Brahmaputra Valley · Eastern Himalaya & Brahmaputra Belt

People

Name	Years	Field	Known for
Srimanta Sankardev	1449–1568	Religion, literature, performing arts	Founded the Ekasarana Nam-Dharma reform movement, and in doing so created Borgeet, Ankiya Naat, Sattriya dance, the namghar as an institution and a written Assamese literary culture. Arguably no single figure shaped any Indian state's culture more comprehensively.
Madhavdev	c. 1489–1596	Literature and devotion	Sankardev's principal disciple, author of the Naam Ghosa, and the organiser who turned a movement into a durable institution.
Lachit Borphukan	1622–1672	Military	Commanded Ahom forces at the battle of Saraighat in 1671, defeating a much larger Mughal force by drawing it onto the Brahmaputra and fighting it on water. The reason Assam was never absorbed into the Mughal empire.
Lakshminath Bezbaroa	1868–1938	Literature	Titled Sahityarathi; collected Assamese folk tales as Burhi Aair Sadhu and wrote "O Mur Apunar Desh", the state song.
Jyoti Prasad Agarwala	1903–1951	Cinema, music, poetry	Made Joymoti in 1935, the first Assamese film, and wrote the body of songs known as Jyoti Sangeet. Known as Rupkonwar.
Bishnu Prasad Rabha	1909–1969	Music, dance, politics	Called Kalaguru; collected and reworked the folk forms of Assam's many communities and tied cultural work to political organising among peasants and tribal communities.
Gopinath Bordoloi	1890–1950	Politics	First Chief Minister of Assam, whose resistance to the Cabinet Mission grouping plan is credited with keeping Assam in India at Partition. Awarded the Bharat Ratna posthumously.
Bhupen Hazarika	1926–2011	Music and cinema	Singer, lyricist and film-maker whose songs carried Assamese and Brahmaputra imagery into every Indian language he was translated into. Awarded the Bharat Ratna posthumously in 2019.
Indira Goswami (Mamoni Raisom Goswami)	1942–2011	Literature	Novelist and Jnanpith laureate who wrote about widowhood, Vaishnavite orthodoxy and violence, and later acted as a mediator in peace talks with the ULFA.
Kanaklata Barua	1924–1942	Freedom movement	Shot dead at seventeen while leading a procession to raise the national flag over the Gohpur police station during the Quit India movement.
Pratima Barua Pandey	1934–2002	Music	Sang the Goalpariya folk repertoire, including the mahout songs, and made a regional oral tradition nationally audible.
Hima Das	b. 2000	Athletics	From a farming family in Nagaon district; the first Indian to win a gold medal in a track event at a World Athletics championship, in the 400 m at the 2018 World U20s.
Lovlina Borgohain	b. 1997	Boxing	Olympic bronze medallist at Tokyo 2020, from Golaghat district.

People from Brahmaputra Valley who shaped its history, arts, science, sport and public life. (13)