Srimanta Sankardeva

• The 575^th birth anniversary of medieval saint Srimanta Sankardeva was celebrated recently.

ABOUT SRIMANTA SANKARDEVA

• He was an Assamese saint-scholar, social-religious reformer, poet, playwright and a towering figure in the cultural and religious history of 15th-16th century in Assam.
• He was a Vasinav-saint and propagated a form of Bhakti called eka-sharana-naam-dhrama, and espoused a society based on equality and fraternity, free from caste differences, orthodox Brahmanical rituals and sacrifices.
  • It considered Lord Krishna to be one, eternal and absolute.
• He is widely credited with building on past cultural relics and devising new forms of
  • theatrical performance (Ankia Naat, Bhaona),
  • music (Borgeet),
  • literary language (Brajavali) and
  • dance (Sattriya).
• His teaching focused on prayer and chanting (naam) instead of idol worship.
• His dharma was based on the four components of deva (god), naam (prayers), bhakats (devotees), and guru (teacher).
• He even influenced two medieval kingdoms in Assam- Koch and the Ahom kingdoms
• The assembly of devotees he founded, evolved over time into monastic centers known as Sattras.