Indira Goswami was born on 14th November, 1942 in Assam.Her father`s name was Umakanta Goswami.She is popularly known as Mamoni Raisom Goswami or Mamoni Baideo in Assam. She took her early education from Pine Mount School, Shillong. Then she completed her education in Assaamese literature from Guwahati Cotton College.from her childhood she had flair for writing.In 1962 her first anthology of Short Stories Chinaki Morom was published when she was in college.At that time she was greatly inspired by famous Assamase writer Kirti Nath Hazarika who published her first collection of short stories. Indira Goswami wrote about 100 short stories during this time but most of these were lost due to proper conservation.

Her life is full of tragedies. From her early age she suffered from mental dejection. Several times she attempted to jump into the Crinoline waterfall, which is located near her house in Shillong.She mentioned it in her autobiography named The Unfinished Autobiography, which was later translated in English by Prafulla Kataki.She got serious mental shok after her father death. Again she was mentally broken when her husband Madhaven Raisom Ayengar died in a car accident in Kashmir after eighteen months of their marriage.After that she returned Assam and started teaching at Goalpara Sainik School.At that time she started writing again to avoid loneliness of her life. In this time she wrote two novels.These are Ahiron and Chenabor Srota. She shared her own experiences with her husband in Madhya Pradesh and Kashmir in these two books.

After that she was convinced by her teacher Upendra Chandra Lekharu to go to Vrindavan and for research.She left the job of Goalpara Sainik School and went to Vrindavan.There she did extensive reaserch on Radheswamis of Vrindavan .( In Vrindavan the widows of Hindu religion gathered and collected money from pilgrims to live hand to mouth and saved some money for their holy cremation after death.but in most cases their money were snatched and their dead bodies did not get proper creamation .)In her book The Blue Necked Braja, Indira Goswami successfully highlighted their plight and hardships of life.She earned many critical accolades and it created a mark in Indian literature.It was the first book in this subject.

After that she researched on Ramayan studies. She selected two great books for her reaserch work.One is the huge volume Tulsidas`s Ramayana and another is the 11th century Assamese Ramayana of Sri Madhava Kandali named Ramayana from Ganga to Brahmaputra. She won many laurals for this reasearch. From that time she has been teaching Assamese literature at University of Delhi till now.

She wrote many novels along with teaching.Her most famous novels are The Pages Stained With Blood, The Moth Eaten Howdah of a Tusker, Dasharathir Khoj and The Man from Chinnamasta. The Pages Stained With Blood based on the plight of Sikhs in the Anti-Sikh riots of 1984 after the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.He told her own experiences in this book. The Moth Eaten Howdah of a Tusker is about about the plight of Assamese Brahmin widows in the religious institutions of Assam called Satra. This novel was selected fpr the the book ,The Masterpieces of Indian Literature.

In the book The Man from Chinnamasta she protested against traditional custom of animal sacrifice of Hindu religion in the Kamakhya temple.She was even threatened for death from the Hindu religious community. This novel has been translated into English by Prasanta Goswami. In 1996 "The Moth Eaten Howdah of a Tusker" was made into an Assamese film named Adajya directed by Swantana Bordoloi starring Tom Alter and Nandita Das . Adajya won international awards in Various Film Festival.This film was also shown in television in two series. Films like-Aparajita by Kuntala Sharma and Words from the Mist by Jahnu Barua were made on her life.She has been working as a arbitrator between banned ULFA militants of Assam and Government of India.

Indira Goswami was awarded the highest literary award Jnanpith Award in 2000 for her works about marginalised and subaltern people.She received Sahitya Akademi Award in 1983 and Padma Shri in 2002. She has received many other awards like the Assam Sahitya Sabha Award, 1988; Bharat Nirman Award, 1989; Sauhardya Award, 1992; Katha Award, 1993; Kamal Kumari Foundation Award, 1996.