Anthology of Padmanath Bhattacharjee’s work released in Book Fair today

November 16: There are certain moments, the impact of which can be realised gradually. Friday evening was one such historic moment, which witnessed the creative genius of a scholar of our region, who was born more than a century ago. But death could hardly wipe away the vast corpus of creativity which he left behind.

The scattered works of Mahamohopadhyay Padmanath Bhattacharjee Vidyabinode were finally compiled in a book form, which was released by eminent surgeon Dr. Kumar Kanti (Lakshman) Das in the Barak Book Fair premises, Silchar on Friday evening amidst a galaxy of eminent personalities.

The book release ceremony began with Taimur Raja Choudhury, President of Cachar chapter of Barak Upottoka Banga Sahitya O Sanskritik Sammelan on the Chair. The inaugural address was delivered by Dr. Amalendu Bhattacharjee. He mentioned that people like Padmanath Bhattacharjee are our legacy.

This day will definitely go down the annals of history to be a significant one, especially for academicians and researchers who have special interest into the history, culture and society of North East India in general.

Among others, Prashun Barman, Assistant Professor of Bengali in Cotton University was also present during the occasion. The book released by Dr. Das was edited by Prashun Barman. Dr. Devasree Dutta and Dr. Moynul Haque, members of the editorial board of the anthology were also present in the dias during the book release.

In his speech Prashun Barman, the editor of this anthology said that in this hour of crisis, there is a dire necessity of re-reading works of literary genius like Padmanath Bhattacharjee. He said that Padmanath Bhattacharjee wrote not only in Bengali but also in Hindi, English, Sanskrit and Assamese.

Many eminent personalities like footballer Chuni Goswami, former Vice Chancellor of Assam University Prof. Jayanta Bhattacharjee, Prof. Bani Prasanna Mishra, Prof. Usha Ranjan Bhattacharjee and others expressed their best wishes to Banga Sahitya for this noble endeavour of bringing out the anthology.

In his speech Dr. Kumar Kanti Das said that in this critical hour when the existence of the people of this region is in stake, the publication of this book will definitely go a long way in giving shape to our identity.

Dr. Sourindra Kumar Bhattacharjee, President of the Central Committee of Banga Sahitya thanked the Cachar District Committee of his organisation for taking up and successfully completing this herculean task of publishing this book on Padmanath Bhattacharjee.

In his speech, Taimur Raja Choudhury, President of the Cachar Chapter of Banga Sahitya in his Presidential address thanked Dr. Amalendu Bhattacharjee for his wholehearted role in bringing out this anthology. He thanked the editorial board comprising of Prof. Sudeshna Purkayastha, Dr. Devasree Dutta and Dr. Moynul Haque.

The vote of thanks was delivered by Jayanta Deb Roy. The programme was compered by Amit Sikidar.

It needs mention here that 150 years of  birth anniversary of Padmanath Bhattacharjee was celebrated this year. It is to commemorate this event, that the said book was released. In this book, a total of 18 articles written by Padmanath Bhattacharjee has been included in 4 parts. Apart from this, a few articles written on him have also found their place in this book.