Early life and education
Gita Upadhyay was born on 14 February 1939, in the village of Gangmouthan, then part of Darrang district (now Biswanath district) in Assam, British India. [5] [6] She is the eldest daughter of Tankanath Upadhyay and Bhagirathi Devi, and the granddaughter of Chabilal Upadhyay, a prominent freedom fighter and the first president of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee. [5] [7] Her father was a translator and reader. [6]
Upadhyay began her schooling at Gangmouthan Balika Prathamik Vidyalaya and completed her High School Leaving Certificate (HSLC) from Behali High School in 1955. She pursued higher education in Guwahati, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree from Handique Girls College in 1959. In 1964, she obtained a postgraduate degree in Political Science, becoming the first Gorkha woman from Assam to achieve these academic milestones. [5] [6]
Literary works
Upadhyay's literary career began alongside her academic profession. She is fluent in both Assamese and Nepali, and has authored and translated around two dozen books. [6] Her work spans genres including poetry, fiction, essays, travelogues, biographies, and children's literature. Her writing often reflects the social, historical, and cultural contexts around her. [5] [6]
Her first published work was a Nepali translation of The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank in 1972. She co-translated the same book into Assamese with Basanti Laskar in 1975. [5] [6] She translated Rupkonwar Jyoti Prasad Agarwala's play Karengor Ligiri from Assamese to Nepali under the title Darbarki Susare. She also translated Nirupama Borgohain's Abhijatri into Nepali. [2] Her notable translations into Assamese include Bhanubhaktar Ramayan (1987) and Lakshmiprasad Devkota's Muna-Madan (2000). [5]
Her Nepali novel Janmabhumi Mero Swadesh, based on the life of her grandfather Chhabilal Upadhyaya, [9] won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2016. [10] Other original works include the biography Mahapurush Shankardev: Jeevan Ra Karma (2003), the travelogue Mandakini Ra Alakanandako Tiraitir Badri Kedarsamma (2003), and her autobiography Jiwanlai Pharkera Herda (2018).
Selected works
- The Diary of a Young Girl (Nepali translation, 1972)
- The Diary of a Young Girl (Assamese co-translation with Basanti Laskar, 1975)
- Aamaa Ma First Bhayen (Children's novel, 1997)
- Mahapurush Shankardev: Jeevan Ra Karma (Biography, 2003)
- Mandakini Ra Alakanandako Tiraitir Badri Kedarsamma (Travelogue, 2003)
- Kathanjali (Collection of short stories, 2005)
- Janmabhumi Mero Swadesh (Novel, 2013)
- Jiwanlai Pharkera Herda (Autobiography, 2018)
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