Kolkata: A branch of the century-old Asam Sahitya Sabha was inaugurated in Kolkata on Monday in the presence of its president Dr Surya Kanta Hazarika at the Assam Bhavan.

He described it as a historic occasion because the age of romanticism and development of  modern Assamese literature is closely associated with the city.

“We have branches in Delhi, Mumbai, soon to be opened in Ahmedabad, and even in North America but not in next-door Kolkata so far though we have had cultural and literary bonding for ages between Assam and Bengal,” he said.

Journalist Ranjita Biswas has been elected vice-president of the newly formed Asam Sahitya Sabha, Kolkata.

In the 19th century, at the height of Bengal renaissance, bright young students from Assam travelled to Kolkata (then Calcutta) for higher studies as there was no such institution in Assam till then. Stalwarts like Chandraprasad Agarwala, Lakshminath Bezborua, Padmanath Gohain Baruah while coming  in touch with the litterateurs started a magazine called Jonaki in 1889 which  set forth the ‘Jonaki Yug’ initiating the romantic age in  modern Assamese literature.

The roots of Asam Sahitya Sabha, a non-governmental and non- profit organisation, established in 1917 lies in that movement. It encouraged a sense of pride and nationalism during colonial times and since then has been playing a crucial role in nurturing Assamese literature and socio-cultural life in the north east.

Today it has more than a thousand branches at home and abroad.

The evolution of the organisation can be traced back to two earlier Kolkata-based bodies - ‘Asamiya Bhasa Unnati Sadhini Sabha’ and ‘Assamese Literary Society’ which had been established by a few Assamese students.

“Today we are looking at re-establishing those bonds of literary traditions between Bengal and Assam through a free exchange of ideas, translations of books from Assamese to Bengali and vice versa. There is scope for exploring many such programmes related to the socio-cultural arena in both the states. We look forward to collaborating with the Kolkata branch in such efforts in the future,” Hazarika said.

An eleven member executive committee has been formed to implement future programmes.

On the occasion was also launched Amar Lakshminath, (and also its Bengali translation) written by  Prafulla Barman, president Asam Sahitya Sabha, Guwahati.