Jorhat, July 8: The first bilingual lexicographer in Assam, Tengai Mohon, could soon have a research fellowship in his name, if the efforts of the publisher of the largest lexicon bear fruit.

The Asomiya Jatiya Abhidhan Prakashan, which published the largest Assamese lexicon and is involved in research on Assamese language, today pushed for the scholarship demand during a function to mark the 300th birth anniversary of Mohon at its office here.

Mohon is believed to have compiled the first bilingual lexicon in Tai and Assamese.

Prof. Devabrata Sharma, secretary of the Prakashan and chief editor of the largest Assamese dictionary, rued that though Mohon was the first compiler of a bilingual dictionary called Bar Kakat Homung Puthi, he has not got due recognition.

He said Mohon was also a historian and written about 50 books. Sharma said seven persons, including three Europeans, had written dictionaries in Assamese after Mohon and much before Hem Chandra Barua, who is credited to have compiled the modern Assamese dictionary Hemkosh in 1900.

Sharma said there was enough evidence and documents which prove Mohon, hailing from the Ahom priestly clan, had brought out the first bilingual lexicon in 1795 having about 2,500 words in Tai language and its meaning in Tai and in Assamese languages.

Sharma said the manuscript of Mohon's dictionary written on sanchipat (bark of tress) had the date, month of Tai and Hindu calendar on each page and date of completion of the dictionary. The descendants of Mohon's family from his ancestral village Pathaku in Sivasagar district brought several original manuscripts of books written by him including the lexicon.

Sharma said the Assam government had printed the first edition of Mohon's dictionary in 1964 and in January 2010, a group of scholars from the Tai community had brought out the second edition.

The participants resolved that they would demand institution of a linguistic lexicographic research fellowship in Mohon's name by the state government. Sharma said his books were a treasure-trove for Assamese and Tai language scholars and there was vast scope for carrying out research on the evolution of the languages.

In another resolution, the government was sought the inclusion of Mohan's contributions in textbooks from school to university level. It also requested the Asam Sahitya Sabha to undertake activities to popularise Mohan's works.

Jibeshwar Mohan, former president of Tai Ahom Sahitya Sabha, said the scholar should get due recognition.

A book on the life and works of Mohon, published by the Prakashan, was also released.

Prominent research scholars of Tai and Assamese attended the function.