Early Assamese

Early Assamese or Proto-Eastern Kamarupa^[1] is an ancestor of the modern Assamese language. It is found in the literature from the 14th century to the end of 16th century^[2][3] in Kamata kingdom and rest the Brahmaputra valley of Assam.

Early Assamese
Region	Assam
Era	14th-16th centuries
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan Eastern Bengali-Assamese Early Assamese
Early form	Kāmarūpī Apabhraṃśa
Dialects	Brajawali
Writing system	Eastern Nagari
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	None

A Bhagavata manuscript written in Early Assamese, from Dakhinpat Satra.

Literature

Early Assamese literature period can be split into: a) The Pre-Vaishnavite period and b) The Vaishnavite sub periods.^[4] The Pre-Vaishnavite period covers the period before the advent of Sankardeva and the Vaishnavite period initiated by his literary activities. The earliest Assamese writer, viz. Hema Saraswati and Harivara Vipra who composed Prahlada Charitra and Babruvahana parva respectively wrote under the patronage of King Durlabhanarayana of Kamatapura who ruled towards the end of the 13th or the earlier part of the 14th century. The next two important poets of the same period are Rudra Kandali and Kaviratna Saraswati who composed Drona parva and Jayadratha vadha. But the towering poet of this period is Madhava Kandali who is respectfully referred to by Sankardeva (b. 1449) as his predecessor. Madhava Kandali flourished towards the end of the 14th century and translated the entire Ramayana under the patronage of Mahamanikya, the then Kachari (Varāha) king of Central Assam.^[5]

Writing system

14th/15th century Copperplate inscription of Nilachal King Madhavadeva shows the script used when Early Assamese was spoken in the period of 14th-15th century.

Early Assamese was written in the Eastern Nagari script.

Morphology and Grammar

Pronouns

Person[6][7]	Singular nominative	Singular oblique	Plural nominative	Plural oblique
1st	mai, maĩ, āmi	mo-, moho-	āmi, āmarā	āmā-, āmhā-, āmāsā-
2nd informal	tai, taĩ	to-, toho-	torā	torā-
2nd familiar	tumi	tomā-, tomhā	tomarā	tomāsā-
3rd inf., prox., m.	i, ito	ihā-, ā-	ārā	ārā-, esambā-
3rd inf. dist. f.	ei	ei-	ārā	ārā-, esambā-
3rd hon., prox.	ehe, eho		ehante, ehanto	esambā-
3rd inf., dist., m.	si, sito	tā-, tāhā-	tārā	tārā-, tāsambā-
3rd inf. dist. f.	tāi	tāi-
3rd hon. dist.	tehõ, tehẽ, tehã		tehante, tehento, tesambe	tāsambā-

Notes

1. Toulmin 2006
2. (Kakati 1941:48)
3. "The history of Assamese language, as preserved in literature, may be conveniently divided into three periods:- (1) Early Assamese: from the fourteenth to the end of the sixteenth century." (Kakati 1953:5)
4. Kakati 1941
5. (Kakati 1953:5)
6. (Bez 2012)
7. Kakati 1941

References

• Bez, Gitanjali (2012). Grammatical Categories in Madhav Kandali's Ramayana (Ph.D.). Gauhati University. hdl:10603/116370.
• Kakati, Banikanta (1941), Assamese: Its Formation and Development, Gauhati, Assam: Government of Assam
• Kakati, Banikanta (1953), "The Assamese Language", in Kakati, Banikanta (ed.), Aspects of Early Assamese Literature, Gauhati: Gauhati University, pp. 1–16
• Toulmin, Mathew W S (2006). Reconstructing linguistic history in a dialect continuum: The Kamta, Rajbanshi, and Northern Deshi Bangla subgroup of Indo-Aryan (Ph.D.). The Australian National University.