Civil Services Mains exam syllabus: Assamese

(Answers must be written in Assamese)

Paper I

Section A: Language

History of the origin and development of the Assamese language-its position among the Indo-Aryan Languages-periods in its history.

Developments of Assamese prose.

Vowels and consonants of the Assamese languages-rules of phonetic changes with stress on Assamese coming down from Old Indo-Aryan.

Assamese vocabulary-and its sources.

Morphology of the language-conjugation-enclitic definitive and pleonastic suffixes.

Dialectical divergences-the standard colloquial and the Kamrupi dialect in particulars.

Assamese scripts-its evolution through the ages till 19th century A.D.

Section B: Literary Criticism and Literary History

Principles of literary criticism up to new criticism.

Different literary genres.

Development of literary forms in Assamese.

Development of literary criticism in Assamese.

Periods of the literary history of Assam from the earliest beginnings, i.e. from the period of the charyyageets with their socio-cultural background: the proto Assamese-Pre-Sankaradeva-Sankaradeva-post Sankaradeva-Modern period (from the coming of the Britishers)-Post-Independence period. Special emphasis will be given on the Vaisnavite period, the gonaki and the post-Independence period.

Paper II

This paper will require first hand reading of the following text and the questions will be designed to test the candidate’s critical ability.

Section A

Rãmãyana (Ayodhya Kãnda only) -- by Madhava Kandali.

Pãrijãt-Harana -- by Sankaradeva.

Rãsakrïdã-by Sankaradeva (From Kirtana Ghosa).

Bargeet -- by Madhavadeva

Rãjasûya -- by Madhavadeva.

Kãthã-Bhãgavata (Books I and II) -- by Baikunthanath Bhattacharyya.

Gurucarit-Kathã (Sankaradeva’s Part only) -- edited by Maheswar Neog.

Section B

Mor Jeevan Soñwaran -- by Lakshminath Bezbaroa.

Kripãbar Barbaruãr Kãkatar Topola -- by Lakshminath Bezbaroa.

Pratimã -- by Chandra Kumar Agarwalla.

Gãoñburhã -- by Padmanath Gohain Barua.

Monamatî -- by Rajanikanta Bordoloi.

Purani Asamîyã Sãhitya -- by Banikanta Kakati.

Kãrengar Ligirî -- by Jyotiprasad Agarwalla

Jeevanar Bãtat -- by Bina Barwa (Birinchi Kumar Barua)

Mrityunjoy -- by Birendrakumar Bhattachary-ya

Samrãt -- by Navakanta Barua