Dinesh Kamath's news item ' 565th birth anniversary of Saint Srimanta Sankardev celebrated by Assamese community of the city' that was published in Newsband

565th birth anniversary of Saint Srimanta Sankardev celebrated by Assamese community of the city

By Dinesh Kamath

NAVI MUMBAI: The Assamese community of Navi Mumbahi had organized a grand celebration to mark the 565th birth anniversary of scholar-saint Srimanta Sankardev. Many scholars, intellectuals and guests from Assam attended the event.

Devasish Sharma, deputy resident commissioner of Assam Bhavan, gave a short description of this saint whom he referred to as a legend in Assam, who had inspired the Bhakti Movement and who played a stellar role in uniting the communitiest.

A bhajan programme (naam prosongo), panel discussion and cultural show was held at Bunt Centre in Juinagar, Navi Mumbai on October 26.

On October 27, a procession showcasing indigenous culture moved from Assam Bhavan to the Jain Temple in Vashi around 10am. This was followed by a seminar that witnessed the participation of non-Assamese scholars from Maharashtra.

Srimanta Sankerdeb's followers sang 'Naam prasanga' (prayers) in the 'Kirtan Ghars' (prayer halls) and various 'Sattras' (monasteries). His devotees sang verses in praise of god from his 'Kirtan' (holy book) to the beating of 'khol' (drum) and 'bhut-taal' (large bell metal cymbals) at the Sattras by Srimanta Sankerdeb’s followers.

'Khol' and 'bhut-taal' are an indispensable element of the classical dance form Satriya tradition that the Assamese polymath started. Processions of 'gayan-bayan' (musicians) singing the Gurujona's (Sankerdeb) religious compositions were also taken out.

A group of Assamese of Navi Mumbai gave the following details about this great saint. They said, “Srimanta Sankardev was a 15th–16th century Assamese polymath: a saint-scholar, poet, playwright, social-religious reformer and a figure of importance in the cultural and religious history of Assam, India. He is widely credited with building on past cultural relics and devising new forms of music (Borgeet), theatrical performance (Ankia Naat, Bhaona), dance (Sattriya), literary language (Brajavali). Besides, he has left an extensive literary oeuvre of trans-created scriptures (Bhagavat of Sankardev), poetry and theological works written in Sanskrit, Assamese and Brajavali. The Bhagavatic religious movement he started, Ekasarana Dharma and also called Neo-Vaishnavite movement, influenced two medieval kingdoms - Koch and the Ahom kingdoms - and the assembly of devotees he initiated evolved into Sattras over time, which continue to be important socio-religious institutions in Assam and to a lesser extend in North Bengal. Sankardev inspired the Bhakti movement in Assam just as Guru Nanak, Ramananda, Kabir, Basava and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu inspired it elsewhere in the Indian subcontinent. His influence spread even to some kingdoms as the Matak Kingdom founded by Bharat Singha, and consolidated by Sarbanda Singha in the latter 18th century endorsed his teachings.

His literary and artistic contributions are living traditions in Assam today. The religion he preached is practiced by a large population, and Sattras (monasteries) that he and his followers established continue to flourish and sustain his legacy.

After the death of Sankardev, Madhavdev incorporated narrations of his life in prayer services, a practice that was followed by his apostles, and in due course of time a large body of biographical literature arose. These are generally classed in two groups: early (those by Daityari Thakur, Bhusan Dwija, Ramananda Dwija and Vaikuntha Dwija) and late (Guruvarnana by Aniruddha Das, the more than one anonymous Katha-guru-carits, Bardowa-carit, Sankardev caritra from Barpeta, the Saru-svarga-khanda and Bar-svarga-khanda by Sarvabhauma). The authorship of the biography credited to Ramcaran Thakur, Daityari Thakur's father, is doubted and it is generally dated to the 17th-century and classed with the late biographies.

In general, all biographies consider Sankardev as an incarnation of Vishnu, including that by Daityari Thakur, the earliest. The late biographies differ from the early group on the count that they ascribe supernatural feats to Sankardev, and describe miraculous events; and there is a tendency to read some events of the Bhagavata into his life. The biographies are full of contradictions; even though the earlier ones are considered more accurate, not all they claim are true — Daityari Thakur's biography, the earliest one, claims Sankardev met with Chaitanya, which is now not accepted to be true.”