Orunodoi

Orunodoi

A layout of the magazine
Former editors	Previous editors  Dr. Nathan Brown A.H. Denforth Miles Bronson William Ward Ms Susane
Categories	Current affairs & Literature
Frequency	Monthly
Circulation	700
Publisher	Oliver Thomas Cutter
First issue	January 1846
Final issue	1883
Company	Baptist Missionary Printing Press
Country	India
Based in	Sibsagar, Assam
Language	Assamese

Orunodoi or Arunodoi (Assamese: অৰু্ণোদই, English: "Sunrise") is the first Assamese-language magazine published from Sibsagar, Assam, in 1846. This magazine created a new era in the world of Assamese literature and gave birth to notable authors such as Anandaram Dhekial Phukan, Hemchandra Barua, Gunabhiram Barua, and Nidhi Linai Pharowal. The magazine took the initiative of innovating the then Assamese dialect instead of borrowing words from other languages. The Assamese people got to know about the western world only through this magazine, which opened the gate to the modern literacy in Assam. It mainly included various news related to current affairs, Science, astrology, history and also trivia although Christianity was its main aim. The magazine's publishing ended when the printing press was sold in 1883.

Orunodoi was first published in January 1846, printed by the Baptist Missionary Press in Sibsagar. The tag line for the magazine was, “The Orunodoi, monthly paper, devoted to religion, science and general intelligence”. It continued to be published till 1879; the press, however, was sold in 1883. The editors of the magazine include Dr. Nathan Brown, A. H. Denforth, William Ward, and others. Although propagation of Christianity remained the main aim of the paper, it also contained articles related to science, current affairs, astrology, history, and local trivia. This paper helped to entrench the Assamese intelligentsia, bringing to the fore three key figures from the Assamese literary world: Anandaram Dhekial Phukan, Hem Chandra Baruah and Nidhi Linai Pharowal. The crowning glory of Brown’s career was Orunodoi which means ‘the dawn’. Brown did the editorial work whereas Oliver Cutter was involved in printing and publishing the magazine. Brown was the editor of this magazine till he left for the US. Under his editorship, Orunodoi published history by bringing out the texts of old chronicles in properly edited form, such as Chutia Buranji, Purani Asom Buranji and Kamrupar Buranji. He also patronized various Assamese scholars and helped them publish. Notable among these publications are Kashinath Tamuly Phukan’s Asom Buranji (1842) and Anandaram Dhekial Phukan’s Axomiya Lorar Mitro (1849) and A Few Remarks on the Assamese Language and on Vernacular Education (1855), Bronson’s A Spelling Book and Vocabulary in English, Assamese, Singpho and Naga (1839) printed at the Mission Press in Sibsagar.