Emergence of Linguistic and Literary Consciou...

Emergence of Linguistic and Literary Consciousness in Colonial Assam: 1830-1915

Author Name : Krishtina Das

INTRODUCTION

Historical Background

The correspondence of ethnicity, language and literary works of a particular community forms the core of its culture. If language acts as an effective instrument to express cultural dynamism then literary texts serve as another viability of culture.For instance, Jawaharlal Nehru, in his essay “The Question Of Language”, advocated the fact that vitality of a language reflects the nature and originality of its inheritors. According to Nehru, under modern conditions various trends might bring about rapid changes in a language but that would serve as an evidence of several changes experienced by the inheritors of that particular language. Nehru further mentions that it is about the touch of inheritors with a language which brings vitality to the later but he also goes on toquestion the readers that whether an order or a resolution can effectively alter an existing language against the will of its inheritors

Prior to the advent of the British in the province of Assam, in 16th century, many Muslims migrated to the western part of Assam. In 1838, while tracing their originality, Major Jenkins finds out that – those Muslims happened to be the remnants of the people who came along with the Omlahs under the Nawab Mirjumla of Bengal. Eventually, they were employed to decipher and interpret Persian documents. In April 1831, Persian which was the court language of the province, was replaced by the Bengali as the language of court by the colonial government because they found it difficult and costly to employ and replace Persian scribes.3The Bengali language was actually introduced in the year 1837 under the act of XXIX of 1837. Although, the act of XXIX of 1837, allowed the districts to use vernacular in the respective courts, but the colonial government ordered to replace the Assamese by Bengali there too. However, missionaries and local schools continued to teach the students in Assamese language.4Remarkably, such developments were not protested by the natives of Assam Province. This marked the beginning of imposition of Bengali language over the Assamese people for another few decades, until the vigorous demands for restoration of Assamese language which were put forward by the American Baptist Missionaries to the colonial government. Later, influenced by several factors, different sections within the Assamese society attempted to preserve of their heritage.