The Vaishnavite Reformer of Assam (1449-1569)

Sankara Deva (1449-1569) is regarded as a religious saint by a large section of the Hindu population of Assam. He was the first of the religious reformers of Assam in the Middle Ages.

The reformation movement in Assam, led by Sankara Deva, took place when the Koch king Nara Narayana (1528-1584) ruled in Western Assam, and the Ahom King Chuhumung or Swarga Narayana (1497-1593) ruled over the Eastern part of the Brahmaputra Valley.

Assam, an ancient and colorful land, is a rich playground of many linguistic, ethnic and religious societies that have lived in harmony for centuries. Various national and social groups have developed and prospered on their own within the geographical confines of Assam, but with distinct and major influences on one another. Several hundred languages and dialects are spoken in Assam and its neighborhoods, in a relatively small geographical area. Assamese is the easternmost Indo-European language (whose speakers range from Ireland in the West to Assam).

The famed Namghor at Borpeta was built by Madhava Deva, the most celebrated disciple of Sankara Deva. After the reformer Sankara Deva was banished from Nagaon in Central Assam by the Ahom King of the time, he had fled to to PaatBauxi, and established a xotra (a religious school) there first and then in

The Bihus are the national festivals of Assam. There are three such festivals in Assam: in the months of Bohaag (Baisakh, the middle of April), Maagh (the middle of January), and Kaati (Kartik, the middle of October). The Bihus have been celebrated in Assam from ancient times. Each Bihu coincides with a distinctive phase in the farming calendar.

By: Dr. Girish Baruah

Bihu is the most important non-religious festival of the Assamese people. It is observed by all irrespective of class and caste. It has been being observed from time immemorial. It has been adjusting itself at different ages taking into consideration the changed situation of a particular age. So it is still surviving.

The Namphake village in Naharkatiya is home to a small population of the Tai Phakes community. Zafri Mudasser Nofil writes about their glorious legacy, customs, festivals and way of life.

Taiphake women

About six kilometres from the upper Assam town of Naharkatiya and 37 kilometres from Dibrugarh town, is the Namphake village in the riverine area of Buridihing, home to a small population of Tai Phakes. About 150 Phakial families of this village are keeping alive their unique identity, customs and traditions.

• A Short Note on the Bihu Festivals of Assam
• An article on Bihu by Girish Barua, Written exclusively for Assam OnLine, April 1997
• A few Bihu songs: two with English translation
• Bohaag Bihu around the world in 1997 (outside Assam)
  • Bohaag Bihu in Thailand

There are 23 districts in Assam. The population of the districts in descending order is given below:

Population of Indian States and Territories

The Kamakhya temple in Assam is one of the most venerated Shakti shrines in India, and is regarded as one of the Shakti peethams associated with the legend of Shiva and Daksha Yagna.

Kamakhya is located on a hill Neelachala Parvat or Kamagiri in the city of Guwahati in Assam. Shakti, residing on the Kamagiri hill is known as Kamakhya, the granter of desires.

by Jugal Kalita, kalita@pikespeak.uccs.edu

By H.K. Barpujari

An American Hospital in Assam

--Chaolung Chukapha (????-1268)
--Madhab Kandali
--Sankardeb
--Madhabdeb (1522-1596)
--Harideb (1426-1566)
--Damodardeb (????-1520)
--Naranarayan (16??-????)
--Chilarai (1510-1571)
--Ram Saraswati
--Ananta Kandali
--Mathuradas Burha-ata (1490-1596)
--Aniruddhadeb (1553-1626)
--Bhattadeb (1558-????)
--Swargadeo Pratap Xingha
--Mumai Tamuli Barbarua
--Ajan Fakir (1610-????)
--Swargadeo Jaidhwaj Xingha
--Lachit Barphukan(????-1671)
--Swargadeo Chakradhwaj Xingha (????-1670)

Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi was the first, and only, man from the entire northeastern region of the country to be awarded the Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award. The recognition, however, came half a century after his demise in August 1950. The delay in recognition was due to many obvious reasons like Assam being a far away place from the national capital with very weak information and communication facilities and also due to the indifferent perceptions and a general lack of understanding of the people of the region.

Jyotiprasad Agarwalla, a scion of the Agarwalla family of Tezpur, was a multi-faceted genius, who besides being Assam's first filmmaker was also one of the greatest Assamese playwrights. He was also the first to introduce the `western wave' in Assamese filmmaking.

Among all the modern Assamese, Krishna Kanta Handique understood his country and the world the best. A name synonymous with scholastic pursuits, he was a great Assamese of whom every Indian can justifiably be proud.

His life and works were a balancing of apparently irreconcilable opposites. A man given completely to profound study and never bothering about popularity, power and fame, Handique had a strong sense of social and moral obligation.

Lachit Borphukon, the Ahom general under whose command the Assamese forces gave such a resounding defeat to the invading Moghul army sent by Emperor Aurangzeb under the leadership of Raja Ram Singh of Amber, must be counted as one of history's greatest generals if one takes into account the vast superiority, both in man and material of the opposing forces. Then his personal courage always leading from the front, even when in poor health and ordering his men to carry him to the front of the ranks on his sick bed.

The people of Assam call him Sahityarathi. And, with good reason. Lakshminath Bezbarua (1868-1938) dominated the Assamese literary scene for about half a century. During his life time he devoted himself to revive the lost glory of the Assamese language and literature. In those days Assamese was not used in the school and courts of the state. Lakshminath Bezbarua fought an incessant battle with many of his contemporaries to establish a proper place for Assamese in the state. His literary and cultural crusade was aimed at the overall development of the Assamese society.

If the three ingredients - the man, the moment and the milieu-constitute the recipe for human greatness, these too occasionally conspire to bring about individual tragedies. Maniram Dutta Barua (1806-1858), popularly known as Maniram Dewan, undoubtedly the greatest Assamese of the first half of the 19th century is a poignant illustration of this truism.

Born : 1889. Fourth son of Late Rai Bahadur Betharam Saikia of Naobaisa village in Jorhat. Late. Kashinath Saikia from Calcutta university in 1913. The government of India then awarded scholarship to study industrial chemistry abroad. But the outbreak of World War-I in 1914 ruled out studies abroad. Took up a job in Bengal Paper Mill. having worked there for sometime, joined a Japanese firm and went to Japan and received training in the manufacture of paper. He then joined in Rangoon to a Burmese paper manufacturing concern . As its chief chemist. he was promoted as works manager.

1. Nagendra Nath Acharyya. The History of Medieval Assam. Dutta Baruah, Gauhati, 1966. NYPG, CUBG, DCLC, FLFG, MNUG, NYRG, PAUG.
2. Alban Ali. Assam. Indian Branch, Oxford University Press, Bombay, 1946. MNUG.
3. H. Antrobus. A History of the Assam Company, 1839-1953. Private Printing. by T. and A. Constable, Edinburgh, 1957. CUBG, CUDG, MNUG.
4. Mahendra Bara. 1857 in Assam. Lawyer's Book Stall, Gauhati, 1957. DCLC, CUDP.
5. Hiteswara Barabaruwa 1876-1939. Ahomara Dina. Asama Prakasana Parishada, Guwahati, 1981. DCLC, NYPG.
6. Srinath Duara Barbarua.
   

I. Introduction

by Jugal Kalita, kalita@pikespeak.uccs.edu

Land usage