Warp and Weft: Makers of Modern Assam

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This collection of critical biographical essays focuses on the significant socio-literary developments in Assam from the fourteenth century to the present time. The two dozen essays in this collection illustrate how some gifted sons and daughters of Assam generated new, vibrant, and forward looking ideas that had a deep impact on the world around them. There were, of course, differences in their visions. The first three persons included in this collection are religious poets of the medieval period. Their aim was moral and spiritual uplift of the Assamese people through liberal religious faith. The modern worldview upholding a genuinely secular outlook to life eventually emerged with Western ideals entering Assam during British rule. This is significant since it was during the colonial period that all the other writers included in this collection emerged. They attempted to find a judicious balance between Indian and foreign thoughts. Some of them had social reform as their mission, while some others mainly pursued literature and literary scholarship. But the common bond that united them was their love for Assam and concern for her progress on all fronts.

Warp and Weft: Makers of Modern a collection of biographical essays offering a window into the lives and literary works of some the stalwarts of Assamese literature. The literary contributions these individuals have not only laid the basis but contributed towards the development of Assamese literature between the fourteenth and twentieth centuries. In the process, their works have contributed towards the formation distinctive Assamese (linguistic and cultural) identity. Assamese literature despite its rich repertoire and vibrant history is a relatively unfamiliar area, today, for much of India and beyond. One reason could be that not much literature is available pertaining to the literature and literary history of this region. In its own way, Warp and Weft seeks to fill this vacuum.

**Contents and Sample Pages**