Mamoni Raisom Goswami

Indira Goswami (14 November 1942 – 29 November 2011), known by her pen name Mamoni Raisom Goswami and popularly as Mamoni Baideo, was an Indian writer, poet, professor, scholar and editor.

In 1962, she published her first collection of short stories, "Chinaki Morom", when she was a student.

Popularly known as Mamoni Baideo in Assam, she was encouraged by editor Kirti Nath Hazarika who published her first short stories — when she was still in Class VIII (thirteen years old) — in the literary journal he edited.

Goswami has suffered from depression since her childhood.

In the opening pages of her autobiography, The Unfinished Autobiography, she mentions her inclination to jump into Crinoline Falls located near their house in Shillong.

Repeated suicide attempts marred her youth.

After the sudden death of her husband, Madhaven Raisom Ayengar of Karnataka, in a car accident in the Kashmir region of India, after only eighteen months of marriage, she became addicted to heavy doses of sleeping tablets.

Once brought back to Assam, she joined the Sainik School, Goalpara as a teacher.

At this point she went back to writing.

She claims that she wrote just to live and that otherwise it would not have been possible for her to go on living.

Her experiences in Kashmir and Madhya Pradesh, Indian states where her husband had worked as an engineer, were used in her novels Ahiron and The Chehnab's Current, respectively.

After working at the Sainik School in Goalpara, Assam, she was persuaded by her teacher Upendra Chandra Lekharu to come to Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh, and pursue research for peace of mind.

Her experiences as a widow as well as a researcher finds expression in her novel The Blue Necked Braja (1976), which is about the plight of the Radhaswamis of Vrindavan who lived in abject poverty and sexual exploitation in everyday life.

One of the main issues that the novel touches upon is the plight of young widows for whom companionship beyond the confines of their ashrams and fellow widows become impossible.

Their urge to live, as well as the moral dilemma that they face vis-a-vis the order of precepts of religion in this regard, are brought out with astonishing clarity and feeling in the novel.

The novel exposed the uglier face of Vrindavan – the city of Krishna, a Hindu deity – inviting criticism of Goswami from conservative sections of the society.

It remains a classic in modern Indian literature.

It is autobiographical in character as she says the anguish of the main character Saudamini, reflects what she had gone through after her husband had died.

It was also the first novel to be written on this subject.

The novel was based on Goswami's research on the place as well as real-life experience of living in the place for several years before she joined the University of Delhi as a lecturer.

In Vrindavan she was involved in Ramayana studies.

A massive volume of Tulsidas's Ramayana purchased during her stay there for just eleven rupees was a great source of inspiration in her research.

This finds expression in her book Ramayana from Ganga to Brahmaputra, an unparalleled comparative study of Tulsidas's Ramayana and the fourteenth-century Assamese Ramayana written by Madhava Kandali.

Goswami relocated to Delhi, India, to become Professor of Assamese in the Modern Indian Languages & Literary Studies (MIL) Department at the University of Delhi under the guidance of her lifelong mentor Prof. Bhabananda Deka, who was subservient in the introduction of Assamese Language in MIL Department of Delhi University (DU).

While at the university, she wrote most of her greatest works.

Several short stories, including Hridoy, Nangoth Sohor, Borofor Rani, used Delhi as the background.

During later part of her life, after she became Head of the MIL Department in Delhi University, she, in collaboration with award-winning Assamese popular short-story writer and novelist Arnab Jan Deka made efforts and persuaded Delhi University to set up a Chair in the name of Middle Age Assamese saint-philosopher-littérateur-artist Srimanta Sankardev.

They also convinced the Chief Minister of Assam to make a contribution of Rupees One Million to Delhi University to create the corpus for the proposed Chair.

She was the winner of the Sahitya Akademi Award (1983), the Jnanpith Award (2000) and Principal Prince Claus Laureate (2008).

A celebrated writer of contemporary Indian literature, many of her works have been translated into English from her native Assamese which include The Moth Eaten Howdah of the Tusker, Pages Stained With Blood and The Man from Chinnamasta.

She was also well known for her attempts to structure social change, both through her writings and through her role as mediator between the armed militant group United Liberation Front of Asom and the Government of India.

Her involvement led to the formation of the People's Consultative Group, a peace committee.

She referred to herself as an "observer" of the peace process rather than as a mediator or initiator.

Her work has been performed on stage and in film.

The film Adajya is based on her novel and won international awards.

Words from the Mist is a film made on her life directed by Jahnu Barua.

Indira Goswami was born in Guwahati to Umakanta Goswami and Ambika Devi, a Vaishnavite Brahmin family that was deeply associated with Sattra life of the Ekasarana Dharma.

She studied at Latashil Primary School, Guwahati; Pine Mount School, Shillong; and Tarini Chaudhury Girls' School, Guwahati and completed Intermediate Arts from Handique Girls College, Guwahati.

She majored in Assamese literature at Cotton College in Guwahati and secured a master's degree from Gauhati University in the same field of study.

Indira goswami impressed by Akka Mahadevi's Kannada vachanas as she said in Bengaluru.