By our Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI, May 26: The Anil Chandra Das and Suprabha Das Smarok Samman is quite another feather in metric mentor poet Brojendra Kumar Sinha’s cap. The ageing and ailing poet was honoured with the award for his matchless contribution to Bengali and Bishnupriya Manipuri literatures.
Belabhoomi Shilpa Kala Parishad honoured the octogerian and ailing poet with the prestigious award at a simple function at his Hailakandi residence here recently. The simple but august function was presided over by former Barak Upatyaka Banga Sahitya O Sanskriti Sammelan president Nitish Bhattachrjee. Renowned poet Dr. Tirthankar Das Purkayastha, who is also a professor of Vidyasagar University, West Bengal graced the occasion as the chief guest. The function was attended by a number of litterateurs and literati, including poet Ashutosh Das. Accepting the award humbly, poet Sinha wished all gathered at the function.
Poet Purkayastha was all praise for poet Brojendra Kumar Sinha. According to the poet from West Bengal, it is ‘magic and music’ in poet Sinha’s diction that distinguishes from from the likes of him.
In March this year, poet Sinha received the first Dhirchandra Smriti Padak from Bangladesh. Dhirchandra was the first Bishnupriya Manipuri translator of the Bhagwat Geeta.
Settled at Hailakandi, a sleepy town in Barak Valley in South Assam, poet Sinha created an oeuvre each in Bishnupriya Manipuri and Bengali literatures. His Bengali work Bhikhari Baloker Gan is fragrant with the scent from the soil of Hailakandi and the water of Dholeshwori (a tributary) that skes its way to the Barak through the district, so are his around forty Bishnupriya Manipuri works that have put the literature of the community on a sound footing. His Bishnupriya Manipuri poetries have been translated into Assamese, Bengali and English. The translation works of this poet like Oedipus of Sophocles, Meghdoot of Kalidas, Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, Anubad Kolpo etc., do add much to his priceless contribution to Bishnupriya Manipuri literature.
Poet Brojendra Kumar Sinha has received around 37 such felicitations from as many organizations. Some of them are – from the Nikhil Bharat Bongosahitya Sanmelan, Guwahati in 1975; Bhasha Shwahid Smarok, Silchar in 2011; Jugashankha Puraskar, Silchar in 2012; Bishnupriya Manipuri Writers’ Forum, Guwahati in 2012; Syed Mujtoba Ali Smoron Sahitya Utsav organized by Barak Upatyaka Bongosahitya O Sanskriti Sammelan in 2014; Anurupa Bishwas Smriti Sammano organized by Barak Upatyaka Bongosahitya O Sanskriti Sammelan in 2015; Bishnupriya Manipuri Sahitya Sanskriti Academy, Agartala in 2008; Life-long Achievement Award from Pouri, Bangladesh; an award from Manipuri Theatre, Bangladesh; an award from Manipuri Yuva Kalyan Samiti, Bangladesh and one from Soptashwo, Hailakandi.