Guwahati: On the birth anniversary of Kabya Rishi Nilamani Phookan, Assam pauses to remember the poet who turned silence into verse and nature into language. A literary giant, a spiritual voice, and the soul of Assamese poetry, Phookan’s legacy continues to illuminate hearts and minds across generations.
Recipient of the Jnanpith Award and Padma Shri, Phookan was not merely a poet he was a seer. His verses, steeped in imagery of rivers, forests, stars, and time, carried deep philosophical undertones that transcended regional boundaries. Through collections like Surya Henu Nami Ahe Ei Nodiyedi and Gulapi Jamur Lagna, he gave Assamese poetry a modern, meditative voice.
Across Assam today, poetry readings, literary forums, and quiet personal reflections marked the day. In schools and universities, students read his poems aloud reviving the rhythm of a voice that once captured the essence of this land.He helped us see the unseen, feel the unspoken. His poems are not read, they are experienced, said a young poet at a commemorative gathering in Tezpur.
Born in 1933 in Dergaon, Phookan’s work bridged the mystical with the modern, the personal with the eternal. Though he passed on in 2023, his words remain alive echoing in classrooms, resonating in festivals, and whispering through the forests and rivers he so often wrote about.
In honouring Nilamani Phookan today, Assam doesn’t just celebrate a poet it remembers its conscience, its cultural heartbeat, and its eternal voice
Also Watch: