GUWAHATI, July 29 - Efforts are on to publish an encyclopaedic book on the Naamghars (prayer halls) of the State. This is the first venture to publish such a huge book on the Naamghars of the State. In the first edition it will contain details of 1300 Naamghars. The book will have around 900 pages. The initiative has been undertaken by the Asomiya Pratidin group of newspapers. The title of the book has been proposed as Asamor Naamghar.
Presiding over a meeting held for the purpose at the Asomiya Pratidin office here on Friday last, Dr Pitambar Deva Goswami, venerable Satradhikar of the Auniati Satra, Majuli, lamented that out of over 15,000 Naamghars of the State, only 1,300 have so far responded to the appeal for furnishing their details made by the compilation committee of the book.
The Satradhikar made an appeal to the managing committees of rest of the Naamghars to send detail information concerning their respective Naamghars to the compilation committee so that these information could be incorporated in the second and enlarged edition of the book.
The book will be edited by Dr Narendra Kalita with the assistance of four other writers of the State. Asomiya Pratidin group�s owner Jayanta Baruah has assumed the responsibility to publish the book, said senior journalist DN Chakravartty, who was also present at the meeting, together with Rabindra Nath Bhuyan of Amar Asam, Prakash Mahanta of Asomiya Pratidin and several others.
The publishers will make one copy of the first edition of the book available to each of the 1300 Naamghars, while the rest of the edition�s copies would be priced at Rs 300 each and made available to the buyers, said Chakravartty.
At the meeting, Dr Goswami also announced that he would donate an amount of Rs 55, 555 to the Chief Minister�s Relief Fund for the benefit of the flood victims.
