Short Note on Assamese Language and Literature

Assamese Literature

Assamese is a branch of the New Indo-Aryan speech and it was developed into a distinct language out of the Eastern Magadhi Prakrta.

In point of antiquity, Assamese had the honor of being noticed by Hieun Tsiang when he visited Kamarupa in the 7th Century A.D. He perhaps referred to some individuality of the Kamarupa (early Assamese) language when he spoke of it as “slightly differing” from that of mid-India.

Earliest specimens of the Assamese language are preserved in the songs of Bauddha Gan o Doha, compositions on the esoteric doctrines and Yogic practices of the Sahajiya School of the Buddhists compiled between 8th to 10th centuries A.D.

As pointed out by Dr. G. Tucci on the authority of some Tibetan manuscripts, at least one of the composers of these songs, namely Minanatha, a fisherman, hailed from Kamarupa. Other Assamese literary productions of the period were the unwritten songs and ballads. The popular songs were those connected with the episode of Behula, Lakhindar and the worship of Manasa, the snake goddess.