Mahendra Bara

Mahendra Bora (22 August 1929 – 9 April 1996) was an Assamese-language poet, literary critic, essayist, translator, and educationist from India. He presided over the Pathsala session of the Asam Sahitya Sabha, the premier literary body of Assam, in 1987.

Early life Mahendra was born at Tingkhang in Dibrugarh district. He graduated from Cotton College in 1951, took a master's degree in English from the University of Calcutta in 1953, and received a doctorate from Gauhati University in 1971. His poetry collections include Jatismar (1961), Ei Nodiyedi (1973), Rupar Tilingar Mat (1983), Nila Dhaturar Phul (1987), and Jiban Ek Astabal (1995). His critical and scholarly works include Asomiya Kabitar Chandar Silpatatva, a study of metre in Assamese poetry, and the English-language monographs Fundamentals of Assamese Metre and The Evolution of Assamese Script. He translated works including the Mahabharata, the Gita, and Don Quixote into Assamese.

Honours and Awards His honours included recognition as a poet at the national symposium of All India Radio in 1968 and the Sankardeva Award of the Government of Assam in 1994.