"Sankaradeva and Madhavadeva" (original) (raw)

Development of Saiva Cult in Koch KingdomUnder Maharaja Biswa Singha(1496-1540)

UTTAR PRASANGA, 2018

The Koches belong to the Indo-Mongoloid group and one of the aboriginal tribes of Kamata Koch Kingdom. They had a prominent role in the state formation of this region. The emergence of the Koch as a political power in the early part of the 16th century is an important chapter in the history of NorthEast India. Taking advantage of the invasion of Kamata, a remnant of the old Kamarupa kingdom in A.D. 1498 by Alaudin-Hussain Shah of Bengal, Bishu, a chieftain of his race established his authority over a number of Bhuyans in Western Brahmaputra valley and thus founded a kingdom. Khan Amanatullah Khan Chowdhury says that Maharaja Biswa Singha was ascended the throne of Western Kamarupa or Kamata Kochbehar Kingdom in 1496 C.E 1 and extended his kingdom to the river Karatoya in the West and to the river Baranadi in the East. Immediately after this, he was elevated by a section of Brahmanas to the position of a Kshatriya of the Varnasrama order and called him as Biswa Singha, meaning the lord of the world and even traced his descent from Siva of the Hindu Trinity. Eventually, the process of Aryanisation and the process of Hinduisation began in the valley since the beginning of the early Christian era. Hence, at the time of establishment of the Koch kingdom i.e. early in the 16 century A.D. in the lower Brahmaputra valley, most of the people in almost entire Brahmaputra valley were by and large either pure Hindu or Hinduised. In fact,Western Kamrup or Kamata-Kochbehar under Biswa Singha was one of the powerful Hindu Kingdom in North East India. Despite this, their tribal belief was also continued to exist side by side. Especially from Kamarupa to further west of the valley, the Hindu beliefs system and social custom predominated since long time past. He had not only established a powerful and prosperous Hindu Kingdom in the medieval period which not only consolidated its administrative capability but also set up a liberal social, economic and Hindu culture. In the present paper an attempt has been done to explore how Saivism had been established during the time of Islamic penetration in Medieval India particularly in Eastern India. (II) The Brahmaputra valley was inhabited since long ago by the aboriginal people who had their own culture and religious beliefs. According to Kalika Puran Naraka apolitical

THE SATRA : A SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS INSTITUTION OF ASSAM

isara solutions, 2020

The Satra is a social and religious institution of Assam . This institution is the special feature of Assam Vaishnavism . The founder of Assam Vaishnavism was Srimanta Sankaradeva .The official name of Sankaradeva’s Vaishnavism is Ek-Sarana-Naam-Dharma, the religion of supreme surrender to one, and that one is Vishnu who is in the form of Narayana assumes incarnations from age to age. Sankaradeva was one of the greatest spiritual leaders of India in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. He was a versatile genius and he made outstanding contribution in the field of religion ,society ,art, culture ,literature and music.

Contextualising Sankaradeva and the Egalitarian Nature of Neo-Vaishnavism in Medieval Assam

International Journal of Scientific Research and Reviews, 2019

The Neo-Vaishnavite movement of Sankaradeva had played a very significant role in building the social and cultural life of the people of Assam. This new creed of Sankaradeva, adhering to main principles of Bhakti, revolutionized the entire face of the life of the people of Assam and led to the formation of broader civil society. This movement of Sankaradeva had cut deep into the fabrics of the Assamese society and transcending all barriers of caste and tribe. It united the diverse tribal communities of the region and gave it a culture, later to be identified as Assamese. Sankaradeva spread the ides of "EksaranaNam Dharma" which means taking shelter in one God and that is Krishna form of Vishnu, and dispelled the darkness of ignorance, superstition and irrational belief and practices. Moreover, religious institutions of the movement like Namghars (prayer hall) and Satras (monasteries) which were the product of the movement had a very influencing role in the social life of the people in the medieval period because these institutions worked both as a common platform and a democratic platform for the people. This paper is an attempt to study the Neo-Vaishnavite movement of Sankaradeva and its contribution in the formation of an egalitarian society.

NEO-VAISHNAVISM MOVEMENT OF SRIMANTA SANKARDEVA IN ASSAM: ITS SOCIO-CULTURAL IMPRINTS Neo-Vaishnavism Movement of Srimanta Sankardeva in Assam: Its Socio-Cultural Imprints

IAEME PUBLICATION, 2020

The propagator of Neo-Vaishnavism was Srimanta Sankardeva (1449-1568). When he was born, the socio-cultural situations of Assam were too much lamentable. Around then different misbehaviours were submitted for the sake of religion, which vitiated the social structure. There were individuals who approximately clung to Saivism or Vaishnavism and other people who rehearsed Saktism. The supporters of these factions enjoyed malicious practices like animal and human sacrifices, mystical ceremonies and so forth. Furthermore, the outcomes were poor people and oppressed individuals became survivors of these horrendous practices. To spare this circumstance Sankardeva, established the Neo-Vaishnavism in Assam, which is normally known as the Eksarana-Nam-Dharma. Sankardeva's Neo-Vaishnavism has given birth of new a social and social life for Assamese individuals and zeroed in on a public character moulded by social conventions and language through Cultural Nationalism, which presented to the Indigenous individuals with the assistance of Sattras and Namghar. Sankardeva was not only a religious propagator, but also a great social reformer and the pioneer of the socio-religious or cultural movement of medieval Assam in the Sixteenth Century.

A Quest for a Peaceful Socio-Religious Value system: Revisiting the Reformist Devotional Creed of Medieval Assam

IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science (IOSR-JHSS) Volume 22, Issue 12, Ver. 6 (December. 2017) PP 12-14 www.iosrjournals.org

" The devotional transformations of medieval Hinduism known as Bhakti movement, was a phenomenon of crucial importance in the history of Indian religion ". Srimanta Sankardeva is considered the pioneer of Bhakti movement in Assam. The new religion, " Ek Sarana Naam Dharma " , founded by Sri Sankardeva in fifteenth century in Assam marked the revival of Vaishnavite faith in Assam: it had a distinct reformist orientation and a social intent. Most importantly, it offered a respite to the largely uneducated and illiterate masses from animal-sacrifice-based rituals prevalent in all the existing religions of the times. Various aspects of the bhakti movement in Assam have been researched in recent times which have brought forth suggestions that counter the popular views regarding its nature and goals. Present article seeks to bring back into focus the fundamental tenets of Sri Sankardeva " s philosophy, its context and the element of " bhakti " that characterized it.

CHANGE, CONTINUITY AND COMPLEXITY: The Mahāvidyās in East Indian Śākta Traditions.

New Delhi: Manohar; London: Routledge, 2018

The Mahāvidyās are the representative Tantric feminine pantheon consisting of ten goddesses. It is formed by divergent religious strands and elements: the mātṛ and yoginī worship, the cult of Kālī and Tripurasundarī, Vajrayāna Buddhism, Jain Vidyādevīs, Śaiva and Vaiṣṇava faith, Śrīvidyā, the Brahmanical strand of Puranic traditions, etc. This volume is the first attempt to explore the historical process, through which these traditions culminated in the Mahāvidyā cult and the goddesses with different origins and contradictory attributes were brought into a cluster, with special reference to socio-political changes in the lower Gaṅgā and Brahmaputra Valley between the 9th and 15th centuries CE. Based on a close analysis of Purāṇas, Tantras and inscriptional evidence, and on extensive field research on archaeological remains as well as sacred sites, Jae-Eun Shin discusses the two trajectories of the Mahāvidyās in eastern Śākta traditions. Each led to the systematization of Daśamahāvidyās in a specific way: one, as ten manifestations of Durgā upholding dharma in the cosmic dimension, and the other, as ten mandalic goddesses bearing magical powers in the actual sacred site. Their attributes and characteristics have neither been static nor monolithic, and the mode of worship prescribed for them has changed in a dialectical religious process between Brahmanical and Tantric traditions of the region. This is the definitive work for anyone seeking to understand goddess cults of South Asia in general and the history of eastern Śākta traditions in particular. To aid study, the volume includes images, diagrams and maps.