Pragjyotishpur Literary Award’ 2023 presented to Dr Nahendra Padun and Nayanjyoti Sarma

Eminent litterateur Dr Nahendra Padun and young litterateur Nayanjyoti Sarma were conferred with the “Pragjyotishpur Sahitya Puraskar” at the closing ceremony by the president of the organising committee of Pragjyotishpur Literary Festival, well-known litterateur Phanindra Kumar Deb Choudhury and by Soumyadeep Dutta, Executive President of Pragjyotishpur Literary Festival Organizing Committee respectively under the presence of Dr Samudra Gupta Kashyap, Chancellor, University of Nagaland and Prominent author and translator, Sri Diganta Biswa Sarma.

Receiving the award, noted litterateur Dr Nahendra Padun recalled his literary career and said, “Missing is my mother tongue, and Assamese is my midwife language”. Sukbi Padung, who refused to be known as a Missing poet in society despite writing poetry in Assamese, clarified that he is an Assamese poet who writes in the Assamese language. He, however, lamented that even though the tribal writers of the state have written literature in Assamese language, no Assamese-speaking writer has so far written literature in any tribal language.  Nayanjyoti Sarma, a young litterateur, received the award and said, “This award inspired him to take care of literary with an absolute mind.

Speaking at the closing ceremony, Prominent author and translator Diganta Biswa Sarma discussed the eras of literature created in the West and criticized the concept of the post-modern era in the strongest terms. Sri Sarma, a well-known author who has been honoured with Sahitya Akademi Award for Translation Literature, laments that this kind of western thinking has taken Away Indian culture from Sanatani values. He reiterated that the Pragjyotishpur Literary Festival, which started with the motto “Xhipar Xhondhanot” (in search of roots) is very important.

Dr Samudra Gupta Kashyap, Chancellor, University of Nagaland, in his speech, noted that literature was created in the holy land of India at a time when the language of human mouth was not created in the western civilization countries. in the last 700-800, Assam has seen and experiences, the invasion of Bakhtiar Khilji, the arrival of The Ahoms, natural disasters, rebellions, wars, et.. Acharya Dr Samudra Gupta Kashyap’s call to the new generation to study the text based on these kind of experiences.

Meanwhile, on the last day of the literary festival, there is also a grand event. In the morning a workshop on creative writing was held under the direction of noted storyteller Atanu Bhattacharyya. A large number of new generation of writers interested in literature and creative writing participated in this workshop. Sri Sri Pitambar Dev Goswami, Satradhikar of Auniati Satra, participated in the Satra discussion on “Neo-Vaishnavism of India and Sankaradeva” under the auspices of Purandar Barua and greatly enhanced the grandeur of Pragjyotishpur Literary Festival. One of the content persons participating in the discussion was Dr. Amalendu Chakrabarty, Vice Chancellor of Rabindranath Tagore University, Hojai.

Several popular poets from different languages of the state participated in the Multilingual Poetry conference held in the afternoon. Poets Saurav Saikia, Hanmiji Hanse, Dr. Induprabha Devi, Madar Jyoti, Dhiman Barman and Dr Sanjay Das participated in this conference organized by poet-film critic Aparajita Poojary. The Multilingual Poetry conference was followed by an intimate talk session with renowned writer Anuradha Sharma Pujary which was presented by Dr Nizara Hazarika, Assistant Professor, Sonapur College.

The success of Pragjyotishpur Literary Festival 2023, which concluded through various cultural programmes, has given a lot of hope among literary lovers. Contrary to the prevailing belief that the presence of audiences at literary events is damp, especially in Assam, but the presence of literary fans in the program on all three days of Pragjyotishpur Literary Festival was noteworthy.