Nalini Bala Devi

{{ infobox writer

| name = Nalini Bala Devi

| image = NaliniBalaDeviPic.jpg

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| birth_date = 23 March 1898

| birth_place = Guwahati, Assam

| death_date = 24 December 1977 (aged 79)

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| occupation = Poet, writer

| language = Assamese

| nationality = Indian

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| citizenship = India

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| notableworks = Sondhiyara Sur
Alakananda

| spouse = Jibeswar Changkakoti

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| awards = Sahitya Akademi Award
Padma Shri

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Nalini Bala Devi (23 March 1898– 24 December 1977) was an Indian writer and poet of Assamese literature,{{cite news |title=An author & a trailblazer personality|url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1040209/asp/northeast/story_2872795.asp |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130203124211/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1040209/asp/northeast/story_2872795.asp |url-status=dead |archive-date=3 February 2013 |newspaper= The Telegraph|date=9 February 2004 |access-date=18 September 2012}} known for nationalistic as well as mystical poetry.Das, p. 197 She was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1957 for her contribution to literature, and 1968 she won the Sahitya Akademi Award given by Sahitya Akademi (India's National Academy of Letters) for her poetry collection Alakananda. She is the first woman Assamese poet to be awarded with Padma Shri and the first lady to the chair the Assam Sahitya Sabha.

Biography

She was born in Guwahati, Assam in 1898. Her father, Karmaveer Nabin Chandra Bordoloi (1875–1936), was an Assamese Indian freedom movement activist and writer. She wrote her first poem, Pita at age 10, and was married at age 12, but her husband, Jeeveshwar Changkakoti, died when she was 19. Two of her sons also died early in her life. She began writing poems, with emotion, tragedy, patriotism and devotion as central themes, which are still acclaimed in Assamese literature.{{cite news |title=Nalinibala Devi remembered |url=http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=jan0109/State6 |newspaper=Assam Tribune |date=1 January 2009 |access-date=18 September 2012 |archive-date=17 January 2013 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130117184444/http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=jan0109/State6 |url-status=dead }}Natrajan, p. 31

Her first book of poems Sandhiyar Sur (Evening Melody),Barua, p. 15 published in 1928, was later adopted by Calcutta University and Guwahati University as a textbook in 1946 and 1951 respectively. Her other works include Alakananda, Sopunar Sur (Melody of Dreams), Porosh Moni, Yuga Devata (Hero of the Age), Shesh Puja (The last worship), Parijator Abhishek, Prahlad, Meghdut, Suravi, Rooprekha, Shantipath (Essay anthology), Sheshor Sur (The last Melody)m Smritir Tirtha (Biography on her father), Biswadeepa (A collection of biographies of famous women), Eri oha Dinbur (The Days Passed, Autobiography), Sardar Vallavbhai Patel are some of her biographical works.Barua, p. 20 She had to her credit one drama titled Meerabai.

In 1950, she established Sadou Asom Parijat Kanan which later become famous as Moina Parijat, the children organisation in Assam. She was the president of 23rd Jorhat session of Assam Sahitya Sabha (Assam Literary Society) in 1955.[http://www.asamsahityasabha.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=46&Itemid=56 Presidents of Asam Sahitya Sabha since 1917] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130129233721/http://www.asamsahityasabha.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=46&Itemid=56 |date=29 January 2013 }} Asam_Sahitya_Sabha website.

She died on 24 December 1977, but is remembered in Assamese literature by the last four lines of her famous poem NaatGhar (The theatre)

....Kun Kar Jogotor / Kun Kar Moromor / Chokur Chinaki Dudinor // Sasimor Rooprekha /Asimot Bur Jabo / Khohi Gole Jori Moromor

(Who's for whom in this world / Who's under whose care / Temporary acquaintances, eye-to-eye contacts these are with // Bounded facial outlines / That get dissolved in the infinite oblivion / If the thread of love that binds them snaps.)

The Cotton College, Guwahati named its girls hostel after her as 'Padmashree Nalini Bala Devi Girls' Hostel' in 1986.[http://www.cottoncollege.org.in/index_page.asp?slno=63 Padmashree Nalini Bala Devi Girls’ Hostel] Cotton College, Guwahati The Sadou Asom Lekhika Samaroh Samiti literary organization has published Mahasweta, about her works.{{cite news |title=Celebrating womanhood |url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/north-east/celebrating-womanhood/cid/1539375 |access-date=21 June 2021 |work=The Telegraph India |date=October 19, 2002}}

Works

File:Nalini bala devi.JPG

Sandhiyar Sur (Evening Melody, 1928)
Sopunar Sur (Melody of Dreams, 1943)
Smritir Tirtha (Biography, 1948)
Paroshmoni (Touchstone, 1954)
Jagriti (Awakening, 1962)
Alakananda (1967)

Awards and recognition

She was awarded with Sahitya Akademi Award for her poetry anthology Alakananda in 1968{{cite web|url=http://sahitya-akademi.gov.in/sahitya-akademi/searchAwards.jsp|title=Sahitya Akademi Award year wise|publisher=Official listings, Sahitya Akademi website|access-date=18 September 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221080252/http://sahitya-akademi.gov.in/sahitya-akademi/searchAwards.jsp|archive-date=21 February 2014|url-status=dead}} and conferred Padma Shri in 1957 by the Government of India.{{cite web|title=Padma Awards Directory (1954–2009)|publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs|url=http://www.mha.nic.in/pdfs/LST-PDAWD.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130510095705/http://www.mha.nic.in/pdfs/LST-PDAWD.pdf|archive-date=10 May 2013|df=dmy-all}}

Nalini Bala Devi

Biography

Works

Awards and recognition

References

Further reading