Gita Upadhyay

Gita Upadhyay wrote and translated in both Assamese and Nepali, and her books helped the two language communities of Assam understand each other. She was named for the Padma Shri in 2025 in the field of literature and education, from Assam ^[1].

A first for her community

Gita Upadhyay was born on 14 February 1939 ^[2]. After school in Behali she studied at Handique College and earned a master’s degree in political science from Gauhati University, the first woman from Assam’s Gorkha community to do so ^[2]. She taught at Sibsagar College for 30 years and retired as head of its political science department ^[2].

Translator and writer

Her first book, in 1972, was a translation of Anne Frank’s Diary of a Young Girl into Nepali and Assamese ^[2]. She went on to translate Bhanubhakta Acharya’s Nepali Ramayana into Assamese (1987), and many other works between Nepali, Assamese and English ^[2].

Two of her books won Sahitya Akademi awards: Janmabhoomi Mero Swadesh, a biography of the Gorkha freedom fighter Chhabilal Upadhyaya, and her Nepali translation of a play by the Assamese poet Jyoti Prasad Agarwala ^[2].

Building bridges

The citation credits her writing with bringing the Assamese- and Nepali-speaking people of Assam closer together ^[2]. She also served on Tezpur University’s board and on the juvenile court in Tezpur ^[2].

Gita Upadhyay died at her home in Tezpur on 13 July 2026, aged 87 ^[3].