Joymoti konwari

Joymoti konwari

Joymati Konwari is one of the most reckoned name among the Assamese people. She was the wife of the Ahom king Gadapani and is known to have given her life for the sake of her husband’s survival. There is hardly any Assamese who is not familiar with Joymati’s story. The 13th day of Assamese month of Chout is observed as ‘Joymoti Divas’. The legend of Joymoti has found place in many poems, plays, stories, articles, etc. However debates still continue whether the character named Joymoti is historical or a folkloric character. Various Historical evidences prove that Joymoti is a mostly a folkloric character. The name ‘Joymoti’ first appeared in the magazine ‘Junaki’ in the first year of its publication in an article entitled Maharaj Rudrasinghar Dinot Asom by Hemchandra Goswami. On the other hand the legend of Joymoti was 1st published in 1891 in the same magazine in Ratneswar mahanta’s article Joymoti kunwari . People consider Joymoti as a historical figure but other than the modern histories, none of the ancient ‘Sanchipatia’ history book mention the name of Joymoti. The first of these histories is Tunkhungia Buranji by Srinath Borua, edited by Surjyakumar Bhuyan. Joymoti has been a source of inspiration to Assamese literature from the Junaki Jug to the present time. Ratneshwar Mahanta’s Joymoti Kunwari published in the Junaki was the first modern Assamese writing based on the Ahom princess. Initially it was through scholarly articles that Joymoti Kunwari found expression in literature, but gradually the story of Joymoti was expressed through various plays, poems, songs, novels, etc. In fact, the first Assamese feature film Joymoti was based on the story of Joymoti Kunwari.