Kamrupi dialects are a group of regional
dialect
The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of Linguistics, linguistic phenomena:
One usage refers to a variety (linguisti ...
s of
Assamese, spoken in the
Kamrup region
Kamrup is the modern region situated between two rivers, the Manas and the Barnadi in Western Assam, with the same territorial extent as the Colonial and post-Colonial "Undivided Kamrup district". It was the capital region of two of the thr ...
. It formerly enjoyed
prestige
Prestige refers to a good reputation or high esteem; in earlier usage, ''prestige'' meant "showiness". (19th c.)
Prestige may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Films
* ''Prestige'' (film), a 1932 American film directed by Tay Garnet ...
status.
It is one of two western dialect groups of the
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, ...
, the other being
Goalpariya. Kamrupi is heterogeneous with three
subdialect
Subdialect (from Latin , "under", and Ancient Greek , "discourse") is a linguistic term designating a dialectological category between the levels of dialect and idiolect. Subdialects are basic subdivisions of a dialect. Subdialects can be divided ...
s—
Barpetia dialect
Barpetia dialect (native: ''borpeita'') is a modern regional subdialect of Kamrupi, a dialect of the Assamese language. Named after the current Barpeta district of Assam
Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the easte ...
,
Nalbariya dialect
Nalbariya dialect is a dialect of Assamese language spoken primarily in and around the Nalbari district of Assam. It is one of three of the Kamrupi dialects, Kamrupi group of dialects—the others being Barpetia dialect and Palasbariya dialect.
...
and Palasbaria dialect.
In medieval times, Kamrupi was used in the Brahmaputra Valley and its adjoining areas for literary purposes in parallel with Sanskrit, both for prose and poetry. This went against the practices of literary figures of
mid India like
Vidyapati
Vidyapati ( – 1460), also known by the sobriquet ''Maithil Kavi Kokil'' (the poet cuckoo of Maithili), was a Maithili and Sanskrit polymath-poet-saint, playwright, composer, biographer, philosopher, law-theorist, writer, courtier ...
who used
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
for prose and
Maithili for poetry. In more recent times, the South Kamrupi dialect has been used in the works of author
Indira Goswami
Indira Goswami (14 November 1942 – 29 November 2011), known by her pen name Mamoni Raisom Goswami and popularly as Mamoni Baideo, was an Indian writer, poet, professor, scholar and editor.
She was the winner of the Sahitya Akademi Award (1983 ...
. Poet and nationalist
Ambikagiri Raichoudhury
Ambikagiri Raichoudhury (1885–1967) was an Assamese poet, lyricist, singer, powerful prose writer, news worker, magazine editor, patriotic, social-worker and the leading freedom fighter of India's freedom struggle. He is known as Assam Kesari ...
also used Kamrupi in his works to great extent. In 2018, the Kamrupi film
Village Rockstars
''Village Rockstars'' is a 2017 Indian Assamese language coming-of-age drama film written, edited, co-produced and directed by Rima Das, who is a self-taught filmmaker. The story follows a 10-year-old girl who befriends a group of boys and dreams ...
became the first from the region to be selected for India's official entry to the
91st Academy Awards
The 91st Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2018 and took place on February 24, 2019, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. During the ceremony, A ...
. In 1996, another Kamrupi dialect film named
Adajya
''Adajya'' () is a 1996 Indian Assamese language drama film directed by Santwana Bardoloi based on the novel '' Dontal Haatir Uiye Khowa Haoda'' by Indira Goswami. The film was screened at several international film festivals.
Plot
The film is s ...
directed by
Santwana Bardoloi
Santwana Bordoloi is a director, actress, radio host and paediatrician from Assam, India. Both her directorial ventures, ''Adajya'' (1996) and '' Maj Rati Keteki'' (2017), set two decades apart, have won a National Award for the Best Feature Fil ...
based on a novel by
Indira Goswami
Indira Goswami (14 November 1942 – 29 November 2011), known by her pen name Mamoni Raisom Goswami and popularly as Mamoni Baideo, was an Indian writer, poet, professor, scholar and editor.
She was the winner of the Sahitya Akademi Award (1983 ...
titled
Dontal Haatir Uiye Khuwa Haoda won the Indian National award as the Best Regional Film (Assamese) and Jury's special award.
Features
Phonology
The Kamrupi dialects have seven phonemes in contrast to the eight in standard Assamese dialect. The phoneme that is missing in the Kamrupi dialects is the
close-mid back rounded vowel
The close-mid back rounded vowel, or high-mid back rounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is .
Close-mid back protruded vowel
The close ...
// (). In the Kamrupi dialects, this vowel is replaced by another vowel, a diphthong or a different form.
* The treatment of ks as kh which is a notable feature in Early Assamese and the Kamrupi dialect has been found in Kamarupa inscriptions, such as inscriptions of
Ratna Pala
Ratna Pala (reigned 920-960) was the son of Brahma Pala in Pala Dynasty (900–1100) of Kamarupa Kingdom. His queen's name was Durlabha. He was succeeded by Indra Pala.
The Gachtal plates of Go Pala have thrown fresh light on the achievements a ...
where ksitimatha>khimatha was used.
* One of the most prominent features of Kamrupi is the use of initial stress, as opposed to penultimate stress in the eastern dialects, which effectively shortens the word (''komora'', Eastern dialect; ''kumra'', Kamrupi dialect). Though standard Assamese follows the pan-Indian system of penultimate, Kamrupi shares the initial stress, with some difference, with the Bengali, where the initial stress system established itself as the dominant feature in the 16th century. In Kamrupi dialect too, the initial stress is a later development which is a result of contact with some linguistic group.
* Medial vowels are thus rarely pronounced or largely slurred over.
* In standard Assamese if a word has two /a/ sounds side-by-side, the first /a/ turns into an /ɔ/ or /ɛ/, a feature that became prominent in writings of Hema Saraswati, Harivara Vipra, Kaviratna Saraswati etc. In Kamrupi, two consecutive /a/ are tolerated (''star'': /taɹa/ (Kamrupi), /tɔɹa/ (Standard)). The early Assamese used pan Indian system of tolerance of both the parallel /a/. In disyllabic words, the second /ɔ/ becomes an /a/ (hot: /gɔɹam/, Kamrupi; /gɔɹɔm/, St. Assamese).
* Epenthetic vowels are the rule in Kamrupi dialects, with even diphthongs and triphthongs appearing in initial syllables (''haula'' Kam; ''haluwa'' St) (''keuila'' Kam; kewaliya St), and a complete absence of diphthongs in the final syllables.
* High vowels are feature of Kamrupi, in contrast to predominance of medial vowels in Standard Assamese. Kapur, tule, mul, tamul and khalu in eastern Assamese as against Kapor (cloth), tole (raises), mol (worth), tamol (betel-nut) and khalo (I have eaten) in Kamrupi.
* The east Assamese favours de-aspiration as against aspiration of Kamrupi in same phonological context.
*/x/ does not occurs finally in Kamrupi, it does sometimes in eastern Assamese. In non-initial position Old Indo-Aryan sibilants become /kh/ and sometimes /h/, whereas in eastern Assamese it becomes /x/, e.g. Akha (Kamrupi) and Axa (Standard Assamese).
Morphology
* Western Assamese shares morphological peculiarities with North Bengali. The plural suffixes in Western Assamese -hamra and -gila have parallel forms in North Bengali -amrah, the remote demonstrative plural and -gila, -gla. The plural suffixes of Kamrupi are very different from the eastern Assamese (Kamrupi: -''gila'', -''gilak''; Standard: -''bür'', -''bilak''). Kamrupi plural suffixes has continuity from ancient times, as opposed to late medieval appearance of bür and bilak in Eastern Assam.
* Standard uses -''loi'' in the dative case ending, Kamrupi uses the dative-accusative case ending -''k'' or the locative -''t'' (Kamrupi: ''ghorot/ghorok zaü̃''; Standard ''ghoroloi zaü̃'').
* The instrumental sense -''di'' in Kamrupi is increasingly accepted in the Standard now (Kamrupi:''hatedi''; Standard: ''hatere'').
* Kamrupi has large variety of adverbial formations such as - ita, - ethen, - enke and - kahai, which are quite different in Eastern Assamese.
* Pleonastic suffixes of East Assamese are distinct from those of Kamrupi like - ni, - na, - holi.
* The enclitic definites are separate in both the languages.
* In the Eastern variety - heten is used for past conditional, as against Kamrupi - hoi.
* Formation of verbs from nouns and participles are more common in Kamrupi than Eastern Assamese.
* Kamrupi has - lak and - ilak for third personal affix while East Assamese uses - le and - ile for the same (Kamrupi: ''xi khalak''; Standard: ''xi khale'').
Similarities with Eastern Assamese
According to Upendranath Goswami, differences between Kamrupi and east Assamese is not insignificant, they ranged over whole field of phonology, morphology and vocabulary.
Its unique features distinguishes it from Eastern Assamese, there may some commonalities—case endings, conjugational affixes, pronominal roots, derivatives and vocabulary—that underscore a fundamental unity, nonetheless, Kamrupi dialect, with a long history of its own differs greatly from the eastern variety of Assamese.
Dr. Nirmalendu Bhowmik, while discussing similarity of Kamrupi with Eastern Assamese, observes that despite some similarity in morphology, there is absolutely no similarity in terms of phonology, though both languages shares few common words.
Comparison with other Eastern Indo-Aryan languages
Eastern Indo-Aryan languages share a common phonological structure.
Glossarial
There is differences in vocables of Kamrupi and Eastern Assamese, such that even common objects are denoted by different words. In eastern variety there are no generic terms to such English words like brothers and sisters, Kamrupi do have, such as bhak and bainak. Kamrupi also uses /soli/ for both boys and girls collectively for children, East Assamese lacks such forms.
Old Indo-Aryan words
Kamrupi retained many
Old Indo-Aryan
The Indo-Aryan languages (or sometimes Indic languages) are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family. As of the early 21st century, they have more than 800 million speakers, primarily concentrated in India, Pa ...
words.
Definition of the region
![Kamrup-1931-gazateerofindia](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Kamrup-1931-gazateerofindia.png)
The Kamrup between Manas and Barnadi rivers, where Kamrupi is spoken, formed the capital area of two of three dynasties of the ancient
Kamarupa kingdom
Kamarupa (; also called Pragjyotisha or Pragjyotisha-Kamarupa), an early state during the Classical period on the Indian subcontinent, was (along with Davaka) the first historical kingdom of Assam.
Though Kamarupa prevailed from 350 to 11 ...
(4th–12th century), with
Pragjyotishpura
Pragjyotishpura () or Pragjyotisapura, now deemed to be a region within modern Guwahati, was an ancient city and capital of the Varman dynasty (350 - 650 A.D). Though the earliest mention of Pragjyotisha in local sources come from the 7th centu ...
(
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
Durjaya
Durjaya, now North Guwahati, was capital of Kamarupa kingdom under the Pala Dynasty for the period 900 to 1100 C.E. Pala rulers built their capital on the banks of the Brahmaputra and surrounded it with a rampart and a strong palisade, whence the ...
(
North Guwahati
North Guwahati is northern part of the city of Guwahati and a town area committee in Kamrup Rural district in the Indian state of Assam.This town abounds in historical places and picnic spots. National Highway 27 passes through North Guwahati. A ...
). Kingdom existed as parallel to
Davaka
Davaka was a kingdom of ancient Indian subcontinent, located in current central region of Assam state. The references to it comes from the 4th century Allahabad pillar inscription of Samudragupta, where it is mentioned as one of five frontier k ...
of central Assam. Absorption of Davaka by Kamrup marks eastward expansion of latter, which ultimately covered area from the Karatoya in the west to the temple of Dikkaravasini at Sadiya in the east,
Bhutan
Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...
in north and Northern
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
in south.
Medieval
Mughals established four ''
sarkars'' (administrative units): Bangalbhum, Dhekeri, Dakkhinkul and Kamrup; placing Kamrup in "Sarkar Kamrup".
The Kamrupi is currently prevalent in Mughal Sarkar of Kamrup. In late medieval times, Kamrupi literary style passed to eastern Assam.
The examples of medieval Assamese or middle Kamrupi are obtained from the 14th century from North Bengal, Western Assam and fewer in central Assam, and this was followed by a deluge of literary activity in the 16th century that accompanied the growth of
Srimanta Sankardeva
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 ...
's
Vaishnavite movement. The literary activities occurred throughout Assam and North Bengal, and influence of Kamrupi remain strong throughout.
Some features of Early and Middle Assamese which are still present in some dialects of Kamrupi Assamese and Central Assamese but absent in current Eastern Assamese (in ''italics''):
* "manusya sahasrar madhyato kono janase punyabase ''gyanak lagi'' yatna kare ......emane durlabh jnano ''tumat'' krpaya kaho". (Katha Gita, 1593–1597)
* "''āke'' śuni lakśminārāyane ''ghilāk'' khedi āhil. baṅɡāle ''khāibāk napāi'' gaṛar bhitarate ''śukhāi'' mare...''tāhnār'' mukhat; ''āhnār'' sange (Kamrupar Buranji, 17th century)
* barphukane ''maharajat'' janova rup kari sihatar manuhak maharajar ''thaik'' anai...''sidikir parā'' (Tripura Buranji, 18th century)
Colonial
Kamrup passed to the British in 1824, and the colonial district, largely congruous to the Kamapitha and Mughal Sarkar became the
Undivided Kamrup district
Undivided Kamrup district is a former administrative district located in Western Assam from which Kamrup Rural (2003), Kamrup Metropolitan (2003), Barpeta (1983), Nalbari (1985) and Baksa (2004) districts were formed. It was announced in January ...
in the post-colonial period.
Form spoken in Eastern Assam, come to notice due to translation of Bible in 1838 by American Baptist Missions, as part of conversion process. British adopted Eastern Assamese as the standard official language in 1873, due to recommendations of Christian missionaries. Whereas the Kamrupi was non-uniform, the eastern dialect was uniform over a large territory in eastern Assam.
Nevertheless, Kamrupi pandits like Shyamal Choudhury,
Amrit Bhushan Adhikary and
Kaliram Medhi
Kaliram Medhi ( as, কালিৰাম মেধি; 18 October 1880 – 24 January 1954) was a prominent linguist, writer and essayist from Assam who wrote in both the Assamese and English languages in the early part of modern Assamese li ...
objected the imposition of eastern Assamese as official language of entire valley, especially in Kamrup due to distinctness and antiquity of Kamrupi language.
Modern
Since the center of literary activity has moved back to
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 ...
in Kamrup, the standard based on eastern dialects has started acquiring Kamrupi dialectal elements in recent decades. For example, the
instrumental case
In grammar, the instrumental case (abbreviated or ) is a grammatical case used to indicate that a noun is the ''instrument'' or means by or with which the subject achieves or accomplishes an action. The noun may be either a physical object or an ...
is -''di'' in Kamrupi (''hatedi'', "with hand") and -''re'' in eastern Assamese (''hatere''), and the Kamrupi form is increasingly common in the Standard.
These dialects are now spoken in the present districts of
Kamrup Rural, western part of
Kamrup Metropolitan
Kamrup Metropolitan district is one of the 35 districts in Assam state in north-eastern India. It was carved out of the erstwhile undivided Kamrup district in 2003 and covers an area equivalent to the area under the jurisdiction of the Guwahati ...
,
Nalbari
Nalbari (Pron: nɔ:lˈbɑ:rɪ) is a town and a municipal board in Nalbari district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Assam. Nalbari town is also the headquarters of Nalbari district, Nalbari District. The town is one of ma ...
,
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 ...
,
Darrang
Darrang () is an administrative district in the state of Assam in India. The district headquarters are located at Mangaldoi. The district occupies an area of 1585 km2.
History
No definitive records about Darrang are available for the pre-med ...
, and parts of
Goalpara
Goalpara, Pron: ) is the district headquarters of Goalpara district, Assam, India. It is situated to the west of Guwahati.
Etymology
The name Goalpara is said to have originated from the word "Gwaltippika" meaning Guwali village, or The villa ...
,
Udalguri
Odalguri (; also spelt Udalguri) is a town and the headquarters of Udalguri district under the jurisdiction of Bodoland Territorial Council which controls the Bodoland Territorial Area Districts in the state of Assam.
Geography
Odalguri is l ...
and
Chirang. The name is derived from the colonial
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 ...
, from
Kamarupa kingdom
Kamarupa (; also called Pragjyotisha or Pragjyotisha-Kamarupa), an early state during the Classical period on the Indian subcontinent, was (along with Davaka) the first historical kingdom of Assam.
Though Kamarupa prevailed from 350 to 11 ...
.
Scholarly views
Magadhi Prakrit
Magadhi Prakrit (''Māgadhī'') is of one of the three Dramatic Prakrits, the written languages of Ancient India following the decline of Pali and Sanskrit. It was a vernacular Middle Indo-Aryan language, replacing earlier Vedic Sanskrit.
Hist ...
, keeping north of the
Ganga river
The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...
, gave rise to the
Kamarupa Apabhramsa dialects of Assam and North Bengal. Suniti Kumar Chatterji divides Magadhan dialects regionwise as
Radha
Radha ( sa, राधा, ), also called Radhika, is a Hindu goddess and the chief consort of the god Krishna. She is worshiped as the goddess of love, tenderness, compassion, and devotion. She is the avatar of goddess Lakshmi and is also de ...
,
Varendra
Varendra ( bn, বরেন্দ্র), also known as Barind ( bn, বারিন্দ, link=no), was a region of North Bengal, now mostly in Bangladesh and a little portion in the Indian state of West Bengal.
It formed part of the Pundrav ...
,
Kamarupa
Kamarupa (; also called Pragjyotisha or Pragjyotisha-Kamarupa), an early state during the Classical period on the Indian subcontinent, was (along with Davaka) the first historical kingdom of Assam.
Though Kamarupa prevailed from 350 to 11 ...
and
Vanga
The family Vangidae (from ''vanga'', Malagasy for the hook-billed vanga, ''Vanga curvirostris'') comprises a group of often shrike-like medium-sized birds distributed from Asia to Africa, including the vangas of Madagascar to which the family o ...
[Bangladesh Itihas Samiti (1999), ''Sylhet: History and Heritage'' , Page 591 Suniti Kumar Chatterjee in his Origin and Development of Bangla Language (ODBL) divided the Bangla dialect into four groups in accordance with the name of the regions such as Rada, Pundra or Barindra, Banga and Kamrupi]
Sukumar Sen referring to ancientness of Kamrupi, wrote, "Assamese, or more appropriately the old Kamarupi dialect entered into Kamrup or western Assam, where this speech was first characterized as Assamese."
[Sukumar Sen, ''Grammatical sketches of Indian languages with comparative vocabulary and texts'', Volume 1, 1975, P 31, Assamese, or more appropriately the old Kamarupi dialect entered into Kamrup or western Assam, where this speech was first characterized as Assamese.]
Upendranath Goswami wrote, "The Assamese language, coming from the west was first characterized in Kamrup or Western Assam whose boundary comprised in early times the whole of North-Bengal, including Cooch-Behar, Rangpur and Jalpaiguri districts of Bengal".
Literature
The early examples of Kamrupi writings and literature are copper plate seals of
Kamrupi kings, issued in different parts of eastern and
Northern India
North India is a loosely defined region consisting of the northern part of India. The dominant geographical features of North India are the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the Himalayas, which demarcate the region from the Tibetan Plateau and Central ...
and the
Charyapada
The Charyapada (IAST: Caryapāda, Assamese language, Assamese/Bengali language, Bengali: চর্যাপদ) is a collection of mystical poems, songs of realization in the Vajrayana tradition of Buddhism from the tantra, tantric tradition in ...
, which is a collection of 8th-12th century Vajrayana Buddhist caryagiti, or mystical poems. Being caryagiti (songs of realization), the Charyapada were intended to be sung. These songs of realization were spontaneously composed verses, that expressed a practitioner's experience of the enlightened state. A manuscript of this anthology was discovered in the early 20th century, by Hariprasad Shastri in
Nepal
Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...
. It provides the examples of the Kamrupi and other eastern
Indo-Aryan languages
The Indo-Aryan languages (or sometimes Indic languages) are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. As of the early 21st century, they have more than 800 million speakers, primarily ...
.
The writers of the Charyapada, the Mahasiddhas or Siddhacharyas, belonged to the various regions of Kamrup (Assam),
Gauda (Bengal),
Kalinga Kalinga may refer to:
Geography, linguistics and/or ethnology
* Kalinga (historical region), a historical region of India
** Kalinga (Mahabharata), an apocryphal kingdom mentioned in classical Indian literature
** Kalinga script, an ancient writ ...
(Orissa) and
Mithila Mithila may refer to:
Places
* Mithilā, a synonym for the ancient Videha state
** Mithilā (ancient city), the ancient capital city of Videha
* Mithila (region), a cultural region (historical and contemporary), now divided between India and Nepal
...
(Bihar). A Tibetan translation of the Charyapada was also preserved in the Tibetan Buddhist canon.
The notable medieval Kamrupi literary figures are
Rama Saraswati
Rama Saraswati was 16th century poet from Kamrup, India. He was well known for translation of entire Mahabharata to Early Assamese from Sanskrit for which he is also known as Axom Byas.
See also
* Bhattadeva
* Hema Saraswati
Hema Saraswati ...
,
Ananta Kandali
Ananta Kandali ( as, অনন্ত কন্দলী; 1540–1580) was Brahmin poet from Hajo, Kamrup district. Ananta Kandali's real name was Haricharan, but he is popularly known by his scholastic title "Ananta Kandali". His father, Ratna Pa ...
,
Sridhara Kandali,
Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya
Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya was medieval Pandit and Bhakti reformer from Kamrup. As a vedantist of the Advaita school, he refuted the monistic doctrines of Sankaradeva.
See also
* Adwita Makaranda
* Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
Chaitanya ...
,
Kalapachandra Dvija and
Bhattadeva
Bhattadeva (1558–1638)( অসমীয়া: বৈকুণ্ঠনাথ ভাগৱত ভট্টাচাৰ্য), (Baikunthanatha Bhagavata Bhattacharya) is acknowledged as the father of Assamese prose. Though ''Bhaktiratnakar-kat ...
, the father of Assamese prose.
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
Haribara 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 ...
are two other well known Kamrupi poets. Hema Saraswati composed the "Prahlad Charitra" based on the
Vamana Purana
The ''Vamana Purana'' ( sa, वामन पुराण, IAST: ), is a medieval era Sanskrit text and one of the eighteen major Puranas of Hinduism. The text is named after one of the incarnations of Vishnu and probably was a Vaishnava text i ...
, while Haribara Vipra translated the Aswamedha Parva of the
Mahabharata
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruk ...
. Kaviratna was the author of the "Jayadratha Vadha". His home was at Sila, a village within the
Barpeta district. The writings of all these three poets are still extant. To a some what later period belonged
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 ...
and
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 ...
. The former versified portions of the Ramayana and the latter composed, in Kamrupi verse, portions of the Mahabharata.
Sankara Deva who was born in 1449 A.D., refers to Madhava Kandali as one of the reputed poets belonging to an earlier age. It may therefore place both Madhava Kandali and Rudra Kandali towards the end of the fourteenth century. In his Ramayana, Madhava Kandali himself states that his other name was Kaviraj-Kandali and that though he could easily compose verses in
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
he composed the
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 ...
in Assamese verse for the benefit of the people at large. Madhava Kandali wrote also another poem entitled "Devajit." Sixteenth century, witnessed a great development of the vernacular literature of Kamarupa. The
Yogini Tantra
The ''Yogini Tantra'' is a 16th- or 17th-century tantric text by an unknown author either from Assam or Cooch Behar: "One of the most explicit descriptions of Tantric sexual rites occurs in Yogini tantra, a sixteenth-century text from Cooch Beha ...
, a well-known Sanskrit work which gives the boundaries of the kingdom of Kamarupa, as it existed during the rule of the
Pala kings Pala may refer to:
Places
Chad
*Pala, Chad, the capital of the region of Mayo-Kebbi Ouest
Estonia
* Pala, Kose Parish, village in Kose Parish, Harju County
*Pala, Kuusalu Parish, village in Kuusalu Parish, Harju County
*Pala, Järva County, vil ...
, probably written in Kamarupa during the first pact of the sixteenth century. To this period it must also assign the compilation of the Behula Upakhyana by
Durgabar Kayastha
Durgabar Kayastha (1515–1560) was litterateur from Kamakhya, Kamrup. He was well known Manasa poet as well as an expert oja of 16th century.
His major works include Behula Upakhyana narrating story of Behula and Chand Sadagar. The balla ...
, a native of
Kamakhya
Kamakhya, a mother goddess, is a Shakta Tantric deity; considered to be the embodiment of ''Kama (desire)'', she is regarded as the goddess of sex. Her abodeKamakhya Temple is located in the Kamarupa region of Assam, India."Seated on top of ...
.
See also
*
Kamrup (disambiguation)
*
Kamrupi (disambiguation)
Notes
References
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{{Western Assam
Kamrupi culture
Eastern Indo-Aryan languages
Assamese language