Guwahati: The curtain came down for the Pragjyotishpur Literature Festival 2025 on 16 November, as two Assamese writers were felicitated in the valedictory ceremony at Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakshetra in the prehistoric city of Guwahati with gracious presence of PLF president Phanindra Kumar Dev Choudhury, chief guest Dr Apurba Kumar Saikia and a galaxy of authors, critics, journalists and literary enthusiasts. The third edition of annual PLF commenced on 14 November marking the beginning of a literary exploration with a mission searching for roots enhancing a humble dream to connect Assam’s younger generation with the land’s glorious literary heritage.
Tiwa scholar and a tireless researcher of the society–literature–culture–history, and a distinguished essayist Maneswar Dewri along with emerging short-story writer Srotashwini Tamuli were honoured with PLF awards 2025. Accepting the award, Dewri, who has for several decades enriched Assamese literature as well as research activities in culture and history of the land, expressed happiness and stated that he was deeply moved by the honour. Narrating his struggle and search works for the Tiwa ethnic community’s identity amidst many challenges, Dewri added that many of his published books contain different events taking place in western Assam, which may be helpful for the research scholar and historians while penning a comprehensive history of Assam. Srotaswini, the author of an Assamese story collection titled ‘Jalkhar and a research scholar at Birangana Sati Sadhani State University, admitted that receiving the award at an early stage of her literary journey had enhanced the sense of responsibility in the field of creative writing.
While addressing the closing session, Sahitya Akademi awardee Dr Saikia appreciated the three-day literary exploration with the theme ‘In Search of Roots’, showcasing the history, culture and languages of the land, once known as Pragjyotishpur (later known as Kamrup kingdom, where the capital was located roughly in the present day Guwahati), in the right perspective. Dr Saikia also expressed satisfaction that the festival could generate a significant enthusiasm among the budding writers, translators, journalists, theatre & film workers as well as common literary appreciators and hoped that the PLF would soon emerge as an important litfest in India.
Earlier, an analytical discussion on ‘The Creative World of Novelist Birendra Kumar Bhattacharya: An Exploratory Journey’, which was attended by Akademi winning writer Anuradha Sarma Pujari, storyteller Pranjal Sharma Basishtha, researcher Smritirekha Bhuyan and media columnist Rupam Barua, enlightened the audience over the creations of Gnyanpeeth awardee, who is considered as one of best novelists in the country.
Another important event witnessed a pragmatic discussion on nature literature, conducted by conservationist writer Soumyadeep Dutta, where the wildlife activist elaborated on how literature on nature can nurture the society. A vivid appreciator of Gautam Buddha’s teachings, Dutta categorically distinguished between the western green writings-which are mostly human centric and the nature literature of Bharat that is dedicated to all creatures on Earth.
A reflective discussion on the expanding horizon of Assamese translated literature was also organized where Akademi (translation) award recipient Bipul Deuri, another Akademi (translation) winner Diganta Biswa Sarma and young writer-translator Dr Nayanjyoti Sharma participated. Addressing the listeners of ‘Transcending Language Boundaries: The Triumphant Journey of Assamese Translated Literature’, acclaimed scholar on the Indian knowledge system, Biswa Sarma opined that an honest translation is now admired as an original literary work. He also viewed that Sanskrit, though largely not a daily spoken language, cannot be neglected and it needs to be kept alive so that Indian regional languages get nourishment for the future generation. Nayanjyoti spoke about some difficulties but also a promising space for translation works from Assamese to other languages and vice versa.
The three-day annual litfest was inaugurated by distinguished litterateur Nanda Singh Barkola, who highlighted India’s growing global stature while painting a vivid portrait of the nation’s cultural heritage. Aligning with the festival’s theme, Barkola, a senior police officer by profession, referenced to Dr Bhupen Hazarika’s iconic song ‘Karbi Anglong Oti Numoliya…..’, while encouraging a return to pre-Sankari traditions to rediscover the forgotten literary roots. Internationally acclaimed author Shefali Vaidya, who delivered the keynote address, appreciated the festival’s evolving journey along with the mission to reconnect younger generations with their cultural and intellectual heritage. Opening her speech in Asomiya, she also invoked the timeless songs of Bhupen-da, underscoring the linguistic and cultural richness of the far eastern part of Bharat.
Chairman of the organizing committee (Sankardeva Education and Research Foundation), Lt Gen (Retd) Rana Pratap Kalita and Pragjyotishpur University vice-chancellor Smriti Kumar Sinha also shared the dais. Special highlights of the inaugural day included the release of souvenir titled ‘Pragjyoti’, edited by Hemchandra Doley, and attendees paying floral tributes to Assam’s three cultural icons namely Sudhakantha Dr Hazarika, Pranar Shilpi Zubeen Garg and flute maestro Deepak Sharma.
The unique litfest housed four intriguing sessions on the second day, where the interaction with eminent actor and playwright Prithwiraj Rabha, who spoke about his father Kalaguru Bishnu Prasad Rabha’s colourful life, philosophy and struggles, stole the limelight. During a reflective session, moderated by technocrat writer Nayanjyoti Bhattacharyya, legislator Rabha brought alive the extraordinary cultural journey of his father, honoured as a towering Assamese cultural personality, from a luminous student to a legendary artist to a revolutionary preacher. Kalaguru dedicated his life to three masters namely Sri Krishna, Srimanta Sankardeva and Leonardo da Vinci, stated the illustrious son, while narrating the fascinating stories from Kalaguru’s personal, artistic and revolutionary world.
Earlier, a panel discussion titled ‘Assamese Language, Literature and Journalism: Growth and Expansion’ attracted the attention of novice journalists, where there seasoned scribes namely Dilip Chandan, Bedabrata Dev Mishra and Bidyut Kumar Bhuyan along with this writer tried to highlight the challenges ahead of print journalism. The speakers were unanimous in views that traditional journalism while nurturing the native language can return back to the valued readers as the digital fatigue of electronic and other internet media outlets start exhausting the consumer-audiences.
In another session on ‘Evolution of Assamese Performing Arts: From Ankiya Bhawana to Bhramyman’, four cultural personalities viewed theatre as the mother of all performing arts. National award-winning filmmaker and playwright Kripal Kalita, much-admired performer Pakija Begum, dramatists Pankaj Jyoti Bhuyan and Hillal Kumar Pathak painted a challenging picture of Assamese theatre but with promises to be kept in the coming days. Acknowledging the contribution of Assam’s mobile theatre groups, they lamented that the landscape of Assamese theatre was yet to ascertain a distinct school of tradition.
The festival’s first panel discussion on ‘Transformation and Evolution of Assamese Lyric Literature: From the Nineties to Present Era’ was moderated by lyricist and composer Gautam Sharma, where cultural personalities Tarun Kalita, Diganta Bharati and Ibason Lal Baruah participated and viewed their cautious optimism over the future of Assamese language enriched with a vigorous literature. Two multilingual poetry sessions named Kavya Kaveri were joined by a number of popular poets, where they captivated the audience with self-composed literary recitations in different languages. On behalf of the organizers, PLF general secretary Bikram Kalita along with Kishor Shivam, Hirakjyoti Sarma, Pramod Kalita and Bhaskarjyoti Sarma lauded everyone for the fascinating deliberations in harmonious presence of author-translators, art-connoisseurs, critics, budding writers, performing artistes, translators and literature enthusiasts.
