Ambika Charan Choudhury (1930 – 2011) was a noted Assamese litterateur and an activist from Assam. He is popularly known as ‘Kamataratna’.
Life:
Ambika Charan Choudhury was born on 16th August 1930 to Nareshwar Choudhury and Kashiguri Devi in Borpara village of Bongaigaon. He passed out his schooling from Birjhara High school in Bongaigaon and did his further studies in Cotton College in Guwahati.
He died in a road mishap on 4th December, 2011 in Tetultola near Kamakhyaguri in West Bengal. He is survived by his wife, three daughters and two sons.
Career:
After his college, Ambika Charan Choudhury initially joined government services in Shillong. Thereafter he changed many jobs and finally retired as principal of a Bongaigaon school.
Ambika Charan Choudhury was associated with a number of political and social organizations. He devoted much of his life for the development and promotion of Rajbongshi language and culture, also known as Goalporiya.
Ambika Charan Choudhury was also an executive member of Assam Sahitya Sabha. He was also a member of many other organizations. He served as a joint secretary of OBC Sahitya Sabha, secretary of undivided Goalpara district Sahitya Sabha and secretary of Koch-Rajbongshi Sanmilaya.
Sanmilita Jatiya Abhibartan
Ambika Charan Choudhury was the leading in the demand of for Schedule Tribe status to the Koch-Rajbongshi community since the year 1958.
He was also actively involved with the Sanmilita Jatiya Abhibartan, which is a stepping stone towards have peace between the Indian Government and the moderate wing of the rebel outfit ULFA.
Ambika Charan Choudhury as a litterateur
Ambika Charan Choudhury was also a prominent litterateur. He started his literary journey through the ‘Ratnapeethot Ebhumiki’, which is a book written in the year 1961. He also wrote columns regularly in the ‘Ramdhenu’ journal published in Guwahati.
Ambika Charan Choudhury has written more than 123 valuable articles and 29 books mostly on the Rajbongshi language and the culture. His popular books written both in Assamese and English language include ‘Koch-Rajbanshi Jatir Itihakh aru Sanskriti’, ‘Kamatapurot Mohapurush Sreemanta Sankardev’, ‘Xantirdut Hajrat Mohammad’, ‘Koch-Rajbanshies betrayed’, ‘The Koches Around the World’, ‘Biswabir Chila Roy Sahitya Patibha’, ‘Rani Abhayeswari’ and ‘Bijni Rajyar Itibratte’ among others.
Achievements of Ambika Charan Choudhury
Ambika Charan Choudhury was the recipient of the Bir Chilarai award which is instituted by the Assam Government. He was also regarded as the backbone of the Koch-Rajbongshi language movement and was conferred the title of ‘Kamataratna’ by many cultural and literary organizations.
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