The legacy
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As many as 15 heads of sattras of Assam are assembling in New Delhi this weekend to celebrate the centuries-old institutions.
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HARBOURING HERITAGE A man having a look at a manuscript at the Auniati Sattra museum at Majuli.
If not for the first time, surely after a very long time has anything associated with the Sattra monasteries of Assam been organised in New Delhi. Called Sattra Darshan, the two-day event, filled with workshops, symposiums, theatre and other cultural activities related to these centuries-old religious and cultural institutions of the north-eastern state, is being organised by Vivekananda Kendra Institute of Culture. As many as 15 Sattradhikar Prabhus (institution heads), mostly from Majuli island of Assam, the nerve centre of the Sattras, will take part in the event that starts this Saturday.
Started by Vaishnava reformer Srimanta Sankardeva in the 15th Century, the sattras, an offshoot of the Bhakti Movement, became active centres for Assamese people, through the centuries, for religious learning with democratic norms. They thus inculcated a sense of working for a collective consciousness. Side by side with religious learning, sattras gave people a platform to learn other activities such as mask-making, music, painting, sculpture, dramatics, literature, weaving, cane and bamboo craft and of course, agriculture, as part of an endeavour to implement socio-economic change born out of the Bhakti Movement. So sattras are associated with institutes like Namghar, and cultural activities like Bhaona (mythological plays) and performing art forms like Sattriya dance, Gayan-Bayan and Mati-Akhara.
Says Dipankar Mahanta of Vivekananda Kendra Institute of Culture, Guwahati, "We thought of organising the event to highlight the cultural contribution of the sattras in binding the Assamese society more than being a religious force. If you look at its organisational dynamics, it is an organic whole, an ideal model of an extended family with the potential to realise the dream of Vasudhaiva kutumbakam." Mahanta says because of its inherent qualities the sattra can become an economic powerhouse. The Guwahati centre, since 2003, has taken up sattra as a subject of study and is involved in documenting different aspects of the institution, organising training workshops based on the traditional methods of mask-making and manuscript preparation among other things.
"The time is now to bring it to a wider audience," says Mahanta.
The event, to be inaugurated by Jammu and Kashmir Governor S.K. Sinha at Satya Sai International Auditorium on Lodi Road, will have Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi as its chief guest on Saturday at Chinmaya Mission.
"Parijat Haran"
While the exhibition on Sankardeva, sattra institutions and Vivekananda Kendra will be at Satya Sai auditorium, "Parijat Haran", the Ankiya Bhaona written by Sankardeva, will be staged at Chinmaya Mission by the artistes of Titabor Zila Sattra. Besides, the event will see the reading of many a research paper on the institution even as the heads of the sattras take part in an interactive session with scholars and other participants.
SANGEETA BAROOAH PISHAROTY
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