Renowned singer Sudakshina Sarma passes away in Guwahati

 STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Acclaimed singer Sudakshina Sarma passed away today in Guwahati, leaving a void in the hearts of the people of Assam. She was 89.

Sarma was undergoing treatment at Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) and passed away today at 8.25 am due to pneumonia and sepsis. She is survived by a daughter, while her singer husband Dilip Sarma and two sons had predeceased her.

Born in Bharalumukh, Guwahati on August 8, 1934 to Nilakanta Hazarika and Santipriya Hazarika, Sudakshina Sarma was the younger sister of Sudhakantha Dr Bhupen Hazarika and the elder sister of Jayanta Hazarika. She started her education in 1939 at the Tezpur Majalia Prathamik Vidyalaya. In 1943, she took admission in Class V in Panbazar Girls’ High School. At the age of 10, she recorded four songs in Kolkata under the guidance of Bishnu Prasad Rabha. Two among the four songs were Nahar Phule Nuhuwai and Bishware Chande Chande.

She passed her matric examination in 1949 from Panbazar Girls’ High School, after which she took admission in Handique Girls’ College. In 1946 when Mahatma Gandhi had visited Guwahati, she sang a song. She also sang a duet with her brother Dr Bhupen Hazarika at the Calcutta Radio Station in 1948 when Mahatma Gandhi passed away.

She lent her voice to songs in several Assamese films, including Maniram Dewan, Chikmik Bijuli, Parghat, Abooj Bedona and Hepah, among others. On August 12, 1954 she married lyricist and music composer Dilip Sarma. In 2002, Sudakshina Sarma and Dilip Sarma were conferred the Sangeet Natak Akademi award. In 2010, she received the Satak Sanman which was conferred by the Satak Sanskritik Gusthi, Tezpur. In 2014 when she turned 80, was publicly felicitated by various organizations. She performed in London in 2000 and in Bangladesh in 2018.

Sudakshina Sarma and Dilip Sarma regularly held workshops on the songs written by cultural icons Jyoti Prasad Agarwala and Bishnu Prasad Rabha.

Sudakshina Sarma had donated her body to the Ellora Vigyan Mancha. Today, her body was handed over by her family members to the Anatomy Department of GMCH. Before this, she was accorded State honour by the Assam Government in the GMCH premises. State Cultural Affairs Minister Bimal Borah was present.

Condoling her death, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said she was a bright star in the State’s cultural world. “She had enriched the world of music with some of her memorable renditions and her death is an immense loss to the State’s cultural and social sphere,” he said.

The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) and various organizations have widely condoled her demise.

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