Kamrup Byam Samiti: A Proud Legacy (Article by Shri Bhaskar Barman, Advocate)

Kamrup Byam Samiti situated in Happy Villa, Uzan Bazar, Guwahati is having a history with bright pride. This institution is unique in it's style, service and activities. It holds a proud and enduring legacy being the oldest Organization/Centre of physical culture. It was established in the year 1926 with the active participation, efforts and strong will of some of the great personalities of that time who had the strength of serving the society in a different but great way.

As per my information and experiences it was the First world war's time when some of the local persons with the mentality to develop physical health started thinking of establishing a institute. The world war-I started in the year 1914 and ended in the year 1919. Accordingly after the said world war I in the year 1926 the great institute with the name KAMRUP BYAM SAMITI was established. The mission to establish the organisation to promote physical fitness, discipline and moral strength amongst the members and youth of the society.

The persons who had established this great institute has lots of contributions towards the shaping up of the greater Assam which includes almost whole North eastern states of present India. Unfortunately none them are not amongst us. Now let me pronounce those names with great respect from the inner corner of my heart with a prayer the great souls to rest in peace. Those personalities were Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi, Karmabir Nabin Chandra Bordoloi, Axom Kessari Ambikagiri Raichoudhury, Chumbit Borkakati, Debapal Das, Satish Chandra Kakati, Louha Purush Premada Kanta Sharma, Kirtiram Baruah, Harendranath Baruah, Amrit Das etc. There are several more names which I at present fail to recollect and I apologise for that.

Each of the personalities mentioned above needs no introduction. They contributed greatly for the people of Assam and it's society in their respective filed. They use to gather at their leisure time and discussed, started about the physical education with physical excercise. Mist of the local youth joined the institution and started doing their physical excercise.

At the time of inception of the Kamrup Byam Samiti (famously known as KBS) did not have any modern instruments. All the members mostly used to do the indian style free hand excercise at that time with modest infrastructure, a simple training shed, a few traditional fitness instruments like Nals (maces), Dands and Baithaks (Indian Push ups and Squats instruments). Yet the enthusiasm and the passion of the youths practicing there soon transformed into strong active centre of activities.

Because of the dedicated gurus, trainers, coaches and local pioneers of physical culture, the Samiti became popular. Thus it attracted numbers of new youths to the organisation who wanted to learn the art of strength, balance and discipline.

With the time the Guwahati, the gateway of northeast gathered more importance than the other cities of the northeastern cities. Thus the importance of the Kamrup Byam Samiti also increased in it's field. The members were involved in different fields of sports like Weightlifting, Powerlifting, Bodybuilding, Yoga, Arm wrestling and Strength lifting etc.under the same roof. The samiti is also termed as club in different time, the KBS Club. Now also it is known as Club only.

The written constitution of the Samiti was first unanimously adopted in a special meeting on 15 January, 1940 supported by the then executive body.The Samiti is duly registered organisation having it's registration with the Registrar of society.

The Kamrup Byam Samiti was shifted to present place in the year 1932. Before that period it was maintaining it's activities from the land of Late Karmabir Nabin Chandra Bordoloi from 1927. The KBS was established as per the plan made in 1926 at the time of Nikhil Bharatiya Jatiya Mahasabha. Since then the activities were carried out from the land of Karmabir Nabin Chandra Bordoloi.

With the time it was necessitated that the members has to participate in the different lines of different sports (Iron games i.e., weightlifting, bodybuilding, powerlifting, armwrestling etc.). More organised form the members of the KBS and some other players, sport organisers became the one of the member organisation/Club of Guwahati District Physical Culture Association (in short GDPCA).

At that time the KBS was in old Kamrup District. The area of operation of the GDPCA was also in old Kamrup District. The old Kamrup district included the all the District of Kamrup Metro, Kamrup Rural, Nalbari, Baksa, Kokrajhar, Tamulpur, BTR etc. Under the GDPCA the tournaments of almost all Iron games were conducted. And the the members of the KBS was a major stake holders in GDPCA.

From the GDPCA the players of the then Kamrup District (Bigger) represented in the inter District Tournaments. The reason for explaining all these to make it clear that what was/is the importance of the KBS in the field of Iron Games. Because in old days, when new districts were not there the best District Title holder always awarded to the GDPCA and almost 90% of the players who used to represent were only from Kamrup Byam Samiti. That significant role was played by Kamrup Byam Samiti from the time of it's inception.

KBS's contributions to the sports of weightlifting and powerlifting besides bodybuilding and other sports deserves special mention. The offices of Kamrup Metro Weightlifting Association, Kamrup Metro Physical Culture Association, Assam Powerlifting Association are being maintained from this Samiti.

Beyond physical fitness Kamrup Byam Samiti always has focused on holistic development of individuals. It teaches about the values of punctuality, dedication, teamwork and self control. Kamrup Byam Samiti started it's journey from a humble training space to a well recognised sporting institution and has been continuing to inspire the youth from new generation to embrace fitness as a way of life, true to it's timeless motto : Healthy Body, “Healthy Mind, Healthy Youth, Healthy Society”.

As stated above the KBS had no modern equipments but from the year 1989 with the help of endless effort specially by it's one of the members, Sri Kailash Sharma and with the cooperation of Arjun Subrata Dutta the Club had for the first time could obtain a complete powerlifting set from a famous company of Sweden.

Thereafter with the efforts of the members of the Samiti and with the help of sponsorship the Club started gathering different sports equipments. A new building is also constructed in place of earlier Assam Type house with the different fund including the fund of GMDA and MPLAD, although its left incomplete.

The members of KBS has taken endeavors to complete the remaining works by their own and with the help of other well wishers. The KBS appreciates all the well wishers who come forward to help the organisation.

The important names of the players who had/have taken training in KBS and were/are capable to bring pride and medals at the level of state, national and international are Atanu Bordoloi, Nijam Das, Muktikam Phukan,Suresh Sharma, Kailash Sharma, Raj Kumar Das, Durga Prasad Gogoi, Kishore Baruah, Nripen Das, Bidyut Chetri, Anupam Sharma, Jaideep Kalita, Pran Pratima Chaliha, Mahadev Deka, Santan Das, Jitu Khan, Mahendra Das, Bhaskar Barman, Bijay Bharadwaj, Rakhi Sharma, Chandrika Dey,Debajit Sharma etc.

Most beloved and respected name in the KBS as coach or guru is always considered to be of Late Jon Borkakati son of Late Chumbit Borkakati who was trained by Abdul Hamid. Jon Borkakati was nominated as the Captain of KBS.

Today Kamrup Byam Samiti continues to uphold it's founding ideal while at the same time adapting to modern fitness needs. The institution is now equipped with improved facilities guided by experienced Coaches and Trainers, it's remains a vibrant organisation which bridges Assam's Traditional physical culture with contemporary sports science.

The institution regularly host training camps, inter club competitions and talent hunt programmes to identify young talent. The Kamrup Byam Samiti also collaborates with the organisations like KMPCA, KMWA, APA etc. for strengthening Assam's sporting framework at the grassroot level.

It's my privilege that I am connected with this great institute as a member, player and now as Legal Adviser. It is a small effort from my side to describe the institution as per my view and perception. I apologise if I have unknowingly quoted wrongly or which could not be noted due to lack of information. I will appreciate if anyone correct me in the comment or want me to add some new facts.

Author: Bhaskar Barman, Advocate
Date : 20/10/2025
Guwahati

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Two old photographs of Kamrup Byam Samiti.