Indira Goswami | |
|---|---|
.JPG) | |
| Born | (1942-11-14)14 November 1942 |
| Died | 29 November 2011(2011-11-29) (aged 69)[1] |
| Pen name | Mamoni Raisom Goswami |
| Occupation | Activist, editor, poet, professor and writer |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Period | 1956–2011 |
| Genre | Assamese literature |
| Subject | Plight of the dispossessed inIndia and abroad |
| Notable works | -The Moth Eaten Howdah of the Tusker -The Man from Chinnamasta -Pages Stained With Blood |
| Notable awards | Prince Claus Fund(2008)Padma Shri(2002)Jnanpith Award(2000) |
| Spouse | Madhaven Raisom Ayengar (died) |
Indira Goswami (14 November 1942 – 29 November 2011), known by her pen nameMamoni Raisom Goswami and popularly asMamoni Baideo, was an Indian writer, poet, professor, scholar and editor.
She was the winner of theSahitya Akademi Award (1983),[3] theJnanpith Award (2000)[4] andPrincipal Prince Claus Laureate (2008).[5][6] A celebrated writer of contemporaryIndian literature, many of her works have been translated into English from her nativeAssamese which includeThe Moth-Eaten Howdah of the Tusker,Pages Stained With Blood andThe Man from Chinnamasta.
She was also well known for her attempts to structuresocial change, both through her writings and through her role as mediator between the armed militant groupUnited Liberation Front of Asom and theGovernment of India. Her involvement led to the formation of thePeople's Consultative Group, a peace committee. She referred to herself as an "observer" of the peace process rather than as a mediator or initiator.
Her work has been performed on stage and in film. The 1996 filmAdajya is based on her novelThe Moth-Eaten Howdah of the Tusker, and won international awards.Words from the Mist is a film made on her life directed byJahnu Barua.
.jpg)
Indira Goswami was born inGuwahati, British India to Umakanta Goswami and Ambika Devi, aVaishnaviteBrahmin family[7] that was deeply associated withSattra life of theEkasarana Dharma. She studied at Latashil Primary School, Guwahati; Pine Mount School, Shillong; andTarini Chaudhury Girls' School, Guwahati and completed Intermediate Arts fromHandique Girls College, Guwahati.[8] She majored inAssamese literature atCotton College inGuwahati and secured a master's degree fromGauhati University in the same field of study. Indira goswami impressed byAkka Mahadevi'sKannada vachanas as she said inBengaluru.
In 1962, she published her first collection of short stories, "Chinaki Morom", when she was a student.[9][10]
Popularly known asMamoni Baideo in Assam,[11] she was encouraged by editor Kirti Nath Hazarika who published her first short stories — when she was still in Class VIII (thirteen years old) — in the literary journal he edited.[12]
Goswami has suffered from depression since her childhood.[13][14][15] In the opening pages of her autobiography,The Unfinished Autobiography,[13] she mentions her inclination to jump into Crinoline Falls located near their house in Shillong.[16] Repeated suicide attempts marred her youth. After the sudden death of her husband,Madhaven Raisom Ayengar ofKarnataka, in a car accident in theKashmir region of India, after only eighteen months of marriage, she became addicted to heavy doses ofsleeping tablets.[17][18] Once brought back to Assam, she joined theSainik School, Goalpara as a teacher.
At this point she went back to writing. She claims that she wrote just to live and that otherwise it would not have been possible for her to go on living. Her experiences in Kashmir andMadhya Pradesh,Indian states where her husband had worked as an engineer, were used in her novelsAhiron andThe Chehnab's Current, respectively.[19]
After working at theSainik School inGoalpara, Assam, she was persuaded by her teacher Upendra Chandra Lekharu to come toVrindavan, Uttar Pradesh, and pursue research for peace of mind.
Her experiences as a widow as well as a researcher finds expression in her novelThe Blue Necked Braja (1976), which is about the plight of theRadhaswamis of Vrindavan who lived in abject poverty and sexual exploitation in everyday life. One of the main issues that the novel touches upon is the plight of young widows for whom companionship beyond the confines of theirashrams and fellow widows become impossible. Their urge to live, as well as the moral dilemma that they facevis-a-vis the order of precepts of religion in this regard, are brought out with astonishing clarity and feeling in the novel. The novel exposed the uglier face of Vrindavan – the city ofKrishna, aHindudeity – inviting criticism of Goswami from conservative sections of the society.[14] It remains a classic in modernIndian literature. It is autobiographical in character as she says the anguish of the main character Saudamini, reflects what she had gone through after her husband had died.[14] It was also the first novel to be written on this subject.[citation needed] The novel was based on Goswami's research on the place as well as real-life experience of living in the place for several years before she joined theUniversity of Delhi as a lecturer.
In Vrindavan she was involved inRamayana studies. A massive volume ofTulsidas'sRamayana purchased during her stay there for just elevenrupees was a great source of inspiration in her research. This finds expression in her bookRamayana from Ganga to Brahmaputra, an unparalleled comparative study of Tulsidas'sRamayana and the fourteenth-centuryAssamese Ramayana[20] written byMadhava Kandali.[21]
Goswami relocated toDelhi, India, to become Professor of Assamese in the Modern Indian Languages & Literary Studies (MIL) Department at the University of Delhi under the guidance of her lifelong mentor Prof.Bhabananda Deka, who was subservient in the introduction of Assamese Language in MIL Department of Delhi University (DU).[22] While at the university, she wrote most of her greatest works. Several short stories, includingHridoy,Nangoth Sohor,Borofor Rani, used Delhi as the background.
During later part of her life, after she became Head of the MIL Department in Delhi University, she, in collaboration with award-winning Assamese popular short-story writer and novelist Arnab Jan Deka made efforts and persuaded Delhi University to set up a Chair in the name of Middle Age Assamese saint-philosopher-littérateur-artist Srimanta Sankardev. They also convinced the Chief Minister of Assam to make a contribution of Rupees One Million to Delhi University to create the corpus for the proposed Chair. However, Dr Goswami could not see the fruits of her effort during her lifetime.[23]
Her two classics –Pages Stained With Blood andThe Moth Eaten Howdah of a Tusker— were also written during this period. The other books completed while she lived in Delhi wereAhiron,The Rusted Sword,Uday Bhanu,Dasharathi's Steps andThe Man from Chinnamasta.
InPages Stained With Blood she writes about the plight ofSikhs in the1984 anti-Sikh riots following theassassination of Indira Gandhi, thePrime Minister of India. Goswami had witnessed the riots while staying in theShakti Nagar area of Delhi. She visited many of the other sites to complete this novel. She even went toG. B. Road, Delihi'sred-light district, to depict the lives of the prostitutes who lived there which forms a part of her novel.
InThe Moth Eaten Howdah of a Tusker she writes about the plight of Assamese Brahmin widows inSatra, religious institutions of Assam. This novel wasanthologised inThe Masterpieces of Indian Literature and was made into a film,Adajya, which won several national and internationalfilm-festival awards. The novel was also made into two televisionmini-series;Nandita Das played the role of Giribala in one of the mini-series.
At the peak of her literary career she wrote the controversial novelThe Man from Chinnamasta, a critique of the thousand-years-old tradition ofanimal sacrifice in the famous HinduShakti temple toKamakhya, amother goddess, in Assam.[24] Goswami reported that there was even threat to her life[citation needed] after writing the novel. In this novel she quotesscriptures to authenticate the argument she puts forward in the novel – to worship the Mother Goddess with flowers rather than blood. She said in an interview, "When the novel was serialized in a popular magazine, I was threatened with dire consequences. Shortly after this, a local newspaper,Sadin, carried an appeal about animal sacrifice, which resulted in quite an uproar—the editor wasgheraoed and atantrik warned me. But when the appeal was published, the response was overwhelmingly in favour of banning animal sacrifice. I also had to contend with rejection from a publisher who was initially keen and had promised me a hugeadvance, but who later backtracked, offering instead to publish any other book of mine. But the rest, as they say, is history andChinnamastar Manuhto went on to become a runaway bestseller!"[25][26]
Another major piece of her fiction during the period wasJatra (The Journey), based on the problem ofmilitancy/secessionism that has affected almost the entireNorth-East Indiafrontier ever since Indian independence.
Mamoni Raisom Goswami died at the Gauhati Medical College Hospital on 29 November 2011.[27]
|
|
|
|
|
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
