Srimanta Sankardeva

March 1, 2022

On February 27, 2022, Assam government decided to set up ‘Naamghars’ (Vaishnavite Monasteries) across the places where 15th-century saint and social reformer Srimanta Sankardeva Sankardeva spent at least one night during his journey from Batradava (Assam) to Cooch Behar (West Bengal).

Highlights

Assam government is also planning to introduce special bus service under ASTC, in order to cover those places for pilgrims.
This announcement was made during 91st annual session of Srimanta Sankardeva Sangha at Naharkatia in Dibrugarh district.
Government would provide Rs 6 crore per annum to Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardeva University, in a bid to meet salary expenses of its employees.
It would fund Rs 1 crore, to set up a ‘Naamghar’ where open session is being held.

Who was Srimanta Sankardeva?

Srimanta Sankardev was a 15th–16th century Assamese polymath, a saint-scholar, playwright, musician, poet, dancer, actor and artist social-religious reformer. He was a figure of importance in cultural and religious history of Assam. 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). He was a multi-faceted spiritual guru of 15th and 16th centuries. He was a great soul who infused nationalistic fervour among Assamese people. Sankardev inspired the Bhakti movement in Assam just like Guru Nanak, Namdev, Ramananda, Kabir, Basava and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

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