Colossal litterateur Dr Lakshmi Nanda Bora no more

Guwahati, June 3: Assam lost an illustrious son as Padma Shri awardee and a doyen of Assamese literature, Dr Lakshmi Nandan Bora passed away this morning.

The colossal litterateur who was the Editor of the revered Assamese literary magazine ‘Goriyasi’ till his death, breathed his last at Excelcare Hospital here. He was 89. He is survived by his wife, one daughter, two sons, six grandchildren and a host of relatives. 

Bora, former president (1996-97) of Asom Sahitya Sabha penned many award winning novels including Patal Bhairavi, Ganga Chilonir Pakhi and Kayakalpa.  He was recipient of Sahitya Akademy Award and Saraswati Samman while  Government of India  honoured him  with the coveted Padma Shri in  2015. 

Two  of his novels, 'Jakeri Nahike Upam' and 'Sehi Gunanidhi', based on the lives of the two great neo-vaishnavite preachers of Assam, Sri Sri Sankardev and Sri Sri Madhabdev are timeless creations depicting cultural and religious life of Assamese people. He was one of the most prolific and dynamic commentator on various dimensions of Assam's rural life.

The celebrated novelist and short-story writer was born on June 15, 1932. He did his schooling at Nagaon High School and graduated in physics from erstwhile Cotton College (Now Cotton University). He was a post-graduate in physics from Presidency College, Kolkata. He pursued doctoral studies in meteorology at Andhra University. Dr Lakshmi Nandan Bora was the first person to be awarded a doctoral degree in meteorology by the university.

Her served  Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat as a faculty member till his retirement from the service life and later settled down at Ganeshguri in Guwahati. He also served as a visiting professor at the Johannes Gutenberg University for two terms.

 The former President of Assam Sahitya Sabha strongly advocated for younger generation in the state to learn and practise the mother tongue, Assamese language for its further promotion and development.

Once in an interview, Dr Bora had said Assamese parents who take pride in announcing that their children cannot read or write in their mother tongue, should be told that a strong base in one’s mother tongue helps the student to learn English better because the student develops his conception about words much better. “English-savvy parents should be reminded that to show disrespect to one’s mother tongue is equivalent to insulting one’s own mother,” he said.