The poet of the above poem �Obayakta Bedona�is Smt.Hareswaree
Hazowaree, a daughter of the soil of Assam, a sexagenarian Bodo
women who retired as a Head Mistress of Khara Government High
School. Mourned by the death of her husband and two
daughters, She expresses in the poem the pain and misery that
she could not express in words. Strong belief in God and her
longing to surrender her self in His Prayer is the theme of
her poetry.
The following poem that I have read is an example of her faith
and submission to God.
Gosai tomak jonau pronam
Sarbaswa sopi di tomar choronat
Maya mohe bhora ai prithivit
Kotalo sukhe dukhe dinbor jibanat�����
The examples of poems exposing her mournful heart
and sacrifice before God shall be incomplete without reference
to her another poem. That poem is-
�Mritu Tomak Jonao Swagatam�
Mrityu, swagatam tomak,
Diya thai tomar charanat.
Mrityu, Mritu mane Ki ?
Mrityu swaswata, sargiya,
Duta akharar ata sabda mathon
Mrityu � Tomak swagatom����.�
Pretending outwardly to be very cheerful but severely grieved
by the death of two beautiful daughter, Smt. Hareswari has
compiled her poems in a book titled � Kobitamala� although
the life full of miseries has made her ascetic and
uninterested in the publication of the poems. When asked about
publication of the said book she said � �kabitamala is
absolutely personal for me as it is written with the
imagination from my dreary eyes, a heart transformed into
stone and the tears converted in to a chain of pearl. Because
I don�t know if it has any value for others ?"
Her poems are not the expression of her dejected heart. It was
not that a poet already dejected and started writing poetry at
the fag end of her life. Poetry was in her heart. She liked
writing poems from time to time during her school days. She
expressed her feelings thereby.
�Dimapur� was the first poem she had written during school
days. The Poem was published in the school magazine. Her poems
were published in school magazines regularly.
Let me tell about the communal, social and environmental
condition of Hareswaree. It is stated that she is a Bodo
women. She was born in Dhaligaon, an unknown village of Assam
near Bongaigaon town village of Assam near Bongaigaon town
where the famous Oil refinery has been set-up now. She was
born in the year 1928. Late Gahin Chandra Brahma, Gaonburah
(Village Head-man) and a respected person of the society was
her father. Her mother Late Rajani Prova Brahma was Illiterate
but an ardent supporter of the movement for women education
and its expansion. She was the mother of her two daughters
Ambawati and Hareswaree, and she arranged for their education
at Guwahati as there was no schools in their locality.
The land inhabited by the Bodo tribes was a backward place
where the only means of communication to Bongaigaon or
Abhoyapuri from Dhaligaon was by Bullock-cart or on foot.
Guwahati was far away. One had to walk upto Bongaigaon to pick
up the train.
Hareswaree had her elementary education at Dhaligaon. Gohin
Chandra,the Gaonburah arranged a place for his two daughters
for their education in the Boys� Primary School at the
village.Late Gohin Chandrahad two daughters. They were born at
the latter part of his life. That was the reason that they did
not face many difficulties in their education.
After completing the primary education Hareswaree took
admission in Middle English class at St. Mary�s Girls� school,
Guwahati. Of course she went from Guwahati to Abhoyapuri, a
nearer place where Abhoyapuri Girls� M.E. School was opened.
At present discussion on caste is a matter of politics. At
that time caste system was prevalent at the time of taking
meals or gathering. But such matter should not be mentioned.
She has expressed her mental agony relating to it in her poem
�Picnic� published in the year 1943.
Smt. Hareswaree with three other girls passed Middle school
Examination successfully from Abhoyapuri Girls M.E.
School.Beyond this, there was no opportunity to pursue studies
for girls. At that time Abhoyapuri was the Headquarter of
Bijni Estate. At that time Late Sabita Devi was the queen and
Late Bhairabandra Narayan Baruah was the king of Bijni.
Those eight girls appealed before the queen of Bijni to
establish a Girls� High School. A grant was sanctioned, the
Girls� school was established and Hareswaree passed the
Entrance Examination from the school.
The poem about �Picnic� was one of the favorite poem that was
written by her in her school days.
Her poetic work was not only limited to tragic verses and the
expressions of a sorrowful mind but she could web blissful
humours. Dhaligaon was included in Goalpara District. Goalpara
was the local dialect of the place like Goalpara, Dhubri,
Kokrajhar and Bongaigaon. She wrote a good number of humorous
poems in Goalpara dialect and compiled a book titled �Goalpara
Chalanta Bhasar Rohghora� Let us enjoy a few of them.
Halowar khana-
Hal marilang , kodal marilong
Boroshit marilong mach-
Take puraiya chatni bathaca
Sobai udor puraiya khacha������..
Thus she has drawn a picture of the division of labour and
discipline way of life among the simple rural families.
Likewise she has written another poem relating to �Jumai� a
popular item among all.
Saon mas ses pailo
Dhan ruao see hoilo-
Joha rulong,
Bora rulong-rulong Sali, Aijuri-
Dehatir phale monoke nidilong
Gaota bishaite ter pailong�����
�Jumai� a type of wine prepared from rice grain generally used
by the common man as medicine. As like the poem titled �Jumai�
signifying the use of Jumai she has written several simple
poems on other subjects like � Sugar mach, Halowar
Cake,horiyal Pitha, Hazarmukhi Pitha, Chaolar Ruti, Sahitya
Sabha etc.
Several poems, articles etc. have been published by the Bodo
women through the magazines Publishd in Bodo language. The
Sodou Asom Bodo Sahitya Sabha felicitated the women writer in
the year 1994, �Abou Abonini Sol�,meaning loka Aaitar Sadhu �
a collection of folk-talkies is l so under publication by her.
As she possessed a sorrowful mind so her writings irrespective
of its medium of language are the evidence of a mind pierced
and wounded by grief. Among such poems the poem �Daha� meaning
sorrow is noteworthy. She has written the following poem on
the death of her daughter who was a post-graduate student.
Hera ai, tumi baru kelei abar dekha nidiya
Hridoy mor udbaul tomar babe
Tomak moi chabo bicharo
Tomak moi chabo bicharo����������.
Hareswaree who loves her motherland has written �Moi Tomak
Bhal Pau�, Janumabhumi Moi Tomak Bhal Pao� and I like
everything-its soil, water, fire sun, moon and the sky.
Everything that exists on your soil such as the trees, the
living beings, the birds and their mild sweet songs, melodious
vocice of children are dear to me. I cry when I see the death
caused by the political clash but I am enthused by the unity
among man�
In this way her sacrifice before God with a heart filled with
sorrow is evident in her every poem. Citing the examples of
her pathetic condition in another Bodo poem titled �Angbiboyari�,
she has said that she is happy in such a condition.
He obong laori
Ung sase nikhauri
Ung jadong biboyari
��������������..
I am very poor
I am a bagger
I beg for your love,
I do not want wealth and glory�����..
In this way Smt. Haraswaree has contributed a lot of literary
works in all the three languages viz. Bodo, Assamese and
Gowalparia language.
She left it to the readers to forward appropriate criticism to
evaluate her literary works. She said �I do not know if there
is anything called literary standard. The readers would decide
it. I have expressed only the facts that perturbed my mind. I
find it difficult to understand what is literature�.
Published in the year 1991, �Dudhnoir Ase �Pase� is her
another book.The book was dedicated in the name of her husband
Late Rajen Rabha who wrote the foreword of the book stating
that the writer complied some articles written in brief about
the temples and monastery, signifying its legendary
background, ancient places of worship, satras, sculpture etc.
He was happy for publication of the book to the readers on the
occasion of the 57th session of the �Asom Sahitya
Sabha� held at Dhudhnoi.
Smt. Hareswaree has written the book on the basis of the
discussion made between two friends. Smt. Nirupama Hagier was
the only friend in the personal life of Smt. Hazowaree.
Friendship between these two women was stated through writing.
Their writings were published on different magazines and
impressed by such writings both of them became pen friends.
They didn�t have face to face contact until the date of the
annual conference of Dudhnoi Sahitya Sabha in the year 1991.
Being informed about the presence of Smt. Nirupama in the said
annual conference Smt. Hareswaree wrote in simple language
about the place around Dudhnoi in the book that she planned to
visit with Nirupama.
But who was Nirupama? Nirupama was Smt. Nirupama Hagjer, a
literary pensioner. The minister Late Joybhadra Hagjer was her
husband. She was a social worker, a writer, a Dimacha girl and
a daughter of soil of Assam residing in Haflong. Smt.
Hareeswaree wrote in her book about the monastery and temples
around Dudhnoi with their legendary background. She wrote in
her book �Nirupama, it has been heard that there are hills in
Goalpara, ruled by Monkey king and queen. Where is it?
Beloved! � oh! The name of the hill is Tukreswari, not far
away from this place. We are to reach Krishnai River. You can
find Tukreswari hill which is not far away from Krishnai.
Driver let us go. Drive us to Tukreswari hill�.
�This is the Tukreswari Hill. On the top of the hill there is
the temple of mother Goddess. In the foot-hill there is the
�Padukabari� of goddess. There is the Bhog-ghar and the Nath
Temple. A pond and a stream are also there. The monkey king
and queen lived in this Tukeswari hill. But from the date of
acquisition if the Bijni state by the Govt. of Assam, the
monkey king and queen and other monkeys were vanished from the
hill. But there exist the monkey king and queen as per
tradition.
Here buffalos are sacrificed at the time of Durga Puja. It is
said that a part of Sati�s body fall in this region. One foot
step of Lord Mohadeva is also engraved on one of the stone.
Inside the cave there is Sivalinga.
She has referred to one legend regarding establishment of the
Tukreswari temple. �One day a cow-boy named �Tukura� was
grazing his cattle. He observed a milking cow went out
somewhere at noon. She returned to the herd in the evening.
One day Tukura followed the cow. The cow walked to the top of
the hill. Hiding behind a tree he observed that standing on
the eastern side of a flat hill she was squeezing milk from
her breast. Tukura become impatient. He informed the matter to
the king. But the king confirmed the matter after a visit to
the place in disguise. The king built a temple at that place
and arranged for worship there. The place was named as
Tukreswari in the name of Tukura. The writer has mentioned
specially about the well-known persons and organizations of
Dudhnoi along with the legends regarding small places.
By reading the book the readers can view a clear picture of
the place. Hence it can be strongly recommended that the
writer has become successful in this regard. Besides
contributing to the literature the writer participated in
discussions and presented articles for several years
continuously through �Akashbani �Guwahati.�
When asked about the source of inspiration for her writing she
said that she was inspired by Late Sitanath Brahmachudhury,
the husband of her elder sister Ambawati. He gifted her
various books on different topics and brought books from
schools and library for her to encourage her for reading.
Late Sitanath Brahmachudhury was the former MP and the former
president of �Assam Sahitya Sabha�.
Smt. Hajowaree was also involved in various social works. In
such matter her parents, the husband of her elder sister and
her husband Late Mohot Chandha Hajowari with whom she got
married before completion of her college education were her
mentors. She was the founder of �Asom Pradeshik Mohila Samiti�,
Dudhnoi branch and advisor of Asom Lekhika Somaroh Somiti,
Dudhnoi Branch. In addition to that she was interested in
several other developmental works. She established Night
Schools for women education in her husband�s village Khara and
taught the women at night classes. At that time �Matia
Anchalik Panchayat� helped her a lot and provided one time
grant.
She was associated with the government co-operative society,
Dudhnoi and was elected as the Vice-President of the society.
Now at the fag end of her life she only prays to God for the
Well-being of all, looking at the sky with an empty heart. But
her writing has not stopped yet. Still ��looking at the
emptiness I want to say��
�Body, failed and worn out,
Awaited for the journey
Eternal and inevitable.�
May God bless her with a sound health and happy mind!
