The digitised version of the Kirtan Ghoxa on the website of Tezpur University. Telegraph picture

Guwahati, Sept. 28: Two 16th century Vaishnavite texts have jumped into the cyber bandwagon, with Tezpur University uploading the Assamese books on their official website for all to peruse.

The Kirtan Ghoxa and Naam Ghoxa, composed by Srimanta Sankardev and Madhavdev respectively have occupied a special place in Assam’s literary sphere for centuries.

For the Assamese, they are not mere religious texts but some of the finest literary pieces equalling the stature of Ramacharitamanasa of Tulsidas.

Although several editions of the book are available in the market, there had not been any effort to make the full text available on the Internet.

Sunil Kumar Dutta, in-charge of the university’s Centre of Assamese Studies, which took the initiative to make the books available online, said they have selected the version of Kirtan Ghoxa, which was edited by Narayan Chandra Goswami, satradhikar of Kamalabari xatra, Majuli.

“Our aim is to take the books to a wider readership across the globe. In our website, a reader can read the books but cannot download,” Dutta said.

He said, gradually, they would also upload the digitised versions of other popular Assamese books, including Lakshminath Bezbaruah’s Burhi Aair Xadhu, on their website.

The newly set up Centre of Assamese Studies has a rare collection of handwritten diaries by Raxaraj Lakshminath Bezbaruah, who gave Assamese literature a new stature when it was tottering to establish itself against dominance of Bengali language.

These diaries, 34 of them, were donated to the centre by littérateur Nagen Saikia last Tuesday.

Saikia, who received the diaries from Ratna Barua, Bezbaruah’s youngest daughter, said the centre would preserve the diaries with the help of modern technology. The diaries cover Bezbaruah’s life from 1903 to a week before his death in 1938.

Dutta said in addition to Assamese language, the centre would conduct research on other indigenous languages of the state.

They are also translating Miri Jiyori, the first Assamese novel by Rajanikanta Bordoloi, into English with an aim of taking the novel to a larger readership.