figure of im ...
and the Vaishnavite period initiated by his literary activities. The earliest Assamese writer, viz. Hema Saraswati
Hema Saraswati ( as, হেম সৰস্বতী) (fl. late 14th century) was amongst the earliest known Assamese writers, most known for his poem, ''Prahlada Charita'', the earliest known poetic work in Assamese language. He was court poet ...
and Harivara Vipra
Harivara Vipra ( Assamese:হৰিবৰ বিপ্ৰ) is amongst the earliest known Assamese writers. He was patronaged by Kamatapur's king Durlava Narayan (14th Century). His compositions, ''Babrubahanar Yudha'', ''Lava-Kushar Yudha'', ''Ta ...
who composed Prahlada Charitra and Babruvahana parva respectively wrote under the patronage of King Durlabhanarayana of Kamatapura who ruled towards the end of the 13th or the earlier part of the 14th century. The next two important poets of the same period are Rudra Kandali
Rudra Kandali ( Assamese: ৰুদ্ৰ কন্দলি ) (B. 1200s) was a litterateur from Kamrup. He was a well known poet of the 12th century and contemporary of the likes of Haribara Vipra and Hema Saraswati.
He wrote short narrativ ...
and Kaviratna Saraswati who composed Drona parva
The Drona Parva ( sa, द्रोण पर्व), or ''the Book of Drona,'' is the seventh of eighteen books of the Indian epic Mahabharata. Drona Parva traditionally has 8 parts and 204 chapters.Ganguli, K.M. (1883-1896)Drona Parva in ''The Ma ...
and Jayadratha vadha. But the towering poet of this period is Madhava Kandali
Kaviraja Madhava Kandali ( as, মাধৱ কন্দলি) (circa. 14th century) was an Indian poet from the state of Assam. He is one of the renowned poets pertaining to the Pre- Shankara era. His Saptakanda Ramayana is considered the earl ...
who is respectfully referred to by Sankardeva (b. 1449) as his predecessor. Madhava Kandali flourished towards the end of the 14th century and translated the entire Ramayana
The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th ...
under the patronage of Mahamanikya
Mahamanikya (also Manikpha) was a Borahi-Kachari king of Barāha: "It may also be noted that the Assamese rendition of the Ramayana (next only to Kampana’s Tamil to be rendered to a modern Indian language) by Madhab Kandali in the 14th centur ...
, the then Kachari (Varāha) king of Central Assam.
Writing system
Early Assamese was written in Eastern Nagari script
Eastern may refer to:
Transportation
*China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai
* Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways
* Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991
*Eastern Air ...
.
Morphology and Grammar
Pronouns
Notes
References
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Early Assamese Language Eastern Indo-Aryan languages Languages of Assam Subject–object–verb languages Indo-Aryan languages