He was recently in the news for winning the Kamal Kumari Award conferred by the Kamal Kumari Foundation, a non-government trust. Though his contributions to Assamese literature, culture and society are manifold and immense, no important award has so far been conferred on him. He has only the Sahitya Akademi award to his credit which he won in 1989 for his seminal work on the cultural roots of Assamese social life.

It must be admitted that Dr Hiren Gohain is one of the few extraordinarily talented sons of this state. He is among the few Assamese persons who have won name and fame for the state in the national and international arena. He topped in the MA final examination from Delhi University with his record-breaking performance. Later, he successfully completed his research from Cambridge University and was awarded PhD in 1969. His thesis was on Milton and the seventeenth century Puritan Revolution of England. At that time Cambridge was still under the influence of FR Leavis and so, Milton was not accorded his due place in the tradition of English literature. Thus Gohain’s thesis has contributed to a certain extent in creating a renewed interest in Milton among the academics. Had Dr Gohain willed so, he could have made a place for himself in the field of English literature and criticism at the international level. His one time class fellow of the Presidency College (Kolkata), Gayatri Chakravarty Spivak, is now an internationally acclaimed authority on French thinker Derrida and his theory of Deconstruction.

But instead he took to writing in Assamese, applying western thought and ideas into the reviewing of the works written in native literary tongue. Along with Prof Bhaben Barua and some others, Dr Hiren Gohain came forward to fill in that void in the sphere of Assamese literary criticism which was created at the death of Dr Banikanta Kakati in 1952. Dr Kakati and Krishnakanta Handique were the pioneers in studying and examining Assamese literature in the light of western literary classics, but this trend had the flourished with the advent of Dr Gohain and others, the “University wits”. Thus began a sort of Renaissance in the field of Assamese literary criticism. As the native literary pieces were placed side by side with the world classics, the strengths as well as the weaknesses of the native literature come to the fore. The advent of Dr Hiren Gohain as a critic has helped in rebuilding the Assamese literary tradition with Ambikagiri Roychowdhury, Birinchi Kumar Barua and Jyoti Prasad Agarwalla as its corner-stones. Besides, he was instrumental in the recognition and establishing of many upcoming writers as they received the necessary exposure after Dr Gohain had made an early review of their works.

Dr Gohain’s social criticism is as much important as his literary criticism. In fact, these two spheres of his writings are so closely linked together and supplementary to each other that it is difficult to consider them independently. The main thrust of Dr Gohain’s social criticism is his application of Marxian Sociological concepts into the study of Assamese social and cultural life. Dr Gohain came into contact with Marxism while he was a lecturer at Delhi’s Kirorimal College. His association with Marxism was not just a flirtation as is evident in the early careers of many Left-leaning intellectuals.

Very quickly he grasped the basic tenets and worldview of Marxism and began to apply it in the spheres of literature, society and history. Marxism has given a new depth to his thinking and a new orientation to his writings. Though in temperament, he is admittedly self-centred and sensitive, but his writings manifest his consciousness for and involvement in the social issues and problems.

In this connection one must take into account his role during the historic Assam Movement (1979-85). There is still a misconception among the people that as Dr Gohain opposed the Movement, so he stood against the interests of Assam and its people. But the fact is that he had his moral support for the Movement but refused to accept the excesses and harassments meted out to the minorities of the state in the name of agitation. He warned that the Movement would lose its direction and fail to fulfil the objective if the leadership did not stop minority bashing. But, at the same time he stood for the cause of Assam and its people. But it frequently happened that his statements had a distorted version in the media which moved many people against him. To make his stand known to the people he started publishing a non-commercial weekly, Kalakhar. His stand on the Movement, however, was vindicated subsequently as the Movement failed to achieve anything substantial.

Another important achievement of Dr Gohain is his study and research on the great saint Srimanta Sankardeva and the Vaishnavite movement of Assam. His interest in Sankardeva was aroused from his urge to find out the roots of Assamese cultural and social life along with the tradition of religious toleration in the state. The late Prof Bhabananda Dutta initiated the study of Sankardeva and his times from a sociological point of view and later Anil Ray Choudhury and Ranjit Kumar Dev Goswami made important contribution towards it. But a full-fledged study of Sankardeva and his social milieu with a Marxist interpretation of his great historical role in assimilating and uniting the various tribes of Assam to form a broad Assamese nationality and abolishing the menace of caste system was done by Dr Hiren Gohain.

Dr Gohain has about forty books in Assamese to his credit. Most of his books are collections of critical essays on miscellaneous topics pertaining to literature, culture, history, society, economy and polity. Though most of these were first published in magazines as articles, and for that matter writings of the occasion, but the unique feature of his writing is that they are full of insights and ideas which have a permanent value and relevance. He can penetrate deep into the heart of every problem and event and find out the basic truth and nature of it. So his writings on each and every subject serve the purpose of an eyeopener for the readers.

His English works include Tradition and Paradise Lost (1976), On the Present Movement in Assam (1980), Assam : A Burning Question (1984), Nature and Art in Shakespeare (1988), Aspects of Early 19th century Bengalee Culture (1990) and The Magic Plant (1992).

It is true that Dr Gohain has now and then been amidst controversy. The people of Assam have been going through a turbulent time during the last twenty years and various issues have come to the fore in different times. As a socially conscious person, Dr Gohain could not remain silent on these issues. He has come out with his thoughtful stands on every issue that has touched the people of Assam. But his views are polemic as it is the case with all original thinkers. So he could not win favour from all sections of the society. But his ‘controversial’ role in some issues should not come in the way of giving him his due recognition which could have come to him easily if he concentrated on purely academic activities.

Courtesy: The Assam Tribune (2002)