Pushpa Devi Jalan Literary Award

Award Record

• Year: 2016

Prof. Malinee Goswami received the Pushpa Devi Jalan Literary Award in 2016 in recognition of her literary achievement. Dr Malini Goswami, Professor of the Department of Assamese, Gauhati University today received the Pushpadevi Jalan Memorial Award for her book Sanskritayan. She received the award from noted educationist Dr Amarjyoti Choudhury at a function held at the Pragjyoti Cultural Complex, Machkhowa.

https://assamtribune.com/pushpadevi-jalan-award-to-dr-malini-goswami Sanskritayan is a collection of articles on Indian values in Sanskrit literature and related topics by Dr Goswami, writer as well as a noted Sanskrit scholar of the State. The award carries a memento, a citation, a collection of books and a cheque for Rs 21,000.

The award, instituted in the name of social worker Pushpadevi Jalan, is given at the initiative of literary magazine Bartapakhili and Bishal Prakashan. Highlighting the importance of research-based literary works, Dr Choudhury said Assamese literature needs more such well researched works.

Dr Goswami has ably introduced the Indian wisdom to the Assamese literary world through this book,� he said, highlighting the significant contributions of woman litterateurs, including Anuradha Sarma Pujari and Rita Choudhury in Assamese literature. Woman writers have a very sensitive way of handling issues and not just in creative literature like prose and poetry, also in the academic literary work this trait reflects the motherly care of the woman writers, he said.

In her acceptance speech, Dr Goswami said that through her book an attempt has been made to bring a portion of the vast knowledge in the Sanskrit literature (both creative and technical) to the Assamese readers. The Indian culture, heritage and wisdom are all-encompassing, which reflect in our traditional knowledge of literature, physics, chemistry, veterinary science, astrology, astronomy, grammar etcetera. As students of Sanskrit, we feel the need to explain these things to the present world in a new perspective with more clarity. With so much in our traditional knowledge waiting to be explored and developed, we do not always need a western microscope to look into things, she added. Noted writer Dr Phanindra Kumar Dev Choudhury said that with the beginning of the women’s era, women are also facing new challenges within the family and in the world. Whereas the woman today needs to be independent socially and financially, she also has to shoulder the responsibilities of family and carry forward the traditional ethos in the family. Apart from all these, she will also have to look beyond herself, and extend a helping hand to other women who need support and encouragement, which will truly lead to a glorious women�s era, he said. In her welcome speech, writer Anuradha Sarma Pujari said in the backdrop of the current scenario of Assamese literature, Dr Goswami�s work bears testimony to the honest analytical approach to various issues.