About Mahapurush Sankaradeva
“A Great Vaishnav arevival under Sankaradeva in 16th Century has made Assamese people, kindly, tolerant and humane. There is no sign anywhere of that form of un-touchability which is found in Northern & Southern India.” Mahatma Gandhi.
“Ankia Bhaona” initiated by Mahapurush Sankaradeva is the first Indian Playwright – Girish Karnad
Mahapurush Srimanta Sankaradeva, the great 16th Century Saint from Assam was a multi-dimensional personality, who was responsible for creating the casteless modern Assamese society. He was social reformer and was versatile genius and regarded as the father of the modern Assamese race. This versatile genius was a poet, dramatist, dancer, saint, sculptor, painter, traveller and most importantly a social Engineer who have created the fundamentals of Assamese Society.
He was the founder as well as foremost exponent of the Neo-Vaisnavite Movement (NVM) in the eastern part of this country. Historically, he was one of the earliest leaders of the NVM, a senior contemporary of Guru Nanak of the Punjab and Sri Caitanya of Bengal.
Though his works have not been adequately studied in detail in rest of India inspite of its universal appeal and the strong binding chord that it contains, Sankaradeva is a colossal figure in the cultural and religious history of Assam: He is credited with providing a thread of unity to Assam, straddling two major kingdoms (Ahom and Koch kingdoms), building on past literary activities to provide the bedrock of Assamese culture, and creating a religion that gave shape to a set of new values and social synthesis.
He was a social Engineer, who brought people from various castes & tribes to be a part of his culture movement. He realized that to win hearts of the people, caste and religion barriers must be broken. As such, he has started a socio culture movement taking people from all strata including the Muslim, and created the fundamentals of Assamese society.
He helped in various ways in giving a characteristic stamp and ethos to the life and society of Assam and thus has been rightly acclaimed as the father of the Assamese way of life, viz. spiritual, religious, aesthetic, cultural, sociological and literary too.
The Sankaradeva accelerated the pace of a renaissance of literature and fine arts like music and painting. It brought about a new and comprehensive outlook on life and a distinctly healthy tone to social behavior. Perhaps no other poet’s writing has woven itself in the mental texture of a people as that of Sankaradeva in Assam. Millions of Assamese people have found in his writings a moral code of social conduct and also a way of life. Srimanta Sankaradeva used the Vrajawali language in his plays like in his Bargeet. As a result, his plays had a wide audience covering almost the entire Northern India. The play Kaliya Damana had such an impact in Bengal that it led to an era known as Kaliya DamanaYatra era there. Similarly the playwrights like Govinda and Umapati in Mithila were influenced by the peculiar style of Srimanta Sankaradeva. His writings have become a living faith, and JAI GURU SANKARA, a sacred mantra for salutation as well as salvation.
Mahapurush Sankaradeva travelled across India and came back and introduced the concept of “Bharatvarsha” to Assam & North East India. He glorified Bharatvarsha through his writings and encrypted the concept in the minds of people.
However, such a multi-faceted personality hasn’t got due recognition in the rest of the country in later years and his creative works remained within the boundaries of Assam even though his messages carry a pan-Indian feel and, in the larger scheme of things, can go a long way into the assimilation of the Northeast into greater India. His vision during his time has great relevance even today, when the entire country is witnessing parochialism and divisions amongst various groups of people especially the unabated incidents of racial commentary and violence targeted at Northeasterners.
Assam is one of the most unique State in the country with its abundance of resources including tea, oil, coal, the largest river in the country, largest concentration of wildlife and home to myriad tribes and communities. Sankaradeva has laid foundation of colourful culture of Assam which has evolved over the years.
To highlight the diverse culture of Assam and to commemorate the greatest icon of Assam and to spread the values, creations, ideals and teachings of this great Saint to rest of India, the Srimanta Sankaradeva Movement was started. The first edition of the movement was held in New Delhi in September, 2012 , the second edition in Bengaluru in June, 2013 and the third edition in NCPA, Mumbai in May, 2014. Ustd Amjad Ali Khan, Victor Banerjee were the Brand Ambassadors of the event which is considered the biggest cultural movement of Assam outside the region.