‘ground-breaking in many ways.’ His interest in language proliferated over the years, but meanwhile, his mind started straying into other fields and pastures new. He made an intensive study of the Kalita caste and incorporated his findings in Kalita Jatir Itibritta (1941), Mother Goddess Kamakhya (1948) deals with socio-religious issues prevalent in Ancient Kamarupa. Finally he turned his attention to Indian mythology and his Vaishnavite Myths and Legends has been acclaimed as 'one of the very few studies of the religious scene in India, produced by our scholars, that deserve reading and pondering over.' Dr Kakati was one of the greatest critics that the country has produced. His Purani Asomiya Sahitya provides the axes for the appreciation of Vaishnavite literature of medieval Assam. He was certainly the most capable interpreter of religious mysticism in the poetry of the Nam Ghosha. He also raised the perennial issue of a possible tension between poetry and belief. Himself a scion of the Romantic age, Kakati sketched the critical background for the twentieth century Assamese romantics. The post-war decade in Assam is a decade of disenchantment. In this decade he also wrote on the contemporary situation which seemed to show that a great age was over and another was yet to be born. He died too early to see the achievements of the ensuing age. Books Banikanta Kakati's writings both in English and Assamese mark a distinct achievement in the history of Assamese scholarship. As a critic of old and new literature in Assamese and as a writer on sociology and religious trends in medieval India-particularly Assam, he set new standards. In English: Assamese: Its formation and Development Mother Goddess Kamakhya Life and Teachings of Sankardeva Vaishnavite Myths and legends In Assamese: Purani Kamrupar Dharmar Dhara Purani Asamiya Sahitya Kalita Jaatir Itibritta Sahitya Aru Prem Pakhila References External links The Telegraph Assamese eBooks of Banikanta Kakati 1894 births 1952 deaths Scholars from Assam Indian literary critics Assamese-language writers University of Calcutta alumni People from Barpeta Academic staff of Gauhati University