Analysis of Social life in Birinchi Kumar Barua’s Jivanar Batat

Abstract

After the Second World War, there was an immense growth in the field of
Assamese Novel. The development of the novel also began to show the influence of Western
literature. Bina Barua’s [pseudonym of Birinchi Kumar Barua] Jivanar Batat is a notable
work of the period; though it is in form a conventional novel, it bears in its texture, themes
and style novelty as well as variety. This novel, besides being a social novel of the first order,
is also a product of the tumultuous time in which it was written. The writers of fiction at that
time began to turn their eyes on the neglected multitudes of the society and in their writings;
there was a marked tendency to assess their unique social value. The novel Jivanar Batat,
penned in 1944, is also one such novel with its setting on the rural life of Assam.