The Asamiya Bhasa Unnati Sadhini Sabha, after its formation in 1888, decided to publish a new monthly Assamese magazine.
Chandra Kumar Agarwala, who belonged to a rich business family, came forward to finance the magazine and named it Jonaki ("Moonlight").
[1] The aim and objective of the magazine as expressed in this column in the first edition was (English translation: Uddipan Dutta):[1] Politics is outside our state of affairs.
The first romantic poem, Bon Kunwori (The Wood Nymph), by Chandra Kumar Agarwala, and the first Assamese sonnet, Priyotomar Sithi (Letter from the beloved), by Hemchandra Goswami, were published in the magazine.
Kamalakanta Bhattacharjya’s Pahoroni (Oblivion) and Chandrakumar Agarwala’s Niyor (Dew-drops) were two e-making poems published in the first year of the magazine.
The writers of Orunodoi chose the medium of prose, but the poetic grandeur in Assamese literature was achieved by the poets of the Jonaki group and their contemporaries.