Srimanta Sankaradeva: Vaishnava Saint of Assam

By Bimal Phukan

Sankaradevas 16thcentury figured silk tapestries, known as Vrindavani Vastra, today adorn museums of the world including those at London, Paris and Los Angeles. However, Srimanta Sankaradeva, the Vashnava Saint of Assam, is revered most as a religious reformer. A contemporary of Kabir, Nanak and Chaitanya, Sankaradeva is one of the religious leaders of great endowment who blazed across the Indian horizon in the 15thcentury bearing the message ofbhaktito the people.
Sankaradeva (1469-1568) was a man of creativity, and above all, he was a man of religion. His literary and artistic activities are not ends in themselves; they are consciously oriented towards the sharing of his creed. His work be it a hymn, a verse for chanting, dramas for the stage, dance forms, or even a drum for accompaniment was only to draw his audience to the word of God. That he performed each task with consummate excellence is a measure of his greatness. His key literary texts are a part of every Assamese household and his dance forms are today a part of classical canon of Indian dance traditions.
It remains a pity that despite his great achievements, Sankaradeva is relatively unknown outside his native state of Assam. This book attempts to give an overview of the life and works of the multi-faceted genius encompassing art, literature, music, dance and drama.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing India
• Release date: Feb 23, 2017
• ISBN: 9781482886986

Bimal Phukan

An electrical engineer by training, Bimal Phukan did his PhD from the University of Manchester, U.K. and worked for the Assam State Electricity Board and Electricity Directorate for the Govt. of Bahrain in the Middle East before returning to Assam and pursuing his business interests. He is a regular contributor to magazines and newspapers both in Assamese and English. Srimanta Sankaradeva: Vaishnava Saint of Assam is his first book and originally published in 2010. His other book publications include Dukhan Duarar Ghar (House with two doors), a collection of his articles in Assamese published in 2014, Between two worlds: The Assamese Sikhs (2016), and This endless journey (2016). Author photo: © Dominik Huber / dominikphoto.com

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Copyright © 2017 by Bimal Phukan.

Photos by © Dominik Huber / dominikphoto.com

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CONTENTS

Life and Times

Birth

Ancestors

Assam on Its Own

His Times

Aimless Wanderer

Days at School

Marriage & Bereavement

First Pilgrimage

Return Home

‘Fruit in Full Flower’

Homeless

Homeless Once More

Migration to Koch Kingdom

His Legacy

Literary Works

Religious Institutions

Naam Ghar or Kirtana Ghar

Bardowa Xatra

Bargeet

Ankiya Nat or Bhaona

Xatriya Dance

Vrindavani Vastra

The Curtain Comes Down

Last Days

Summing Up

Verses of Sankaradeva

Chronolgy

Notes

Acknowledgements

Glossary of Terms

Author’s Note

While in Assam, one is always made aware of how much Sankaradeva’s thoughts and values influence Assamese life. The 15th century poet-saint’s songs, verses, and philosophy permeate through every layer of Assam’s social milieu. It, therefore, comes as a great surprise to find that he is almost unknown outside the borders of Assam. While reviewing this book during its national launch in 2010, Khushwant Singh, the renowned litterateur and author of the book The History of Sikhs (1963), had lamented saying that if somebody had asked him a month ago what he knew of Sankaradeva, he would have pleaded forgiveness for his ignorance. Assam’s remoteness due to its geographic location in the easternmost corner of India may perhaps have contributed to this. But one suspects that the real reason may lie in the glaring lack of books on Sankaradeva in languages other than Assamese, English in particular. Sankaradeva’s contemporary Bhakti saints such as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Kabir and Guru Nanak are household names not only in India, but their thoughts and sayings are known all over the world through numerous books on them. It is indeed a pity considering that Sankaradeva’s contribution to Vaishnavite culture and literature is no less immense.

With this in mind, the idea of this book took shape. It was also felt that more than a scholarly treatise, the need of the hour was a simple book introducing Sankaradeva to the outside world.

This small volume on Srimanta Sankaradeva is for the uninitiated; for those who have neither the time nor the inclination to go through weighty tomes; for the youth who may have grown up hearing of the saint but know little about him; and for those from afar, curious for a glimpse of Assam’s religious life. A compilation from various sources, it has no scholarly pretensions. It tells the story of a man who rose to greatness in his lifetime. It traces the life, times, and the works of the great father of Assamese spirituality. Emphasis is on his multi-faceted genius, often obscured by religious overtones. The Sarod maestro, Amjad Ali Khan, who graced its launch in Guwahati, Assam, remarked it as a storehouse of information about the poet-saint, ranging from his naam-ghar to Vrindavani Vastra. It is hoped that it can fulfill at least a part of that promise.

On 15 November 2000, Xatriya – the dance tradition originating in Assam’s Vaishnava monasteries – was accorded the status of a classical dance form by the Sangeet Natak Akademi. One among eight – the other seven traditions being Bharatanatyam, Kathakali, Kuchipudi, Manipuri, Odissi, Mohiniyattam, and Kathak – Xatriya dance alone is traced back directly to one individual.

A few years later, on 25 March 2004, Christie’s of New York put up for sale, a tapestry of figured silk at a reserve price of 1,20,000 dollars. The provenance of this tapestry, extraordinarily, was that same individual – the 15th-century Assamese poet-saint Sankaradeva.

Sankaradeva is better known, nevertheless, as a Vaishnava reformer, his key literary texts a part of every Assamese household. That his dance forms are today part of the classical canon is not without irony. For, Sankaradeva created his works in the language of the people in order to ensure an accessibility and openness hitherto denied except to a few.

This is his story.

LIFE AND TIMES

Birth

Sankara is born on an uneventful day in September of the year 1449. Kusumavara, his father, is overjoyed; the Lord has answered his call. For, he had gone across the mighty Brahmaputra to the Shiva temple at Singari, and prayed for a son. There is also quiet satisfaction for Satyasandha, Sankara’s mother. Finding her without child after several years of marriage, Kusumavara had taken a second wife. By a turn of fate, it is Satyasandha who now bore him his first child, a son much coveted.

That night, there are great festivities in the household of the Siromoni Bhuya in Alipukhuri, a small village near Bardowa in Nagaon district in central Assam. No one in attendance would sense that the history of the period would one day describe the Bhuyas as ‘petty chiefs’.¹

Ancestors

Sankara’s ancestors entered Assam around 1350 through the western route. They came as emissaries from Dharmanarayana of Gaur in Bengal to the Kamata king Durlavanarayana who ruled parts of western Assam. Durlabhanarayana settled them at the border as sentinels of the frontier, gave them land and men, and the title Bhuya. Bhuya, also Bhuiya or Bhuiyan, was merely the Sanskrit equivalent of the Persian word ‘Zamindar’, meaning landlord, and had nothing to do with caste. Each Bhuya was independent of the others within his own domain, but they joined forces when threatened by a common enemy.² Chandivara, the ablest among them, was made their leader. A man of enterprise, he was as well versed in the scriptures as in the art of warfare. He earned the goodwill of the Kamata king when he outsmarted a scholar from Nadia, Bengal, in a debate in the royal court.³

Seeking greener pastures, Chandivara and a few other Bhuyas later moved east. They finally settled at Bardowa in Central Assam, ruling