The origin of Assamese Language

Hello folks. As my blogs are majorly based on Assam, so today I would like you to give a hint on origin of the Assamese language.

It is the official language of the state of Assam and also spoken in some other states like Arunachal Pradesh,Nagaland,Meghalaya. A small part of the population in Bangladesh are also seen to know and use the language fluently. In the 17th century assamese was the court language of Ahom Kingdom.

   It is not clear of how and where the language originated or grown but if we believe the myths it is said that it originated in Old Indo-Aryan dialects. It is also believed that Assamese and the Kamatapuri lects derive from the Kamarupi dialect of Eastern Magadhi Prakrit. But there are many who opposed it. So i guess we will never know how the language we speak now is originated by whom,when and where exactly.

     The earliest form of literature of Assamese is seen in the verves of Ninth Century Buddhist known as Charyapada. Then the language can be seen again in the 12-14th century works of Ramai Pundit (Sunya Puran), Boru Chandidas (Krishna Kirtan), Sukur Mamud (Gopichandrar Gan), Durllava Mullik (Gobindachandrar Git) and Bhavani Das (Mainamatir Gan).

 In these works Assamese was seen along with some of the other modern Indian languages and we are yet to get some fully Assamese literature form. Until in the 14th century in the court of Kamata Kingdom and in the courts of an Eastern Kachari king where Madhav Kandali translated the Ramayana into the Assamese called Saptakanda Ramayana mostly in the form of poetry. From 15th and 16th century Songs,Dramas and first prose writings by Bhattadeva were composed in Assamese. But the language got its significance in the 17th century when it became the court language of Ahom Kingdom and eventually become the state language.

These period saw the development and growth of Assamese when prose infused with colloquial forms in Buranjis. When the british invaded India the language have already rooted in the north eastern part of India which made the British to adopt it for state purpose in the Nineteenth Century. Since then the Assamese that we speak today has grown greatly as Many Legendary poets,composers,writers helped it to get its current form.

We can get the Idea of significance of Assamese by knowing that It is One of the 23 official language recognised by Republic of India.

     There are eight vowels, ten diphthongs, and twenty-three consonants including two semivowels in Assamese phonemic inventory.

   Interestingly though Assamese is one language but It is spoken different in different parts of the state with different pronunciation and different accent. The Upper part of Assam or Upper Assam uses the Standard form of the language and in the Lower parts it is Spoken in a different way known as Kothito Asomia by the Assamese people.