In a glittering choi - studded bullock cart
whose marriage procession is proceeding…
**
Kajal - hued cloud…
**
No longings for golden loangles for my marriage…
**
Slipperyroad ahead, O friend, step steadily…
**
Does the day break
Because of the sound of guns?
No!
It breaks
Because of the cry of the bird…
Yes, these are some of the expressions and images born
of the imagination of the poetess Nirmal Prabha Bordoloi, which have such lasting impression on the
minds of appreciative lovers of her poetry that they feel imbibed by a divine elation quoting from her popular verses,
be it song or otherwise. I remember, one eminent novelist from Bengal, Nabanita Dev Sen, started her address
in a writers’ meet in Guwahati quoting from her poem "Does the day break …"
Nirmal Prabha started writing poetry even when she was a child, from the age of nine. The world around her,
vibrant with cultural atmosphere marked by Vaishnavite serenity, provided necessary inspiration for her.
Moreover, she has greatest regard for her parents. In a poem entitled Shreemayee Ayee she writes,
To make your existence
more meaningful
I must plant
Masculinity
in the land.
I once asked the poetess, "why should she write poetry?" She said, she does not write poetry just for the
sake of writing. She is a committed poetess. She writes in order to improve her mental health and to add to her
awareness, with a firm belief in the eternal values of life. According to her, these values will break all barriers
of time and space and rouse confidence in the innate strength of the soul. She thinks the greatest obligation of a
poet under the present diseased social circumstances is to make humanity live for ever.
One of the eminent critics of Assam, Shri Bhaben Barua, describes Nirmal Prabha as the greatest poet of this
age. Authoress of 85 books including nine collections of poems, her fifth collection named Sudirgha Din Aaru
Ritu fetched her the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award in 1983. According to the estimation of the Akademi,
"it is an outstanding contribution to Assamese literature for its rich variety of moods, evocative imagery,
its robust optimism and affirmation of human values." Apart from poetry Nirmal Prabha wrote thought
provoking essays, plays, juvenile literature and radio skits. One of the significant aspects of Bordoloi’s
recent emergence is as a researcher. She has made an in-depth and elaborate study of the original source-materials
connected with Tantrik Saddhana of Assam, like Yogni Tantra, Kalika Purana, coupled with field studies
of the Thans
and temples connected with
Shakti-worship
of Assam. The result is her monumental work Devi. The book has received wide acclaim.
Asom Sahitya Sabha
recognised the book as an outstanding contribution in the field of original research and presented her an award.
The Sanskirit Samaj of Assam conferred the title Saraswati on the writer for this work.
Another highly researched work of hers is
Shiva,
dealing in the evolution of the cult of Shiva in Assam against an all-India perspective.
The central theme of most of the poems of
Nirmal Prabha is the emotional crises which the poetess underwent at the different stages of her life. Her poetry is
often marked by her stringent protest against social ills and the establishment. But the dominant note of her
poetry is a sad note woven around the main texture of her poetry. We cannot say Nirmal Prabha is always groping
in the darkness glorifying the sad notes of humanity. Often she betrays her hope and optimism.
My name is Aniruddha
A beautiful dream
Has enchanted me.
Nobody can stop my
Onward march –
That is why I am Aniruddha.
Nirmal Prabha was emotionally involved in Assam’s agitation for identity, the Assamese identity
threatened by perilous inroads of migrants from neighbouring erstwhile East Bengal, now Bangladesh.
She wrote :
O my beloved land
I promise
I will inflame this night of terror
With the flame of your courage.
In another poem she writes :
My mother says
‘Don’t play with fire’.
If fire starts
Playing with me
What should I do,
O my mother?
Nirmal Prabha in also known as a poet of love. But her love is more physical than spiritual or platonic.
In some of her love poems she expresses her unique experience of transgressing the body, and thus has left
aside the beaten track in Assamese love poetry. To her "Autumn is more love-lorn, more so than the spring."
Winner of the President’s Award for Children’s Literature for her book Chil Chil Chila,
the former president of the Asom Sahitya Sabha, Nirmal Prabha as a cultural ambassador represented India in
many international poetry conferences. In the International Literary Conference held in Tokyo, Japan,
in the year 1983 she was honoured as the president of the poetry section. She was selected by I.C.C.R to represent
India as the only representative in the World Poetry Conference held at Kualalumpur. In 1986 in the seminar
held in Hamburg of South Germany, she received the award of the best scholar. In 1990 she visited China
and participated in a seminar held in Kunamang. Let me conclude my humble attempt at assessment of this
poetess, one of the greatest among the living Assamese poets by quoting from her own words about
what she thinks of the role of poetry in life… &#quot;There is no greater poem than life itself. Life is
an endless poem? a poem of understanding and non-understanding, of moonlight, of storm, of non-fulfilment,
of loss after fulfilment, of softness, of hardness, of darkness, of loveliness, of helplessness, of pronouncement
of truth, of promise, of beauty, of dream, of exploitation, of burning, of distress, of cries of ferment and tears…"
(Introduction to Sudirgha Din Aaru Ritu.)
Nirmal Prabha is very much concerned about the fate of age-old values held in greatest esteem down the ages
by the Assamese.
In the smell of rice fields in autumn
My father comes back to me;
In the fragrance of the new scarf
As I unfold it fresh from the shop
I find my mother again…
Where shall I leave myself
For my child
O, where indeed.
(Translated by Hiren Gohain)
