Barua

Barua
বৰুৱা
बरूवा

• P C Barua •  • Pratima Baruah Pandey •  • R G Baruah •  • Laxminath Bezbaruah •  • Beauty Sharma Barua •  • Namrata Barooah •  • Mamta Baruah Herland •
Languages
Assamese
Religion
Hinduism
Related ethnic groups
Indo-Aryans, Assamese People, Assamese Brahmins, Ahoms, Kalitas

Barua (Assamese: বৰুৱা, Hindi: बरूवा) which is also written as Baruah, Barooah, Baruwa, Baroova, Borooah, Baroowa; is a common Assamese surname. The surname Barua is typically associated with someone who is an Assamese much like Arora or Ahuja would be surnames associated with Punjabis, Though less realized, it is also the shared surname of an ethnic minority in Bangladesh, and a Hispanic surname. Bengali Baruas of West Bengal and Bangladesh are a distinct ethnic minority of 'Buddhist' origin who survived in the coastal areas of "Chittagong" as Buddhism declined in India between 13th and 19th century. There are also Baruas in Bangladesh.

In Assam

Originally the title was conferred for most of class of officers in the Ahom kingdom of medieval Assam. The Ahom appointed officers with various title and the title Baruah means a " Leader of 3000 men".

The Baruas / Baruahs / Barooahs of Assam are Hindus by faith and have been a key contributors to the growth of Assamese community. Barua/hs or Barooahs especially of Upper - Assam (esp., Jorhat belt) and also to an extent in Lower and Middle/Central-Assam are generally Assamese Brahmins (people having or carrying specific Gotras i.e., proper Brahmin Identity Surnames) or may even be Kayastha representing General Caste. Others would essentially be Ahoms or Kalitas. Most of the Brahmin Baruas would carry middle name/surname such as, Ram, Prasad, Ranjan, Krishnakant, Govind, Chandra amongst others. (See, Assamese Brahmins ) However, it is also common to see other Baruas (non-Brahmins) carrying similar or even the same middle name/surname who would obviously be Hindus but may be Ahoms - (descendants of Ahom Community) or Kalitas as generally referred in Assam, who worship saints of Assamese community such as; Shankar Dev rather engaging themselves in idol worship.

Notable Baruas

Some Baruah of regional, national and international fame are:

• Birinchi Kumar Barua - Dr. Birinchi Kumar Barua was a scholar, educationist, writer, historian, linguist, folklorist and a renowned man of letters of Assam. He studied in the Presidency College, Kolkata, where he was awarded the Ishan Scholarship in 1932, for having stood first in his BA examinations. He is the only Ishan Scholar from Assam, till date. Subsequently, he did his MA from the Presidency College, in Pali, in 1934 where he stood first class first. He did his Phd from the London University in 1941, wherein his thesis was a research on Assam's cultural heritage later published as "A Cultural History of Assam". He was mainly responsible for setting up of the Gauhati University at Jalukbari, Guwahati in 1955, where a large edifice was later built in his name - "Birinchi Kumar Barua Memorial-cum-Lecture Hall", which still remains. He was a member of the "Indian Film Censor Board" and was also a founder member of the "Indian Language Commission", constituted by the Govt. of India. He was the founder of the socio-cultural organisation, "Assam Academy for Cultural Relations", (which still flourishes), established mainly to forge harmony and unity amongst the various people of the North East, belonging to different, caste, creed, tribes etc. He was a visiting Professor of Indian folklore sponsored by the Rockfeller Foundation at the Indiana University, Bloomington, USA in 1963. He wrote many books in Assamese which were widely acclaimed and amongst them his novels, "Jeevanar Bataat" and "Seuji Pataar Kahini", (translated into several languages) are considered to be milestones of Assamese literature. He was the winner of the Sahitya Academy Award in 1964, for his book "Asomar Loka Sanskrit", awarded posthumously, in February 1965.

• Laxminath Bezbarua - A prominent personality of Assamese literature.

• Beauty Sharma Barua - A legendary singer, also known as the melody queen of Assam.

• Ananda Ram Baruah - The sixth Indian Civil Service officer of India and first from Assam.

• Jahnu Barua - Internationally acclaimed filmmaker Baruah makes films in Hindi and Assamese. He has till now won nine National Awards and fifteen international awards.

• Siva Prasad Barooah - Pioneer planter, path - breaker in Assamese journalism, renowned philanthropist, politician and humanist, Siva Prasad Barooah was the richest tea planter of India.

• Hemendra Prasad Baruah - Hemendra Prasad Barooah born in 1926 obtained MBA from the Harvard Business School, USA - the first person form the North East to get this degree and 6th from India, Barooah joined the family tea plantation business in 1950 and went on to become one of the richest people of India.

• Pramathesh Chandra Baruah - Made a brilliant contribution to the Indian Film Industry. Baruah produced the second Indian film "Devdas" followed up Devdas with a series of high quality films - Manzil (1936), Mukti (1937), Adhikar (1938), Rajat Jayanti (1939) and Zindagi (1940).

• Raibahadur Ghanashyam Barua - Famous in the field of political arena as the first Central Minister of Assam translated Shakespeare's 'THE COMEDY OF ERRORS' into the Assamese language along with three of his associates. His residence in Golaghat, known as Barua House, had the honor of housing Mahatma Gandhi, during a Congress party convention prior to Independence.

• Shantanu Baruah (Sandy K. Baruah) - Nominated by President Bush in 2005 to serve as the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development. Mr. Baruah has served the Bush Administration since 2001.

• Dev Kant Baruah - President of Indian National Congress party at the time of Indian Emergency (1975–1977)

• Navakanta Barua - Prominent Assamese novelist and poet.

• Dipak Barua - Mr. Dipak Barua is an award winning famous author, writer, poet and philosopher in Bangladesh. He is the great-great grandson of the king Amor Manikye Barua from Tripura Kingdom.

• Dhaniram Baruah - Internationally renowned cardiac surgeon who invented the Baruah valve and an artificial heart. He is equally a controversial figure in the Indian medical fraternity having transplant the heart of a pig in a man.

• Mamta Baruah Herland - A painter and a fine art digital artist born in upper Assam, the youngest daughter of Late Dr. Upendra Nath Baruah and Srimoti Annada Kumari Baruah. She has studied in India, UK, Norway and Australia and at present resides near Oslo in Norway. Her works have been exhibited internationally and received many media attention.

• Joi Barua - Singer, musician, and lead vocalist of the band Joi and also, a Bollywood playback singer who has lent his voice to many Indian movies including 2010's Filmfare Award Winner (OST) Udaan and National Film Award Winner Dev D. He has a mixed musical style incorporating elements of rock, soul, jazz, folk and world music.

There are also many Baruahs who working in corporate sectors have made a mark:

• Samir Barua: Director of IIM, Ahmedabad

• Abhijit Barua: Sr. Vice President and Head of Business Development at SIFY Technologies

• Mr. Rana Barua: Businees Head at Red FM 93.5 and former Executive Vice President of Radio City

• Mr. Ranjib Baruah: Leading architect of Northeast India based in Guwahati

• Vijit Baruah: Sr. Vice President and Structuring Head at Citigroup

• Dr Ranjit Baruah: Chairman, The British Indian Psychiatric Association

• Santu Dibyendu Barua: A engineer of the American company Alcatel Lucent Technologies in The Netherlands.

• Mr. Abhijit Barooah: An industrialist. He is the Managing Director of Assam Air Products and Premier Cryogenics Pvt. Ltd and Board member - Director of Assam Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC)

• Biswajit Barooah: An eminent journalist and popular author of Assam. He is the associate editor of The Brahmaputratimes. His books Ohityamandita Dibrugarh (The glorious Dibrugarh), Axomor Chah - Teze Likha Etihas (Rise and fall of Assam Tea), Eta Dasakar Asom (Look Assam through a Decade) are highly acclaimed masterpieces of Assamese language apart from his most popular novels like Swarga Martya Patal, Punarjanam, Agnisakhi, Bisforan etc. Regular columnist of Asomiya Protodin, Sadin,Dainik Agradoot, Amar asom etc.

Other prominent Baruas of Assam, distinctive contributors to Assamese society, are:

• Radha Govinda Baruah: The founder of the Assam Tribune Group and a sports enthusiast a who later introduced Assam to the culture of sports.

• Parvati Prasad Baruwa: A famous Assamese music composer, poet, lyricist, dramatist: an icon of Assamese literature and the Culture of Assam.

• Shri Tara Prasad Barooah: A lawyer of Assam, University Prize-man: Gold-medalist in English from Calcutta University and an alumnus of Scottish Church from Golaghat and also one of the few Tamra-Patra recipient freedom fighters from Assam.

• Shri Debo Prasad Barooah: Highly qualified litterateur of Assam and also Ex Vice-Chancellor, the chief executive of Gauhati University, born to the family of Tara Prasad of Golaghat.

• Jagannath Barooah: A Tea-Planter, and more popularly known for Jagannath Barooah College.

• Bisturam Barooah: Famous Tea-Planter of Assam.

• Swargajyoti Barooah: Originally Swargajyoti Datta, but latter married to Shri T.P. Barooah and hence more identified with Barooah surname was one of the first few Assamese/Indian Film actresses.

• Gautam Prasad Baroowah: (originally from Guwahati Assam and now a resident of Kolkata), was the first person from Northeastern states to be appointed as the Corporate Vice President of Williamson Magor & Company, the biggest Tea Plantation Group of the world. He was also the First person from private sector of the country to be, appointed as the Banking Ombudsman by Reserve Bank of India in 2000. A well known award winning writer known internationally for his book Tea: Legend, Life and Livelihood of India that was released by Joe Simrani, President of American Tea Association in Robin Museum, Manhattan, Newyork, USA in 2006 and at Oxford Books in Kolkata India by the Chairman Tea Board of Government of India.

• Paresh Baruah, the self-styled commander-in-chief of the militant group ULFA

See also

• Barua (Bangladesh)

External links

• English Speaking Baruas