Lakshminath Bezbarua Birth Year Confusion To Be Rectified
Assam Sahitya Sabha to correct Lakshminath Bezbarua ’s birth year from 1868 to 1864, finally settling a long-standing literary mix-up with historical evidence.
In a move that’s been brewing longer than a pot of strong Assam tea left to steep in the noonday sun, the Assam Sahitya Sabha has finally decided to put the record straight about the birth year of Lakshminath Bezbarua — the literary lion of Assam, fondly revered as Rasaraj (King of Humour) and Sahityarathi (Charioteer of Literature).
For donkey’s years, the plaque beneath his statue at the Sabha’s Guwahati office has confidently (if incorrectly) proclaimed 1868 as the year of his arrival into the world. But now, armed with scholarly sleuthing and a touch of literary detective work, the Sabha has announced it will correct the date to 1864 — four years earlier and, quite frankly, high time too.
One might say the old date was hanging about like a bad smell at a literary tea party — nobody wanted to mention it outright, but everyone knew something was off.
Dr Basanta Kumar Goswami, the current president of the Assam Sahitya Sabha, confirmed the long-overdue correction. “Since the statue is made of marble, we’ll be enlisting a skilled architect to re-engrave the date with due care,” he told. One imagines said architect will be armed with steady hands, a magnifying glass, and perhaps a flask of very strong coffee.
The mix-up, it turns out, harks back to 1968 — a centenary celebration held with much pomp and postage stamps, based on the belief that 1868 was Lakshminath Bezbarua ’s birth year. The Government of India even issued a commemorative stamp, clearly unaware that the poor man had by then already turned 104 (if you go by the now-verified 1864 date). One can only imagine Bezbarua, had he been watching from the great library in the sky, raising an eyebrow and muttering, “I say, do get a move on.”
The real breakthrough came when literary scholar Jatindra Nath Goswami unearthed a memoir gathering dust in Bezbarua’s ancestral home in Ahotguri, Nagaon — the sort of ‘Eureka!’ moment any historian dreams of, only with fewer bathtubs and more cobwebs. The document clearly stated the birth date as October 14, 1864, thus putting the whole matter to rest — or it would have, had the plaque not remained stubbornly stuck in the wrong decade like a malfunctioning time machine.
Bezbarua, of course, needs no introduction in Assam, having penned the state anthem O Mur Apunar Dekh, and led the Assam Sahitya Sabha as its president in 1924.
Events continue to be held in Ahotguri to celebrate his legacy, and now — with the plaque soon to reflect historical reality — visitors can finally pay homage without mentally correcting the inscription. It’s a small chisel for the architect, but a giant leap for Assamese literary accuracy.
And so, with marble dust in the air and scholarly pride restored, Assam can tip its hat to Rasaraj Bezbarua, born in 1864 — no ifs, no buts, and certainly no more confused commemorations.
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