>Ser Amantio di Nicolao at 03:25, 15 July 2021

2021-07-15T03:25:00Z

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{{short description|Indian writer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Use Indian English|date=October 2017}}
{{ infobox writer
| name = Gunabhiram Barua
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| birth_date = {{birth-date|1837}}
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| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1898|1837}}
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| occupation = Dramatist, historian, essayist, social reformer
| language = [[Assamese language|Assamese]]
| nationality = [[India]]n
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| spouse = Bishnupriya Devi
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| children = Swarnalata Devi<br/>Karunabhiram Barua<br/>[[Jnanabhiram Barua]]
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'''Gunabhiram Barua''' (1837-1894) was a nineteenth century Indian intellectual from Assam who ushered in new ideas of social reform in the early years of colonial rule in Assam.<ref name="google1">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W2dtxgZba6MC&q=Gunabhiram+Barua&pg=PA197 |title=Empire's Garden: Assam and the Making of India - Jayeeta Sharma - Google Books |date= August 2011|access-date=22 June 2013|isbn=978-0822350491 |last1=Sharma |first1=Jayeeta }}</ref> He was deeply influenced by the progressive intellectual currents of the [[Bengal Renaissance]]. He was among the few Assamese publicists who had formally entered the [[Brahmo Samaj]]. All his life he propagated its liberal ideas through his writings.

==Biography==
Barua completed his college education from [[Presidency College, Calcutta]] and became an assistant commissioner under the colonial government. He remained in the job for the next 30 years.<ref name="onlinesivasagar1">{{cite web|url=http://onlinesivasagar.com/literature/gunabhiram-barua.html |title=Gunabhiram Barua - Pioneers of modern Assamese literature and language |publisher=Onlinesivasagar.com |access-date=22 June 2013}}</ref>

After his first wife's death, his 1879 marriage with a Brahman widow, [[Bishnupriya Devi]], created a sensation in the orthodox society of Assam. Bishnupriya and their daughter [[Swarnalata Barua]]<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sqBjpV9OzcsC&q=Gunabhiram+Barua&pg=PA15 |title=A History of Indian Literature 1911-1956: Struggle for Freedom: Triumph and ... - Sisir Kumar Das - Google Books |access-date=22 June 2013|isbn=9788172017989 |last1=Das |first1=Sisir Kumar |year=2005 }}</ref> were encouraged by him to write and publish their work in magazines and newspapers.<ref name="onlinesivasagar1"/>

Barua advocated the cause of women's education and took the bold step of sending his daughter Swarnalata Devi to a boarding school in Calcutta when he was working in the small town of [[Nagaon]] in Assam as an Extra Assistant Commissioner.<ref name="onlinesivasagar1"/>

His son [[Jnanadabhiram Barua]] went on to become a well-known lawyer and leader of the Indian National Congress. Gunabhiram wrote a number of tracts for children, published under the heading ''Lara Bandhu'' (Friend of Boys) in ''[[Arunodoi]]'', the first Assamese newspaper, published by American missionaries. ''Lara Bondhu'' was also named as the first children's magazine in [[Assamese literature]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ObFCT5_taSgC&q=Gunabhiram+Barua&pg=PA691 |title=Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature: A-Devo - Google Books |access-date=22 June 2013|isbn=9788126018031 |last1=Datta |first1=Amaresh |year=1987 }}</ref>

Gunabhiram Barua was a cousin of [[Anandaram Dhekial Phukan]]. In fact, Gunabhiram grew up under Anandaram's tutelage, as his parents died when he was a child.<ref name="google1"/>

==Literary works==
The first social drama in Assamese - ''Ramnabami-Natak'' - was written by Gunabhiram in 1857 and published as a book in 1870.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=boBjAAAAMAAJ |title=Ramnabami-Natak: the story of Ram and Nabami - Gunabhiram Barua, Guṇābhirāma Baruwā, Tilottoma Misra - Google Books |access-date=22 June 2013|isbn=9780195685947 |last1=Baruwā |first1=Guṇābhirāma |year=2007 }}</ref> The play tells the tragic story of a young widow, ''Nabami'', and her lover, ''Ram'', both of whom were compelled to commit suicide because of social disapproval of their relationship.<ref name="google2">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1lTnv6o-d_oC&q=Gunabhiram+Barua&pg=PA25 |title=Handbook of Twentieth-Century Literatures of India - Google Books |access-date=22 June 2013|isbn=9780313287787 |last1=Natarajan |first1=Nalini |last2=Nelson |first2=Emmanuel Sampath |year=1996 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JUacH5fkAPoC&q=Gunabhiram+Barua&pg=PA6 |title=vnh - Google Books |access-date=22 June 2013}}</ref>

Gunabhiram is also remembered as a historian and biographer. In 1887 he published an ''Assam Buranji'', which went on to become a school textbook. He also wrote regularly on issues such as women's education and marriage reforms.<ref name="onlinesivasagar1"/> ''Kathin Shobdor Rohasyha Bakhya'' is a humorous work by Barua, published posthumously in 1912. .<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h8qH-Qn8KToC&q=Gunabhiram+Barua&pg=PT122 |title=Becoming a Borderland: The Politics of Space and Identity in Colonial ... - Sanghamitra Misra - Google Books |date= 3 April 2013|access-date=22 June 2013|isbn=9781136197215 |last1=Misra |first1=Sanghamitra }}</ref>

Gunabhiram Barua published and edited the short-lived but hugely influential literary journal ''Assam-Bandhu''(1885-1886).<ref>{{cite web |author=enajori.com |url=http://enajori.com/asam-bondhu-first-issue-1885-editor-gunabhiram-barua/ |title=Asam Bandhu, First issue (1885), Editor: Gunabhiram Barua |publisher=enajori.com |access-date=22 June 2013 |archive-url=https://archive.is/20130624211821/http://enajori.com/asam-bondhu-first-issue-1885-editor-gunabhiram-barua/ |archive-date=24 June 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Famous conservative intellectuals such as [[Ratneshwar Mahanta]] and [[Rudraram Doloi]] also contributed to its pages.<ref name="google2"/>

==Trivia==
Hindi film actor [[Sharmila Tagore]] is the granddaughter of Gunabhiram's son Jnanadabhiram on her maternal side.

==See also==
* [[History of Assamese literature]]
* [[List of Asam Sahitya Sabha presidents]]
* [[List of Assamese-language poets]]
* [[List of Assamese writers with their pen names]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barua, Gunabhiram}}
[[Category:1837 births]]
[[Category:1894 deaths]]
[[Category:Dramatists and playwrights from Assam]]
[[Category:People from Kamrup Metropolitan district]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Indian male writers]]
[[Category:Presidency University, Kolkata alumni]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian male writers]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian essayists]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian historians]]
[[Category:Scholars from Assam]]

Gunabhiram Barua - Revision history

>Ser Amantio di Nicolao at 03:25, 15 July 2021