পৃষ্ঠা:অসমীয়া সাহিত্যৰ চানেকি v1.pdf/৩৩

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of those days. when Hemchandra was only thirteen his mother contrived to have him sent to Nowgong to live with relative of the family for purpose of education.

 Nowgong was then the centre of the literary revival which followed the due recognition of Assamese as the language of the schools and courts, the leading figure was Rai Bahadur Ganabhiram Barua, the virtual dictator of the Assa- mese literature of the nineteenth century. Among the mem bes of the circle were persons whose contributions have nmainly formed the nucleus of modern Assamese literature. They were Bholanath Das the poet, Ratneswar Mahanta the antiquarian, Padmahas Goswami the free-thinker, Rudram Bardaloi, Dharmeswar Goswami, Baladeva Mahanta, Bali- narayan Bara, Naranath Mahanta, Ratnadhar Barua, Chandra- has Bhuyan, Mahadananda Bhattacharya, Mrs. Padmavati Devi Phukanani and Mrs. Bishnupriya Devi. Being thrown into the atmosphere of Nowgong an impressionable youth like Hemchandra Goswami, whose literary instincts had already been roused to some extent, could not long remain outside its domination and away. Rai Bahadur Gunabhiram Barua was not slow in detecting the potentiality of the youth, and welcomed the latter's articles in the pages of the Assam Banddu of which he was the founder and the editor. Mr. Goswami wrote a number of poems in the pages of the same journal which were marked by simplicity of diction and ideas, as a reaction against the prevailing school of Assamese poetry with its outlandish half-Bengali jargon and structure, mainly popularised by the contributions of Bholanath Das.

 Having passed the Entrance Examination from the Now- gong High School in 1988, Mr. Goswami joined the Presidency college at Calcutta. He read there for four years but failed to. get the A. Degree, which was due to his engrossment in the work of the Assamese language Improvement Society. It was a very critical juncture in the history of Assamese language and literature. Systematic attempts were made