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Early Women Writers in Assamese Literature have made considerable and consistent contributions to
literature down the ages. From the early days Assamese literature has shown it to be a literature of men and
it is true that male domination of education and letters was present here as it was in literature the world
over. However, despite adverse circumstances, lack of opportunity, and even lack of proper education,
Assamese women were able to make their presence felt in the field of literature. Most of the earliest women
writers were able to embark on their literary pursuits because they were born into the families that were
progressive and allowed for the higher education of women which was not encouraged at the time.
Among the earliest women who have contributed in the field of Assamese literature were those who have
had the advantage of being born into literary, progressive families that allowed them to receive educations
superior to those of other women. One member of Anandaram Dhekiyal Phookan's family who made a mark
on her own was his daughter Padmavati Devi Phookanani (1853-1927). Her Sudharmar Upakhyan
(Sudharma's Tale, 1884) can be considered to be the second novel by an Assamese writer, male or female.
The novel relates the travels and trials of Sudharma, her husband, and their friends amidst settings which are
reminiscent of early classical tales. She was a poet and critic and even wrote a children's book, Hitosadhika.
She wrote a number of articles that display her feminism in journals of her time, such as Baheen and Baheen.
Most notable were her ideas on the conditions of women. She was widowed at 32, and her article in Baheen,
"Bidhoba," speaks of the harsh life of the widow in Indian society. She comments on the general condition of
women in an article she sent to the Sahitya Sabha (the Assamese Literary Association) called "Samajot Tirutar
Sthan" (Women's Place in Society). Gunabhiram Baruah's daughter Swarnalata Baruah (1871-1932), too,
contributed articles to Assam Bandhu Bijuli, and she wrote Aahi Tiruta while quite young. Unfortunately, her
family life proved too difficult and tragic for her to be able to continue writing.
In the early twentieth century, three women who became known on their own strength were Dharmeswari
Devi Baruani, Jamuneswari Khatoniyar, and Nalinibala Devi. Kabya Bharati.
Dharmeswari Devi Baruani has two published collections of poems - Phular Sarai (The Basket of Flowers) and
Pranar Paras (The Soul's Touch). Both are expressions of a profound pantheism and the desire of the
individual soul to' get merged in the universal soul. The poetess does not believe that God resides in heaven,
which to her is a figment of man's imagination. He is present in all things, both great and small.
The divine spirit and motion she finds everywhere and in all the objects of the world, and it is these which
endow everything with peerless beauty and inexhaustible meaning. Though an invalid, and widowed early in
life, Dharmeswari has none of the melancholy of Nalinibala Devi. With robust optimism she awaits the day of
supreme union. Hence her poetry, issuing from a heart truly deep and passionate, is the sweet reflection of
silent womanly self-surrender, love-lorn tenderness and sincere devotion, undimmed by the clouds of
adulation or controversy. Although her subjects are limited in range to the most common themes like God,
nature and the human heart, she possesses the sensitiveness and insight to endow them with fresh beauty
and lovely diction. There is in her poems a deep sympathy and reverence for life and worldly things.
Thus, the contribution of women in the field of Assamese literature has been rather immense. It was the
early women writers in Assamese literature which paved the way for future generations of women writers in
Assamese literature and enabled their work to be included in the realm of mainstream literature.