NTRODUCTION I Assamese Pro The above works are all in poetry. As stated above Assamese prose reached a high degree of development in the sixteenth century. Sri sankar Deva first introduced it in his drama in the late part of the fifteenth century. His followers also imitated him. But Bhattadeva really produced the first pure works of prose. The following old work may be mentioned :- Do, NAME OF Won. NB OF WATER. Katha Gita Bhattadeva. Katha Bhagavata Bhakti Ratnavai Db. katha Ghos Parasuram, Katha Ramayana Raghunath, Katha Sutra Bhagavata Acarya. Stvata Tantra Krsnananda Dja. Svarganarayan Devar | Yuddhar garitra (History) Unknown, Svarga Narayan Maharajar | Akhyan (History) Unknown. Swarga Narayan Dev Maha. rajar Janma Caritra ... ... Unknown. 1 quote from the last-named work : “Purve Vasistha munie Dikhau nadir garit Varanasi tulya pabita ksetrata nirvas kari Puruscarapa karibaka ica karile, nadico Vagistha nam dibalai itsa karile.” The Buranjis of this period, the glory of Assam, are also in prose, (3) The Modern•Period. The third or modern period begins with the Burmese war (1826. The state of the country when the East India Company took possession of Assam is thus described by Col, Jenkins : “After describing the civil wars which the successors to the throne waged, the invasion of the Burmese, and their expulsion by the British troops, and stating that the Burmese in their retreat committed the most atrocious barbariues, and carried off into slavery, according to the nominal returns presented to Mr. Scott, 30.000 Assamese, he adds, When therefore we assumed the charge of the country, nothing could possibly be more unpromising than the state of the country. The small remnant of the people had been so harassed and opressed by the long cil and internal wars that had followed the accession of Raja Gaurinath Singh in 1740 down to 1826. that they had almost aven up cultivation and lived on junge roots and plants, and famine and pestilence carried off thousands that had scaped
