Kaliram Medhi ( as, কালিৰাম মেধি; 18 October 1880 – 24 January 1954) was a prominent linguist, writer and essayist from

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 ...

who wrote in both the Assamese and English languages in the early part of modern

Assamese literature Assamese literature ( as, অসমীয়া সাহিত্য, translit=ɔxɔmiya xaɦitjɔ}) is the entire corpus of poetry, novels, short stories, plays, documents and other writings in the Assamese language. It also includes the liter ...

. He was the third president of the

Asom Sahitya Sabha The Asam Sahitya Sabha (; Literary Society of Assam) is a non Government, non profit, literary organisation of Assam. It was founded in December 1917 in Assam, India to promote the culture of Assam and Assamese literature. A branch of the organi ...

in 1919 held at

Barpeta Barpeta (Pron: bə(r)ˈpeɪtə / bə(r)ˈpi:tə ) is a town in Barpeta district of the state of Assam in India and is district headquarters. The city is located north west of Guwahati and is one of the major cities in Western Assam. It is also ...

. He was honoured with the Rai Bahadur title in 1946. Versatile Assamese short story writer and Professor of Physics and later a lifetime associate at

Assam Engineering College Assam Engineering College ( Assamese: অসম অভিযান্ত্ৰিক মহাবিদ্যালয়), established in 1955, is located in Guwahati. It is the first engineering college of Assam and is affiliated to Assam Sc ...

Surendra Nath Medhi better known by his pen name Saurav Kumar Chaliha was his son and noted Mathematician,

Emeritus Professor ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

of statistics at

Gauhati University Gauhati University, also known as GU, is a collegiate public state university located in Guwahati, Assam, India. It was established on 26 January 1948 under the provisions of an Act enacted by the Assam Legislative Assembly. It is the oldest ...

and

Institute of Advanced Study in Science and Technology The Department of Science and Technology (DST) is a department within the Ministry of Science and Technology in India. It was established in May 1971 to promote new areas of science and technology and to play the role of a nodal department fo ...

Jyotiprasad Medhi Jyotiprasad Medhi was a professor of statistics at Gauhati University and Institute of Advanced Study in Science and Technology. Work and education Medhi started his schooling in Dibrugarh and in 1940 he passed matriculation from Dibrugarh Gover ...

was his grandson as he was the son of his daughter Kadambari Medhi and her husband Binandi Chandra Medhi.

Early life

Medhi was born on 18 October 1880 at Ramdia village near

Hajo Hajo is a historic town set in the hills northwest of Guwahati, Assam, India. It is a meeting point of Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims due to the various pilgrimage sites on the different hills of Hajo. To the Hindus, the Manikut Parbat of Hajo ...

Kamrup district Kamrup Rural district, or simply Kamrup district (Pron: ˈkæmˌrəp or ˈkæmˌru:p), is an administrative district in the state of Assam in India formed by dividing the old Kamrup district into two in the year 2003; other being Kamrup Metrop ...

to Bhukali Medhi and Sontara Medhi. After primary education at his village he did his higher education at

Guwahati Guwahati (, ; formerly rendered Gauhati, ) is the biggest city of the Indian state of Assam and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the ...

and City College of Calcutta.

Career

He died in

Panbazar Pan Bazaar (also spelled as Panbazar) (অসমীয়া: পানবজাৰ) is a locality in Guwahati, India surrounded by localities of Paltan Bazaar, Ambari and Fancy Bazaar. Situated on the banks of the river Brahmaputra, it is pa ...

, Guwahati on 24 January 1954. His son Surendra Nath Medhi (1930-2011) became a famous Assamese writer under the pseudonym

Saurabh Kumar Chaliha Saurabh Kumar Chaliha ( as, সৌৰভ কুমাৰ চলিহা; 1930 – 25 June 2011) is the pen name of a famous Assamese short story writer. His real name was Surendra Nath Medhi. His short story collection ''Ghulam'' won the pre ...

and was awarded Sahitya Academy Award in Assamese in 1974.

Literary works

; In Assamese # Asomiya Bhasar Mul (অসমীয়া ভাষাৰ মূল) (1918), # Asomiya Byakoron aru Bhasatatta (অসমীয়া ব্যকৰণ আৰু ভাষাতত্ত্ব) (1936), # Mahapurush Sankardevar Bani (1949) # Ankawali (Part-I) (অঙ্কাৱলী) (১ম ভাগ) (1950), # Prahlad charitra (প্ৰহ্লাদ চৰিত্ৰ) (1913) and more. ; In English # The Kalitas, # Brajavali Literature of Assam, # Philosophic Aspects of the Assamese Brajavali Literature, # Origin of Assamese Drama, # Studies in the Vaishnav Literature and Culture of Assam. # Assamese Grammar and Origin of the Assamese Language.

References

External links

Assamese Grammar and Origin of the Assamese Language
(1988) a book by Kaliram Medhi.
A statue of Kaliram Medhi
at Ambari, Guwahati, Assam.
Books by Kaliram Medhi
at Open Library website.
Books
at Worldcat.org. {{DEFAULTSORT:Medhi, Kaliram Medhi, Kaliram Asom Sahitya Sabha Presidents Assamese-language writers 1880 births 1954 deaths People from Kamrup district City College, Kolkata alumni University of Calcutta alumni 20th-century Indian essayists 20th-century Indian scholars Writers from Guwahati

Early life

Career

Literary works

See also

References

External links