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Statues

Gauhati University Landscapes

Statues

It is a pleasure to walk by the number of statues of great Assamese personalities that dot the campus, many of whom were alumni of this university.

Statues of Lakashminath Bezbaroa (left) and Dr Krishna Kanta Handiqui (right)

Rasaraj Lakshminath Bezbaroa (1864-1938), who is person behind the great awakening of the Assamese Society. The existence of today's Assamese language can truly be attributed to works undertaken by this great visionary and writer who instilled a sense of belongingness in the hearts of Assamese people through his satirical works. He was one of the literary stalwarts of the Jonaki Era, the age of romanticism in Assamese literature.

This statue is erected in his honour in front of the New Academic Building (top most) which also houses, among many other arts and humanities departments, the Assamese Language Department.


The statue on the right is that of Dr Krishna Kanta Handiqui (1898-1982), the great Sanskrit Scholar and the founder Vice Chancellor of Gauhati University (for nine years from 1948 to 1957). Born on 20 July 1898 in Jorhat town of Assam, to Rai-Bahadur Radha Kanta Handique, he was educated at Cotton College, Guwahati (1913–15), Sanskrit College, Calcutta (1915–17), Calcutta University (1917–19), Oxford University, Paris University, and Berlin University (1920–27). He also studied and learned many languages like Latin, Greek, French, German, Russian, Italian and Spanish. He is known to have known 13 languages: 8 European languages and 5 Indian languages including Pali and Prakrit (from Wikipedia). This statue was erected in his honour in front of the Central Library of the university, named after him as KK Handiqui Library.



Top Left

Professor Surya Kumar Bhuyan (1894–1964), also known as Rai Bahadur Surya Kumar Bhuyan, was a noted writer, historian, and poet from Assam. He seminal work was that on the Buranjis of Assam. A PhD from London School of Oriental and African Studies, Prof Bhuyan went to become the first Assamese Principal of then Cotton College (now Cotton University) and Vice Chancellor of Gauhati University.



Top Middle

Sattue of Hemchandra Barua (1835-1897) - a great thinker and social reformer of Assam. He is best known for his greatest work - Hemkosh - the first etymological English-Assamese dictionary, published in 1900 after his death.


Top Right

Statue of Dr Maheswar Neog (1915-1995) - one of the finest scholars and litterateur from Assam. An alumnus of Gauhati University, his PhD thesis (in 1955) on the great Assamese Saint, Sri Sri Sankardeva, serves as the ultimate treatise on the subject till date.

He was the Jawaharlal Nehru Professor at Gauhati University and later Saint Sankaradeva Professor at Punjabi University.

He was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honour in 1974 and also became the President of Asam Sahitya Sabha (Assam Literary Society) in the same year. In 1994, he was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship, the highest honour conferred by Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy for Music, Dance and Drama.

Dr Banikanta Kakati

Dr Banikanta Kakati was a prominent linguist, literary figure, critic and scholar in Assamese language with his immense contribution to the language in terms of literature, linguistics, cultural anthropology and comparative religion (from Wikipedia).

A person of great intellect and scholarly merit, Dr Kakati was a symbol of excellence. He secured the highest position in English in Assam in his matriculation, then under Calcutta University.

He joined Gauhati University in 1948 as the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and also was the Head of the Department of Assamese.


Memorial

This memorial is dedicated to the people of Assam who lost their lives in the Assam Movement during late seventies and early eighties.

Gauhati University became the hub of this movement which saw several student leaders emerging as leaders in the political arena of the state.

Tikhar Park

The Tikhar Park near the west entrance of the campus, which is on the verge of its completion.

The structure is that of the Nationa Games Mascot Tikhar, embodying the sportsman spirit.