Anundoram Borooah was born on May 21, 1850 in North Guwahati. He had his early education in North Guwahati and Guwahati. He passed then matriculation examination in second division from Guwahati Government Seminary which is present day’s Cotton Collegiate School. He proceeded to Kolkata to join Presidency College wherefrom he passed L.A. (F.A. later I.A.) with 6th position and B.A. with 3rd position. Anandaram had the ambition to join I.C.S. and only way he could do so was to secure Gilchrist scholarship, which would enable him to proceed to England to prepare himself for the entrance test for I.C.S. examination. He secured 1st position i n Gilchrist Scholarship examination. When he studied for I.C.S. at the same time he studied for Bar-at-law in Middle Temple and as well as B.Sc. in Mathematics in London University. He completed his studies and passed I.C.S. test to become the 5th Indian civilian and only Assamese ever. He started his career as a magistrate in Sibsagar andlater was transferred to undivided Bengal where he later became the first Indian District Magistrate in Noakhali District. During his service in Bengal he continued his scholarly works in Sanskrit. He was an eminent Oriental Sanskrit Scholar. He authored many books. Anundoram died at an early age of 39 in 1889 in the home of his lifelong friend Sir Taraknath Palit in Kolkata. The present Calcutta University Science College building was a gift of the philanthropist Sir Taraknath.
Noted Assamese historian and littérateur, Dr. Suryya Kumar Bhuyan, undertook the painstaking research work for his contemplated book on life and works of Anundoram which was published in 1920. When Dr. Bhuyan studied inPresidency College, Kolkata from 1911 to 1915 he took this opportunity to gather materials from all available sources for the biography. Sir Gooroodass Banerjee taught Anundoram Mathematics at Presidency College in 1865. Sir Gooroodass was the first Indian Vice-Chancellor of Calcutta University and first Indian Judge of a high court. Dr. Bhuyan met Sir Gooroodass and at his request he gave his reminiscence regarding Anundoram in a letter form which he sent on 24th January 1912, where he stated, “The first year class in the Presidency College that year was a splendid class containing many brilliant students, such as the late Mr. R.C. Dutta, the late Babu KartikChandra Mitra….Babu Trailokya Nath Bose….BL Gupta, Babu Uma Kali Mukherjee….Mr. Borooah was unquestionably the brightest of this band of young students. It is worthy of note, that his class fellows never grudged to admit his superior merit. It is a matter of deep regret that his brilliant career of public service was cut off so early”.
The 92 year old letter is considered as a historic letter and is proposed to be gifted for preservation to the Asiatic Society, Kolkata; Asia’s oldest historical, antiquarian and archival research society founded in 18th century. A brief report about this landmark letter was published recently in three leading Kolkata dailies.
- By, Bijoy Kumar Bhuyan. The writer is the youngest son of Dr. Suryya Kumar Bhuyan and now lives in Guwahati. He visited his son Satyam at the Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa in May and June of 2004.
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