Birinchi Kumar Barua was a folklorist, scholar, novelist, playwright, historian, linguist, educationist, administrator and eminent 20th century littérateur of Assam, with both scholarly and creative pursuits. He was the pioneer in the study of folklore in North East India, and was one of the many founders of Gauhati University. Barua's contributions to Assamese literature are significant, both as a novelist and as an early literary critic.