ANANDARAM DHEKIYAL PHUKAN (1829-1859) belonged to a struggling phase in the life of the Assamese people, when, a decade after the annexation of Assam by the East India Com pany, their mother-tongue was denied quarters in the Government schools and law courts of the province, Bengali being allowed to take its place. 'None among the local gentry or commonalty did raise a voice of protest. The few American Baptists, proselytizing in Assam, realised this terrible, determinist situation, as did Anandaram with his sound knowledge of Assamese, Bengali and English. They combined to muster up an agitation for Assamese; but this was not destined to achieve its consummation until long 14 years after the 29-year-old Phukan's death (1873). But even this belated success was largely due to Anandaram's well-informed, enlightened writings, which provided the much-needed strength of logic and marshalling of facts on behalf of the restoration of Assamese, thus paving the way for the possibility of the growth of a beautiful modern literature in the local language.
In this small monograph Prof. Maheswar Neog renders the story of Phukan's very short but purposeful life and of the struggle for Assamese in the mid-19th century.
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