"At a time when each Society had its own medium of propogation of its researches ... in the form of Transactions, Proceedings, Journals, etc., a need was strongly felt for bringing out a journal devoted exclusively to the study and advancement of Indian culture in all its aspects. [This] encouraged Jas Burgess to launch the 'Indian antiquary' in 1872. The scope ... was in his own words 'as wide as possible' incorporating manners and customs, arts, mythology, feasts, festivals and rites, antiquities and the history of India ... Another laudable aim was to present the readers abstracts of the most recent researches of scholars in India and the West ... 'Indian antiquary' also dealt with local legends, folklore, proverbs, etc. In short 'Indian antiquary' was ...entirely devoted to the study of MAN - the Indian - in all spheres ... " -- introduction to facsimile volumes, published 1985.

India is a country where there is unity in diversity. However is this really true? This book narrates a real life story of socio-communal integration which began in Assam during the British era. With the passage of time it has become a unique example of national integration, patriotism and social service. “Challenging Destiny” is about the illustrious “Agarwala Family” of Assam. The family’s story is intertwined with the events that occurred in Assam during the British Raj. The dismissal of the last Ahom King, the opening up of tea gardens, discovery of oil and coal, the revival of the Assamese language and cultural identity, beginning of the freedom struggle, the effects of World War 2, partition and the independence of India. The story begins in 1827. A teenaged Navarangram Agarwala starts off on foot from Churu, Rajasthan, in northwest India to redeem a fortune. He walks across Northern India and finally reaches Assam in northeast India. In Assam he not only gains wealth but begins a process of socio-communal assimilation that spawns a lineage that integrates completely into the Assamese community. By 1947 Navarangram’s progeny by their deeds and contributions become the standard-bearers of Assamese socio-cultural renaissance and a symbol of its identity. It is a story of national integration with few parallels in India proving that unity in diversity is not just a catchy slogan.

The book examines questions of identity, ethnicity, sovereignty and insurgency in northeastern India, and especially on Assam and its neighbourhood. Written by an academic-journalist, the various articles situate these in their larger social, economic, political and, above all, historical context, the last being especially important in their becoming a part of colonial India relatively late, well after colonial control was established in the rest of India. Based on close, ground level experience involving extensive travel and interaction with the people, this collection is the result of a long journalistic career spanning nearly 50 years in the northeast region. Written in simple, lucid language, the essays cover a range of themes including culture, belief, and identity; homeland and language politics; and insurgency and separatism. The volume also achieves a uniquely dual historical value – while the articles themselves include a lot of historical information tracing the roots of the various issues discussed, the articles themselves range from 1974 to 2010, providing the modern reader with a series of historical moments captured in their immediacy. Of interest to students, academics, researchers in politics, peace & conflict studies, politics, sociology, history, language, those interested in northeast India, policy-makers, cultural studies, etc.

Navamalati’s translations of Assamese works include Chihna Yatra by Srimanta Sankaradeva and reassembled by Dr Jagadish Patgiri; Lakshminath Bezbaroa’s Mor Jibon Xuwaron; Dr Maheswar Neog’s Jibonor Digh Aaru Bani; and his avant-garde collection of poems Antyaja; Xotoghni by Birendra Kumar Bhattacharya; Indira Raisom Goswami’s Ahiron; Harekrishna Deka’s novel Yatra; Jayashree Goswami Mahanta’s Sahitya Akademi Award winning novel Chanakya; Gautam Prasad Baroowah’s novel Kaziranga; Verses a timely collection holds the poems of 68 Assamese poets, both old and new; The Lion of Assam (Karmavir Nabin Chandra Bordoloi) which is Dr Prabir Bordoloi’s biography of his grandfather, the great freedom fighter; She has also translated Bengali works of Dr Ramkumar Mukhopadhyay’s Dukhe Keora and Kothar Kotha; as well as Birasan a novel by Subrata Mukhopadhyay. This novel translated to English as The Seat of Power was published by Sahitya Akademi. The present book Modern Assamese Drama consists of two epoch making dramas- Gunabhiram Barua’s Ram Navami and Dr Birinchi Kumar Baruah’s Ebelar Nat. Anandaram Dhekial Phukan, Hem Chandra Barua and Gunabhiram Barua were the harbingers of the nineteenth century Renaissance in Assam. While in Calcutta he came under the influence of Raja Rammohan Roy, Vidyasagar and Keshav Chandra Sen, founder of the Brahmo Samaj. He was determined to fight social evils like child marriage and do away with the taboo against widow-remarriage. These are the leading themes of Ram Navami Nat; which appeared serialized in the Orunudoi from 1957. The plot veers around the natural urge of Ram as he falls in love with the child-widow Navami. The pair of lovers were crushed under the chariot wheels of social prejudices. The tragedy was written under the influence of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and Bhabhuti’s Malati Madhavam. Even after the lapse of one hundred and fifty-five years the drama is not obsolete, although the socially conscious Gunabhiram Barua was not a propagandist but was fully aware of a writer’s artistic responsibility. Ebelar Nat is an avant-garde play covering only the period of half a day, without any change of scene within the bright and well-decorated drawing room of Madhuchanda Barua, whose make-up bespeaks the presence of an ultra-modern lady. The characters of the play are few, though the dialogues are plenteous and pointed. One interesting character is Manorama whose obesity and expensive ornaments testify to her husband’s ill-gotten money. Barua draws a vivid picture of the newly-emerging pseudo-aristocratic society after India’s independence, marked by consumerism and ruthless competition for the acquisition of wealth. While the young people are for the rejection of old social values, the young women favour complete emancipation from the tyranny of men. The death of the representative of the old order symbolises the dissolution of that very order.