Through the years, the Assamese language has grown and developed and is now spoken by a large number of people. Previously in the northern areas of Sylhet (now in Bangladesh) and in the adjoining areas of the Khasi hills, there were many settlements of Man-bhaganiyas. During the partition of India in 1947 most of these people returned to Assam and are now primarily located in the Lanka and Kaki areas of the Nagaon district.
There are three types of languages can be considered allied to Assamese—Hajong, Bishnupriya and Chakma. These languages are similar to Assamese in many aspects. Hajong speakers are present in the western Assam’s Goalpara district, Garo hills of Meghalaya and the northern frontier areas of Bangladesh. Some Hajong speakers are also scantily present in Lakhimpur district of Assam and in Arunachal Pradesh. Bishnupriya speakers are found mainly in the Barak valley of Assam, Tripura and in Eastern Bangladesh. Although Manipur is the original homeland of the Bishnupriya speakers, today it is not spoken there. Te Chakma tribe is mainly in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh. In addition, many Chakmas reside in Mizoram, Tripura, Barak Valley of Assam and in Arunachal Pradesh.
Assamese literature got a lift during the period of Shankara Deva, who wrote a number of devotional songs. Many translations were also made into Assamese from the Sanskrit canon. When the epic Mahabharata and stories from the Puranas, known as Vadha Kavya, were translated into Assamese, these translations gained lot of popularity among the people and were considered to be wonderful additions to Assamese literature.
Opinions of different scholars vary on the origins of the Assamese language. As per Dr. Bani Kanta Kakati, Assamese the language originated as an offshoot of the Maghadhan Prakrit. The above mentioned facts were not even considered in Dr. Kakati’s thesis on the origin and formation of Assamese language. However, Debananda Bharali’s writings, including his book, “Axomiya Bhaxar Moulik Bisar,” perform scientific analysis of these facts, but did not find much acceptance within Assamese intellectual circles. Scrutinizing the similarities and dissimilarities of the Assamese language, it can be said clearly that the Assamese language has its own separate stream of origin.
Assamese evolved differently from the rest of the Indo-Aryan languages of India. Assamese is not a Sanskrit originated language; rather, it was later influenced by Sanskrit due to migrations of people from northern India in various ages and from the spread of Hinduism. It may be concluded that the language of the original Kalita people with lots of additions and subtractions developed into the Assamese language of the modern age.
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