GUWAHATI, March 11 - Misconceptions about the Assamese language being unsuitable for expression of scientific and technological thought were dispelled by renowned scientist and former Dibrugarh University Vice Chancellor Dr Kulendu Pathak at a meeting held at the Guwahati Press Club today.
Dr Pathak was the chief guest at a function held to release a book titled Bibidh Nibandhar Sambhar written by Dr Tarakeswar Kataki, retired Professor of Geology at Dibrugarh University.
He said that during the days of the Vedas, Indian scholars expressed inscrutable scientific facts through Sanskrit, and most of the modern Indian languages now have been enriched by thought-provoking articles on science.
The meeting, organised under the auspices of the Guwahati Sabita Sabha, was presided over by oriental scholar and retired professor of Gauhati University, Dr Banikanta Sarma.
Senior journalist DN Chakravartty said that lack of confidence and self-assertion have been the weakest traits of the Assamese character, which was responsible for political and asocial deprivation of Assam in the context of the country.
He urged Assamese writers to assert themselves through their intellectual brilliance and endless quest for knowledge in order to secure for Assam a primal position not only in the country but among other nations as well.
Poet Nilim Kumar decried the habit of the Assamese people not to treat Assamese books in the manner in which the people in the rest of the country treat their own literatures.
Other experts like Dr Devdas Bharali, Pomi Goswami, Ashim Baruah, Minu Devi, Dr Manjori Kataki appreciated the scholarly attempt of Dr Kataki in introducing to the Assamese people the latest thoughts in the field of science and literature.
Dr Sarada Sarma said Dr Kataki was not only an accomplished short-story writer but also a serious thinker and a thorough analyst, while Dr Banikanta Sarma described Dr Kataki as an indefatigable investigator in the domain of science and literature.
