Rupkonwar Jyoti Prasad Agarwalla is revered as the cultural guru of Assam. So great has been the impact of his works on the people, that public opinion holds him next only to Sankardeva in the hierarchy of individuals who have influenced and contributed significantly to the State’s heritage. More importantly in the context of today’s divisive and chaotic political and social order his legacy of patriotism, social upliftment and universal brotherhood have become even more relevant. To uphold this legacy and understand his multifaceted genius it may be pertinent to know something about his family and background which shaped his thinking and personality.
It is relevant that Rupkonwar’s forefathers came to Assam from Rajasthan at a time when India was politically fragmented, British imperialism was on the ascendance and society was guided strictly by time tested customs and traditions. Assam was also then divided with lower Assam under the British and Upper Assam under Ahom rule with the strong hegemony of various tribes prevailing. Bengali script was in use for writing Assamese, Assamese culture existed mainly in the Satras and Assamese literature was yet to develop.
At that time many people came to Assam from other parts of the country for business and work. It was quite common for those who wanted to settle here permanently to marry local girls, start a family and become a part of the local community. There are numerous such instances. While most of these people changed their surnames to adopt local titles, Rupkonwar’s forefathers retained their title of origin and integrated into the Assamese community. Thus it is rather paradoxical that a person who in the eyes of the people of Assam enjoys pride of place next only to Sankardeva bears a title which is non-Assamese. Perhaps this is the true meaning of national integration and universal brotherhood which Rupkonwar’s forefather’s have bequeathed.
Rupkonwar’s great grandfather Navarangram Agarwalla was born in 1811 and hailed from a wealthy family of Tai village in the Jaipur State of Rajputana. But his father was persecuted by the local zamindars and had to flee leaving everything and came to Churu in the State of Bikaner in destitution. There they started life anew but failed to do well. By the time he was 16 years Navarangram had lost both his parents and with the aim of turning the wheel of fortune ventured eastwards and came to Assam in 1827. He initially worked in the firm of Ramlal Poddar at Goalpara but left around 1830 to start his own business in Gomiri near Biswanath Chariali. His business acumen, firm resolve and enterprise soon gave him unprecedented success. With the desire to make his Karma-Bhumi his Matri-Bhumi he married first Sadori of the famous Rajkhowa family of Gomiri and later Sonpahi of the equally renowned Saikia family of Brahmajan. That he was a multi-dimensional personality is evident from his involvement in activities other than business. He was instrumental in bringing about a truce between the British government and the Aka and Duffla tribes. In 1849 he was responsible for building the stretch of the North Trunk road (now NH-52) from Gohpur onwards. He was also associated with Maniram Dewan on whose advice he established Tamulbari Tea Estate in Dibrugarh. He was well known for his philanthropy and a disciple of the Auniati Satra of Majuli as he had embraced Vaishnavism which he actively practised and propagated. He thus became a pillar of the Assamese society of that time which accepted him as one of its leading members not only because of his marriage and success in business but also because of his statesmanship and qualities of head and heart. He died in 1865 having started a lineage which in the following century would prominently figure in the annals of Assamese culture.
Haribilash Agarwala (1842-1916) was the eldest son of Navarangram and Sadori. He had a brother Thanuram and half brother Kashiram whose mother was Sonpahi. Kashiram’s eldest son was Ananda Chandra Agarwala. Haribilash not only inherited his father’s acumen and enterprise but was also erudite and cultured. He took the family fortunes to new heights and expanded the business from Assam to Bengal, Orissa and the South. In Calcutta where his business was substantial he bought the premises on No. 10, Armenian Street, in Barrabazar, where he had his establishment. His youngest son Gopal Chandra was born here in 1880. Also significantly, Chandra Kumar, his second son, stayed here while studying in Presidency College. It was here that the three luminaries of Assamese literature Lakshminath Bezbaruah, Hem Goswami and Chandra Kumar often met and initiated the process to strengthen and develop Assamese literature as a basic necessity to revive and make the Assamese language more powerful. Haribilash was the first Assamese to go South to Ceylon to start trading in rubber. He travelled extensively throughout India and Burma. Like his father he was actively involved in the events of the time. And a personal diary that he maintained regularly is a descriptive account of the politics and economics of Assam at that time. But alongwith developing business and industry he took great interest in enlightening his children and the public about the art and culture of Assam, more specifically about the invaluable literature that existed in the old manuscripts of the Satras. As a result he was the first person who had the age old hand written manuscripts of Sankardeva and Madhavdev like the Kirtan, Naam-Ghosa, Srimad Bhagvat Geeta, Borgeet etc. printed and published so that the new generation of Assamese scholars and the public would become aware about their rich heritage. It was this interest in literature and culture and the ability to become actively involved in propagating it that was inherited by his sons and later generations.
Chandra Kumar Agarwala was one of the luminaries of the Jonaki era. His contributions to Assamese literature and efforts to strengthen the Assamese language by developing its literature are well known. In 1889 with this purpose he started the publication of the Assamese monthly Jonaki. Jonaki in time proved that good literature especially poetry could be written in the Assamese language. It brought new hope and encouragement to the then literary circles of Assam. In 1918 he started the publication of the first Assamese weekly newspaper Asomiya from Dibrugarh. These were the first pioneering steps in the sphere of printing and publishing in the vernacular language in Assam. Even though commercially he had to face a lot of hardship he continued the struggle with the hope that this would inspire others and in time Assam would have its own daily newspaper.
Ananda Chandra Agarwala has also carved a niche for himself in the field of Assamese literature. He was the nephew of Haribilash Agarwala and a Superintendent of Police in the British administration at that time. Besides Chandra Kumar and Ananda Chandra few people know that Haribilash’s other sons Bishnuprasad and Krishnaprasad and only daughter Jyogeswari were also accomplished writers. Bishnuprasad wrote a regular feature for Jonaki and was the first writer to serialise an analysis on the works of Sankardeva.
Rupkonwar’s father Paramananda who was the third son of Haribilash and uncle Gopal Chandra were known for their interest in music. In particular Paramananda Agarwala was a proficient musician who could play the violin and the organ. He formed the first full orchestra of Assam in Tezpur. He was adept at reciting verses from the Kirtan alongwith music on the organ. These renditions had an ethereal quality being a unique blend of the spiritual and musical which later may have manifested itself in some of his son’s compositions.
Bholaguri Tea Estate where Jyoti Prasad made the Chitrabon Studio and shot the first Assamese film Joymoti has become an intrinsic part of Assam’s cultural heritage. Bholaguri Tea Estate was established by Gopal Chandra Agarwala. It was the first non-European tea garden on the north bank and faced stiff opposition from the European planters who saw it as an attempt to break their monopoly over the tea industry of the area.
It is quite evident that Jyoti Prasad Agarwala’s family and background also significantly influenced his outlook and contributed in shaping his personality. This confluence of North-Western enterprise and Eastern culture is the essence of the multifaceted and creative genius of Rupkonwar which gave a new dimension to Assam’s literature and culture.
