Jonaki era
The Jonaki era (Script error: The function "langx" does not exist.) is the period of Assamese literature associated with the rise of Romanticism, conventionally dated from the first publication of the literary magazine Jonaki in 1889.[1][2] It is often described as the age of Romanticism in Assamese literature and as a formative phase of its modern development.
Background
In the late nineteenth century, Assamese students studying in Calcutta took up the cause of the Assamese language, which had been displaced by Bengali in the courts and schools of Assam for much of the century. On 25 August 1888 they founded the Asamiya Bhasa Unnati Sadhini Sabha (Society for the Development of the Assamese Language), and in 1889 the society launched Jonaki as its mouthpiece, with Chandra Kumar Agarwala as its first editor.[1][3]
The writers of the Jonaki era were strongly influenced by the sensibilities of the English Romantic poets, although the Romantic movement in English literature had ended decades earlier. Their work marked a shift from the predominantly devotional themes of earlier Assamese writing towards human experience, nature, beauty, and the arts.[1][3] The lyric and the short story flourished, and the period's writing combined Romantic idealism with linguistic nationalism, helping to re-establish Assamese as an independent literary language.[1]
The era was dominated by a trio of writers often called the trimurti of modern Assamese literature: Chandra Kumar Agarwala, Lakshminath Bezbarua, and Hemchandra Goswami.[1] Agarwala's poem "Bonkunwari", published in the first issue of Jonaki, is regarded as the first Assamese romantic poem; Goswami's "Priyatamar Chithi" was the first Assamese sonnet; and Bezbarua's farce Litikai pioneered new dramatic forms.[2] Bezbarua, regarded as the father of the Assamese short story, was the era's central figure.[1]
Legacy
The Jonaki era set the direction of modern Assamese literature and was followed by successive periods associated with the magazines Banhi (1909), Awahan (1929), and Ramdhenu (1951), through which Assamese writing moved from Romanticism towards modernism.[2] Writers of the era, including Agarwala, Padmanath Gohain Baruah, and Hiteswar Barbarua, remain canonical figures of Assamese literature, and the Asamiya Bhasa Unnati Sadhini Sabha is regarded as a precursor of the Asam Sahitya Sabha.
See also
- Assamese literature
- Jonaki (magazine)
- Asamiya Bhasa Unnati Sadhini Sabha
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 "Assamese romanticism and need for scientific literature". The Sentinel. 19 July 2023. Retrieved 17 July 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "The modern journey of Assamese literature". The Sentinel. 25 May 2025. Retrieved 17 July 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Assamese romanticism & need for scientific literature". Meghalaya Monitor. 17 October 2023. Retrieved 17 July 2026.
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