Saikia lies in state before the funeral. Picture by Eastern Projections

Guwahati, Aug. 9: When Prof. Pradip Acharya began translating Chandra Prasad Saikia’s award-winning Assamese novel Maharathi into English two years ago, the enormity of the task seemed to weigh him down.

Having got through that trying period and earned the great writer’s seal of approval on the manuscript of the translation, Acharya’s next wish was to hand a printed copy of the book to Saikia. But with just about a week remaining for the manuscript to go to print, Saikia passed away, leaving the translator with “my biggest regret” in life.

“Saikia had seen the manuscript of the translation and was happy and satisfied,” Acharya revealed to The Telegraph today, hours before the grand old man of letters was given a state funeral at Nabagraha.

“It was a challenging and tough job to translate an award-winning book by such a great writer. It took me two years to complete the translation. Although I am happy that Saikia saw the manuscript, it would have been very rewarding for me had he been alive to see the novel in print,” Acharya said.

Acharya, who teaches English at Cotton College, said Saikia was excited at the prospect of Maharathi being read all over the world.

The former president of the Asam Sahitya Sabha had woven the novel around Karna, the epic character in whom the writer saw his alter ego. The book fetched Saikia the Sahitya Akademi award for 1995. Acharya said the English translation would be sent to the Sahitya Akademi this week for publication. “It could take two to three months for the novel to be out in print. I am sure the Sahitya Akademi will do justice to Saikia’s work.”

Hundreds of Saikia’s fans joined the fraternity of writers and academics in bidding farewell to the writer this afternoon. An Assam police team gave a gun salute to the writer before his son Santanu lit the pyre around 4.15 pm.

Chief minister Tarun Gogoi led the state in paying tributes to a wordsmith who enriched Assamese literature for over five decades.