Sudakshina Sarma, noted Assamese singer and sister of Bhupen Hazarika, passes away

Noted singer Sudakshina Sarma died in Guwahati on Monday following prolonged age-related ailments, doctors said. Sarma, the younger sister of Assam’s icon Bhupen Hazarika, was 89. She is survived by a daughter, while her singer husband Dilip Sarma and two sons had predeceased her.Sarma was admitted to the ICU of the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) on June 23 as she was suffering from pneumonia and bed sores, its Superintendent Dr Abhijit Sharma said. Born as the fourth child in Assam’s musically-famed Hazarika family, Sarma began singing from an early age with her elder brother Bhupen Hazarika.As a nine-year-old, she recorded four songs for gramophone records in Calcutta (now, Kolkata) under the supervision of Assam’s legendary cultural activist Bishnu Rava. She sang “E Joy Raghur Nandan” during Mahatma Gandhi’s last visit to the state in 1946 who blessed her, and asked her to never stop singing.

Her condition had improved and she was shifted to a cabin, but her condition deteriorated again on Sunday night and she passed away at 8.25 am on Monday, he said.The eminent singer had donated her eyes and body for medical research, he added.Her body will be taken to her residence for her family and well-wishers to pay their last respects.The formalities of handing over her body to GMCH will be held later in the day, the official said.Condoling her death, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said she was a bright star in the state’s cultural world. “She had enriched the world of music with some of her memorable renditions and her death is an immense loss to the state’s cultural and social sphere,” he said.He offered his prayers for the eternal peace of the departed soul and deepest condolences to the bereaved family.