Daijiworld Media Network

Guwahati, Jun 26: Renowned Asamese writer Surendra Nath Medhi, better known as Saurav Kumar Chaliha, died here in a private hospital after prolonged illness on Saturday June 25.

The 81 year-old author had won Sahitya Akademi Award and was a critic of Assamese literature.

Born in 1930 in Guwahati, he was considered one of the best writers of short stories in Assamese.

He was educated in both Guwahati and London University. He served as physics professor at Assam Engineering College.

Additional director general of Assam Police Radio Organization Kula Saikia who is also a writer, said that Chaliha had unmatched literary talent. His works are very advanced and are still relevant, though they had been created several decades ago, he said.

Altaf Mazid, a national award winning filmmaker, critic and member of the fan society of the author said Chaliha was the pioneer of modern Assamese literature.

Chaliha's works have been translated into Bengali, Hindi, English, Telegu and Malayalam.

His short story collection 'Golam' won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1974 .He was also honoured with the Assam Valley Literary Award in 1995.

The fan society recently launched a website to store valuable works of the author. The society is planning to translate his writings into German and several other languages.

He authored many well-known short story collections like Duporiya, Ehat Daba, Golpo Nohoi, Aji Sukroba and others.