The statue of Assam’s first lexicographer Tengai Mohon was installed by Asom Jatiya Prakash at Deodhai village in Barpathar Khowang under Dibrugarh district on Monday.
The project to install the bust of Mohon at the maidam where he was buried was undertaken by Asom Jatiya Prakash, the publisher of Asomiya Jatiya Abhidhan.
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Members of several organisations, descendants of Mohon and individuals, who attended the ceremony also unanimously resolved to seek the preservation of Tengai’s maidam and that his life and contributions to the literary field of the State be incorporated in the school syllabus.
The chief editor of Asomiya Jatiya Abhidhan, Devabrata Sharma, who unveiled the bust of the Tai Ahom pandit said that besides writing a number of books including a compendious volume of history, Tengai Mohon also wrote the dictionary named Barkakot Homung or Barnamra in 1795.
“Though Hem Chandra Baruah and other writers had mentioned Tengai Mohon as Assam’s first lexicographer, we were the first to find the place where he had lived and died,” Sharma added.
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Sharma also said Tengai Mohon, Ramakanta Malagharia Baruah, Ruchinath Buragohain, Brajanath Singh, Jaduram Deka Baruah, Miles Bronson, Harriet Cutter, Susan R Ward and Hem Chandra Baruah had written dictionaries which had expanded the understanding of Assamese words and added to the Assamese vocabulary.
Mohon, who was born in 1715, had hand-written the Tai Ahom-Assamese dictionary which was also published by Asom Jatiya Prakash.
Great-great-granddaughter of Mohon, Anjali Chetia released a book Damchao Tengai Pandit.
A souvenir titled Homyung, edited by Nimisha Gogoi, was also released on the occasion.