Enewstime Desk
Agartala, Jan 25: Beni Chandra Jamatia of Tripura has been conferred with prestigious Padma Shri for his immense contributions in the field of Education and Literature. Notably, total five persons of Tripura were conferred with Padma Shri before Jamatia. Other Padma Shri precipitants were eminent physician Dr Ratindra Datta (1992), Sports personalities – Dipa Karmakar (2017) and Somdev Kishore Dev Varman (2018), musical maestro Thanga Darlong (2019).
Beni Chandra Jamatia’s name appeared in the list announced by the Ministry of Home Affairs today evening. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb congratulated Beni Chandra Jamatia for being awarded with prestigious Padma Shri. In his social media handler, the Chief Minister said, “it’s a matter of pride for the entire state and I wish him all the best for his future endeavours”.
About Beni Chandra Jamatia
Information about humble Beni Chandra Jamatia – who hails from Maharani under Gomati District from Tripura – was very scarce. His grandson Kahamnuk Jamatia shed light on Beni Chandra Jamatia. According to Kahamnuk Jamatia, Padma Shri awardee Beni Chandra Jamatia was born possibly in 1933. As Date of birth was not recorded at that time, exact date or even year remained under doubts, Kahamnuk Jamatia said and added, Beni Chandra Jamatia is father in law of former Minister late Nagendra Jamatia.
Education:
On his education and achievements, Kahamnuk Jamatia said, “Beni Chandra did not have the opportunity to attend any school. But he studied himself. He taught himself both Bengali and English alphabets. He wrote a ‘Baul’ book in Kok Borok in roman script. And also composed all of them into songs.”
According to Wikipedia, Bauls constitute both a syncretic religious sect and a musical tradition. Influence of Bauls in Bengali literature and culture is considered to be significant.
And Kok Borok is the native language of Borok people – most of the indigenous people of Tripura.
Beni Chandra Jamatia’s book on Baul was published in 1992. Late Kumud Kundu Choudhry – a well known personality of Tripura – had also played an important role in bringing out the book. Doordarshan Kendra of Agartala had recorded many of the these baul songs which were composed and sang by him.
“From lord Krishna’s birth to his marriage with Rukmini and killing of Kansa, everything was written and composed in the form of song by him”, Kahamnuk Jamatia told.
