Makam is a seminal work of historical fiction, an incisive excavation of a forgotten epoch, masterfully resurrected through Dr. Rita Chowdhury’s unrelenting pursuit of historical veracity. This literary opus, underpinned by exhaustive scholarship and an unflinching narrative, reclaims the silenced testimonies of the Assamese-Chinese community—an exiled people consigned to the margins of historical consciousness.

With meticulous precision, Makam interlaces nearly two centuries of history, from the British colonial enterprise in tea cultivation to the fraught and oft-ignored saga of a people whose very existence was rendered precarious by geopolitical machinations.

Upon its release, Makam ignited a national reckoning. Its searing meditation on identity, displacement, and resilience struck a profound chord, elevating it to the pantheon of contemporary literary landmarks. The novel’s immediate and unparalleled reception—marked by the publication of 10 editions in its inaugural year—attests to its indelible impact on Assamese literary history. Originally published in Assamese by Jyoti Prakashan (2010) and subsequently translated into English by Pan Macmillan India, Makam transcends linguistic and national boundaries, asserting itself as a universal chronicle of loss and survival.

The novel’s very title is laden with historical and symbolic gravitas. Makam, derived from the Cantonese term for ‘golden horse’, encapsulates a narrative of migration, endurance, and exile. It also names a once-thriving town in Assam that bore witness to a flourishing Chinese settlement—until the cataclysm of the 1962 Sino-Indian War. During this time, this community, abruptly recast as an internal enemy, faced unspeakable persecution—arrest, internment, and eventual deportation. As the sole chronicler of this silenced history, Dr. Chowdhury emerges as the conscience of a people rendered invisible between two competing nationalisms.

Since its publication, Makam has commanded the attention of intellectual and literary circles worldwide. Its fictionalized yet historically grounded narrative unmasks a disquieting truth: history is sculpted by the victors, while the dispossessed are condemned to oblivion. In resisting this erasure, Makam stands as both an act of literary defiance and a luminous reclamation of the voices lost to history.