Mahendranath Dekaphukan (1903–1974) or Monai Boiragi in full Mahendra Nath Moi Heng Dang Deka Phukan was an artist, poet, journalist and craftsman 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 ...

. He was the elder son of Lakshminath Phukan of

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 ...

. After schooling from Cotton Collegiate High School, he took adminission at

Cotton College Cotton College was a Roman Catholic boarding school in Cotton, Staffordshire, United Kingdom. It was also known as ''Saint Wilfrid's College''. The school buildings were centred on Cotton Hall, a country house used by religious communities fro ...

. He left from home in mid of study and wandered many places. He was assistant editor of ''Rangoon Mail'', published from

Rangoon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

. He came to attach ''The London Art Co.'', when he was in

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

, and made some experimental films, but he couldn't store for future. After that he joined ''Assam Bengal Press'' of

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

as manager. He was never staying many days one place. After few years working he came to Assam and married a Christian woman Miss Claris, he named her Jyotirmoi Devi. His attire was like a general village folk of Assam. He was some strange kind of personality, had a few intimate friends. On the other hand, like Madhav Chandra Bezbaruah,

Bishnu Rabha Bishnu Prasad Rabha was an cultural figure from Assam, known for his contributions in the fields of music, dance, painting, literature as well as political activism. As an advocate of people's cultural movement, he drew heavily from different ...

, Industrialist Aalamohan Das, Dr. Sujya Kumar Bhuyan, former chief minister

Bimala Prasad Chaliha Bimala Prasad Chaliha (26 March 1912 – 25 February 1971) was a Leader of Indian National Congress and a Freedom Fighter who was imprisoned at Jorhat Jail in 1942 for active participation in Mahatma Gandhi's Quit India Movement against the Briti ...

etc., some were very intimate to him. One of his existing creations is the symbol of Cotton College, Guwahati, but most of his works couldn't be stored. A hostel in

established in his memory named Mahendra Nath Deka Phukan or (MNDP)

References

1903 births 1974 deaths People from Kamrup Metropolitan district Journalists from Assam Artists from Guwahati {{India-writer-stub