The Valley of Brahmaputra- Assamese Selfhood

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The book journeys into the marvels of the mighty Brahmaputra behind the shaping of Assamese self. That the fertile bank of the river has been inviting numerous groups of people from various parts of the world is recorded in history along with fiction as well as non-fiction writing. The Assamese mind constructed with the natural set up and the socio- cultural background and tradition is particularly assimilative and patient. This particular nature seems to be a direct corollary of the alluvial atmosphere created by the River Brahmaputra. Studies on the influence of non-human. surroundings on humanity open up newer and newer vistas into the human cultural life. Identification of people with the natural environment they live in is an ancient tendency. Every natural element imposes impression on people when they come into terms with them. The history unfurls the contribution of the Brahmaputra over the people on its bank. From literary and cultural standpoint people in Assam identify themselves with the popular name of the river 'Luit'. The sense of self is the sense of being located at a point in space, of having a perspective in time and of having a variety of position in a local moral order. The study aims to find out materials connected with the river Brahmaputra to intimate how the river provides time and space to search for identification for the inhabitants on its bank.

The book is based on the doctoral thesis of the author.

Mridusmita Mahanta (b. 1973), Associate Professor, Dept. of English, Sonapur College, has been in the teaching profession since 1995. Her area of interest is English Linguistics and Folk Theory as well as Folk Narratives. She has published a number of articles in books and research articles in ISSN indexed journals and research articles in seminar and conference proceedings particularly on folk narratives. She was conferred doctoral degree by Gauhati University under the guide ship of Dr. Kishore Bhattacharjee, the then HOD of the Dept. of Folklore Research, GU.

The idea of self is very flexible. Nationalism views self as a collectivity constituted by a nation. On the other hand, Benedict Anderson talks of imagined communities. The question of individual self was raised by the existentialists. Erving Goffman also discussed about self who attempts to fulfill his interest.

Mridusmita's work is by and large touches first two views. The book journeys into the marvels of the mighty Brahmaputra behind the shaping of Assamese self. She says that the fertile bank of the river has been inviting numerous groups of people. The Assamese mind was constructed with the natural set up and the socio-cultural premises. She says the background and tradition is particularly assimilative and patient.

Identification of people with the natural environment they live is deep rooted. Nowadays cultural landscape studies have come into prominence also.

She says that every natural element imposes impression on people when they come into terms with them on its bank. From literary and cultural standpoint people in Assam identify themselves with The Brhamaputra.

She argues that the popular name of the river Luit which is very familiarly related to people.

The sense of self is the sense of being located at a point it has many emotional attachments with man, nature and culture. She says people identify themselves with Brahmaputra. Thus selfhood has many dimensions.

My doctoral thesis entitled "Expression of Assamese Selfhood and the Brahmaputra" has been decided to get Bublished by differing the title a little bit. The book is entitled "The Valley of Brahmaputra: Assamese Selfhood". The book journeys into the marvels of the mighty Brahmaputra behind the shaping of Assamese self. That the fertile bank of the river has been inviting numerous groups of people from various parts of the world is recorded in history along with fiction as well as non-fiction writing. The Assamese mind constructed with the natural set up and the socio-cultural background and tradition is particularly assimilative and patient. The study aims to find out materials connected with the river Brahmaputra to intimate how the river provides time and space to search for identification for the inhabitants on its bank.

At the outset I pray God for providing me the strength to wrap up my work for the book form.

It has seen its present form for a group of people without whose support and encouragement I would not have motivated myself to proceed for the publication.

I offer my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Dr Kishore Kumar Bhattacharjee Sir, Associate Professor, Department of Folklore Research, Gauhati University for his guidance and support throughout the course of my endevour and for kindly writing the forewords for the book. He introduced me to the technicalities of the world of research.

I take this opportunity to offer my special thanks to Sir Ülo Volk from the Department of Folklore, University of Tartu, Estonia for kindly familiarising me with the rich elements of Folklore and its relationship with the other genres.

**Contents and Sample Pages**