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Srimanta Sankaradeva was born at Alipukhuri near Bardowa in 1449 CE. But he lived almost half of his life in Tembuwani (Bardowa). His father was Kusumbar Bhuyan, who was ruler of the Bhuyan kingdom in middle Assam. Srimanta Sankaradeva lost his parents at an early age and was brought up by granny Khersuti. He studied in the residential school of Mahendra Kandali, where he composed his first literary work at the age of twelve. On completion of education, he assumed his administrative responsibility and also started preaching his own ideology.
Srimanta Sankaradeva got an institutional structure built at Tembuwani in 1468 CE, which came to be known as Thān over time. Some people started calling it Sattra in later days. It is the centre of entire religious activities and is still going strong. It consists of a prayer-house called Kirtanghar, which is surrounded by huts lived in by the devotees. These are called Hāti. The Kirtanghar is popularly known as Nāmghar these days.
Srimanta Sankaradeva preached that there is only one God, who controls the entire creation and remains within all sentient and insentient beings. He observed that worship of innumerable deities acted as a hindrance for attaining the final beatitude. Srimanta Sankaradeva began preaching devotion to the one and only God, lord Krishna or Vishnu. He talked of universal brotherhood and advocated for integration of different ethnic groups in the society. He preached equality among the people. He gave equal status to all his disciples. The Shudras, the Muslims, the tribals—all were initiated by him in his path-breaking religious system that came to be known as Eka Sarana Nāma Dharma.
Srimanta Sankaradeva preached his ideology in the rest of India during his twelve years long pilgrimage in 1481-1493 CE. People accepted him as Guru in different parts of the country. The famous Goswami brothers, Rupa and Sanatana, who in their later lives became activists of Chaitanyadeva (1486-1534 CE) also, took initiation from Srimanta Sankaradeva at Vrindavan. A distinguished person named Vrindavana Das also became disciple of Srimanta Sankaradeva at Vrindavan. Two ascetics named Radha and Trijata of Vrindavan and Vrajadham respectively were won over by Srimanta Sankaradeva to the Bhakti discipline. Then there were Ramakanta of Upa-Dwaraka and poet Gopinath of Puskar, who became his disciples. There had been many people at Puri who took to Eka Sarana Nāma Dharma. Ultimately in 1493 CE, Srimanta Sankaradeva returned home at fortyfour years of age. He thus sowed the seed of Bhakti movement throughout Northern as well as Eastern India.
Srimanta Sankaradeva made his Thān complex at Tembuwani full-fledged with residential quarters for the devotees within the compound and on the four sides of the Kirtanghar in 1509. The Kirtanghar was the nerve-centre of the entire Thān. The Kirtanghar was a long and open hall, where the devotees sat together to sing the glory of God. There was no idol, but only a book, generally the Bhāgavata symbolizing God in the altar. Later, a small scripture Gunamālā authored by Srimanta Sankaradeva began to be kept there. Gunamālā is a summary of Bhāgavata. In addition to prayers, cultural functions and religious discourses also were held in the Kirtanghar. Over time it came to be an integral part of every Hindu village of Assam. Any Kirtanghar set up in the villages outside the Thān came to be known as a Nāmghar.
Srimanta Sankaradeva advised chanting of God’s name as God’s name makes Him available to the devotee. One can elevate oneself on the ladder of spirituality by chanting God’s name religiously. Chanting God’s name arouses the dormant spirituality in one. God’s name dispels ignorance and cuts asunder the bonds of attachment to the worldly life and things. Incessant chanting of God’s name creates an atmosphere of purity and sacredness wherein enlightenment dawn in the devotee. The method taught by Srimanta Sankaradeva is the easiest of the different modes of sādhanā.
Srimanta Sankaradevapreached absolute self-surrender to God. One should dedicate everything belonging to one to the almighty God and submit oneself at the same time at His disposal. God then takes the entire responsibility of the devotee. Actually, it is God’s will only that prevails. The self-surrender enables the seekers of truth to understand that. The devotee also becomes capable of getting over his ego, which is a great handicap in the path of spiritual development. The perfect devotee should not have even an iota of ego as it keeps him away from God. The devotee should consider himself as a mere tool in the hand of God. Such an orientation in the devotee’s attitude can be possible only when he follows the triple advices—pious company, chanting God’s name and absolute self-surrender to God.
Srimanta Sankaradeva preached a unique philosophy. His teachings were in the line of Upanishadic philosophy of enlightenment by knowledge of the self, together with pure devotion to the supreme God as preached in Bhāgavata. He made a fine blending of the two. There are elements of monism, dualism, qualified monism, dualistic non dualism and so many other branches of Hindu philosophy in his teachings. Actually, he carried the entire spectrum of Hinduism in his teachings. But he corroborated his teachings so logically that it came to form a whole new school, which can be termed Vivartanavāda in our view. It was a marvellous presentation of the entire range of spiritual inclinations of a person. A devotee could thus evolve through it from the gross to the subtle, from mundane to spiritual and from man to God.
Srimanta Sankaradeva did not renounce world. He himself married twice. He first married Suryavati in 1470 CE. But Suryavati died in 1473 CE, just nine months after giving birth to a daughter, Manu. The saint married Kalindi in 1503 CE. They had one daughter Rukmini and three sons Ramananda, Kamal Lochan, and Hari Charan. Ramananda was trained in accountancy and manuscriptology. Kalindi used to initiate devotees after the demise of Srimanta Sankaradeva, which was a revolutionary act.
Srimanta Sankaradeva was a great artist as well as an architect. The design of Kirtanghar constructed at Tembuwani was of futuristic design, the like of which was developed in the Western world only in the twentieth century. He also founded a whole new school of art. He initiated a new form of painting with his epoch-making drama-festival Chihna-Yātrā held in 1468 CE, where he drew the imaginary pictures of heaven to be used as backdrops. He encouraged illustration of his manuscripts and decoration of the Kirtanghar walls with pictorial depiction of stories from Bhāgavata. The figures in this manuscript have been drawn in an angular pattern and the lines are of flowing type. The Sankari art had its own style, which was different from other art forms in the country. The art on the body of altar also was completely futuristic and precursor of modern artists like Jacob Epstein (1880-1959 CE).
Srimanta Sankaradeva keenly felt the need of bringing about unity among the different ethnic groups inhabiting the valley. There were Koch, Ahom, Kayastha, Brahmin, Kalita, Chutiya, Mising, Kachari, Sonowal, Bodo, Deuri, Tiwa, Rabha, Daivajnya and so many other ethnic groups in the valley. But a composite race had not yet emerged. Most of these groups were well-conversant in military techniques and they had carved out their own kingdoms. It was only since arrival of Srimanta Sankaradeva in the scene that a wave of spiritualism began to spread among them and unite them by a common unseen bond. As more and more people subscribed to the ideology of Srimanta Sankaradeva, a feeling of universal brotherhood developed among these divergent ethnic groups. Eka Sarana doctrine of Srimanta Sankaradeva was a great bonding factor for the modern Assamese community. The ethnic groups subscribed to distinct cultures and ways of life. The heterogenous population of the valley came together, thanks to a common culture and a common thought evolved by Srimanta Sankaradeva. Even those who did not embrace his ideology accepted the cultural resources created by him. That is how the modern Assamese community came into being.
The unity among the multi-ethnic population of the valley was achieved by the strong emphasis on equality of all people in the Vaishnavite Eka Sarana Nāma Dharma order founded by Srimanta Sankaradeva. He enjoined upon all his disciples to treat every creature as a manifestation of the one and only God, lord Krishna. One should be kind to all creatures as God resides in every creature, the creaturesbeing only an extension of one’s own self. There is no differentiation over caste in this order unlike in other orders. Subscription to this philosophy brought about a sea-change in the people. The casteless society advocated by Srimanta Sankaradeva became a stepping stone for a classless society. He established an egalitarian society. A millionaire merchant and a poor farmer did not receive different treatments from him.
Srimanta Sankaradeva authored ten plays in his life. These were ChihnaYātrā, Patni Prasāda, Kāliya Damana, Keli Gopāla, Rukmini Harana, Pārijāt Harana, Janma Yātrā, Gopi Uddhava Sambāda, KangsaBadha,and Sri Rāma Vijaya. The first of these, ChihnaYātrā had been staged in 1468 CE. The second play Patni Prasāda was written while the saint was living at Gajalasuti temporarily. The last play Sri Rāma Vijaya was written as well as directed by the saint only a few days before his demise. He used the Brajāwali language in his plays as well as his devotional songs ‘Bargeet’. As a result, his Bargeet and the plays had a wide audience covering almost the entire Northern India. He departed from the typical norms laid down by Bharata for classical plays. The Sutradhāra or the compere of Srimanta Sankaradeva’s plays also was completely different from the Sutradhāra of Sanskrit plays. His use of drama as a medium for religious preaching was also a great act of innovation. In this respect, he was a pioneer in the entire world. Nobody had used this medium for proselytizing or propagational work before him. He was thus a path-finder for even Bertolt Breckht, who used this medium for propagating his socialist message in the twentieth century. Srimanta Sankaradeva’s achievement as a playwright and dramatist was also phenomenal. It was he who introduced the drop-scene in drama. He used it in the ChihnaYātrā before it was used in Europe. His dramatic talent can be compared only to that of Shakespeare, who came 119 years later to the realm of theatre. He was also the first director to use elevated stage for play. ‘The swan theatre’ of London introduced such stage as many as 128 years after ChihnaYātrā was staged at Tembuwani.
Srimanta Sankaradeva and his followers engaged themselves in the work of propagating knowledge and wisdom in their own ways. He authored many songs, plays, prayers and philosophical writings. These contained a major portion of the course material prevalent in the then residential schools. Thus, he was on a literacy mission too. His educational programmes were not restricted to religious aspect only. Despite the fact that the cultural tools adopted by him were seeped in the love of God, there were many secular elements too in his dance, music, art and craft. He imparted these mainly to his disciples; but gradually the knowledge was passed on to the people at large. Over time an institutional arrangement came up within the Thān to impart all these skills to the new entrants.
Srimanta Sankaradeva could not live in one place for long period due to the socio-political disturbances. He had to leave Bardowa in 1516 CE following ethnic conflicts in the area. Then he and his fellow devotees as well as relatives lived in Rowta and Gangmow for few months each, finally settling in Dhuwahata in upper Assam in 1522 CE. Here he met his future successor Madhavadeva, a great scholar and merchant.
Madhavadeva’s arrival gave a new fillip to the order. But the increasing popularity of the Vaishnavite philosophy of Srimanta Sankaradeva made him the target of the Brahmin priests, who lodged numerous complaints to the Ahom kings. Thereafter, the royal persecutions started. Srimanta Sankaradeva’s son-in-law Hari was executed and Madhavadeva was kept under house arrest for six months in the Ahom capital. These harassments prompted the saint to leave for Koch kingdom in lower Assam. He settled at Patbausi in 1542 CE after short stays at Chunpora and Kumarkuchi. The Koch king Nara Narayana was a great scholar and he showed enormous respect to the saint. The Koch General, Chilarai soon became a disciple of the saint. In 1550 CE, Srimanta Sankaradeva went on his second pilgrimage along with one hundred twenty disciples. This time they travelled for only for six months due to political instability in the peninsula.
Several new devotees enriched the order in lower Assam. Important among them were Damodaradeva, Harideva, Sri Ram, Govinda, and Narayanadas Thakur. A Muslim tailor Chandsai also embraced Vaishnavism from Srimanta Sankaradeva in Kochbehar and later came over to Patbausi. Thus, a new movement was started from Patbausi. Srimanta Sankaradeva prepared a great piece of textile art ‘Vrindavani Bastra’ in 1554 CE at the request of king Nara Narayana. He designed the art woven in that cloth, which depicted the life story of lord Krishna. It was sixty cubit long. Special yarns were supplied by the Koch king for weaving this cloth. It took six months to complete the work and it was delivered to Nara Narayana in early part of 1555 CE. Nara Narayana was highly pleased with Srimanta Sankaradeva, who fulfilled several other requests also of the king. One of these was the abridgement of the scripture Bhāgavata. This abridged version is kept in altar of Kirtanghar.
Over time, the Eka Sarana Nāma Dharma received wide acceptance in the entire Brahmaputra valley. Even the administrative officials of the Ahom kingdom were gradually won over to this egalitarian religion. The Ahoms earlier had their own traditional religion, which was akin to the Shakti worship of the Hindus. Sacrifice of animals to appease their deities was a common thing in the Ahom religion. Even human beings were sacrificed in some temples. However, the Brahmin priests looked down upon the Ahoms as belonging to low caste and would not partake of offerings by the king before the deity. This led to a dislike for Brahminism among the Ahoms. As a result, many of them changed their loyalty to the Eka Sarana Nāma Dharma. Thus, people of both the Ahom kingdom and the Koch kingdom accepted it as the predominant faith. Eventually Srimanta Sankaradeva left for heavenly abode in 1568 CE at Kochbehar. He chose Madhavadeva as his successor before that.
Madhavadeva’s father Govinda Bhuyan was an accountant of Pratap Rai, the king of Banduka, presently in Rangpur district of Bangladesh. Forefather of Govinda had earlier migrated from Kannauj along with other Bhuyans. Govinda married a girl named Anuchita in Banduka. Anuchita died at an early age leaving an infant son, Damodar. When Damodar grew up, Govinda transferred his office to Damodar and set out for Assam with some merchandise. He reached Tembuwani and was glad to find the Bhuyans residing there. Srimanta Sankaradeva persuaded him to marry again and arranged a match with his cousin Manorama. Srimanta Sankaradeva also appointed Govinda as ‘Bora’ or a revenue officer of the Bhuyan kingdom at Rowta.
A terrible attack by the Bhutiyas towards the end of 1488 CE made Govinda and Manorama completely broke. Manorama was then five months pregnant. When the couple tried to escape from the place in a Pālanquin, they were robbed by the carriers themselves. However, luck was in their favour. They were rescued by Harisinga Bora, an Uzir of the Ahom administration, who took them to his house.
Harisinga Bora treated Govinda and Manorama as his own parents and put them up in his residence at Rangajan in Narayanpur. It was there that Madhavadeva was born on 1st Jeth of 1411 Sakābda (May, 1489 CE). As Madhavadeva grew up, he began to assist Harisinga in tax collection works. Govinda and his family left Narayanpur in 1503 CE and started to live at Ghagar, under the care of Govinda Majhi.
Manorama gave birth to her second child, Urvashi there. About fourteen years passed and Urvashi grew up to a fine lady. However, there was no Bhuyan family in the vicinity to seek alliance for her. So, Govinda left Ghagar and married off Urvashi to Ramdas alias Gayapani at Bhararidubi.
After the marriage was solemnised, Govinda and Madhavadeva set out for Banduka, leaving Manorama with Urvashi and Ramdas at Bhararidubi. Madhavadeva met his elder brother Damodar for the first time at Banduka. Damodar arranged for his education under Rajendra Adhyapaka, a reputed scholar. Within a short time, Madhavadeva mastered all the scriptures of Sanātana (Hindu) religion. Then he learnt accountancy too, since it was their family trade. Madhavadeva proved his genius by completing both academic as well as professional training in a short period of just three years.
Madhavadeva and Govinda were preparing to return to Assam after three and a half years of stay in Banduka, when Govinda passed away suddenly. When Madhavadeva eventually returned to Assam, he was informed on the way that his mother was lying critically ill. Thereupon he mentally dedicated a pair of he-goats to goddess Durga, seeking recovery of his mother. Thereafter the events took him to Srimanta Sankaradeva and he embraced Eka Sarana Nāma Dharma. Once he surrendered himself completely at the lotus-feet of Srimanta Sankaradeva, he shifted permanently to Dhuwahata leaving his mother in the care of Ramdas and Urvashi. He gave up all his worldly possessions and started living like a renouncee. His mother had performed Joron (presentation of jewellery) ceremony with a girl from Negheriting with a view to bring her as daughter-in-law and gifted the customary gold jewellery. Madhavadeva came out of that alliance too. He returned from the thresh-hold of married life.
Madhavadeva became a catalyst for Srimanta Sankaradeva. He even incorporated a fourth dimension in the Eka Sarana Nāma Dharma. He added the necessity of Guru (Preceptor) as the fourth cornerstone required to be followed by the devotees together with Deva (God), Nāma (Name) and Bhakata (Devotee). Accepting a person as one’s Guru enabled one to get over one’s ego, which was the biggest hurdle in the path of devotion. Guru represented God to a devotee. Madhavadeva knew all these things and hence he advised the incorporation of this element. He began to act as an assistant of his Guru in all spheres.
Once Madhavadeva was arrested alogwith Srimanta Sankaradeva’s son-in-law Hari when the Bhuyans failed to guard the captured elephants; they had been entrusted with guarding the elephantsduring an elephant safari organised by the Ahom king. Hari was executed.
Madhavadeva was kept under house arrest for six months in the Ahom capital before being acquitted. This made Srimanta Sankaradeva leave the Ahom kingdom. Madhavadeva took immense care of his Guru throughout the journey to Koch kingdom. He became friend with Narayandas Thakur, a great merchant, who took initiation under Srimanta Sankaradeva at Chunpora, their first place of stay in the Koch kingdom. From then onward Narayandas Thakur took all mundane responsibilities of Madhavadeva.
Madhavadeva went out of his way to serve his Guru, Srimanta Sankaradeva. He volunteered his service to fulfil the needs and requirements of Srimanta Sankaradeva. One evening in the Bhāda month of Assamese calendar, Madhavadeva learnt that Srimanta Sankaradeva did not have any change of cloth to wear in the next morning. The Guru had only two sets of clothes. He had washed one set in that evening as he had to take bath. The weather was cloudy and hence there was no chance of the wet clothes getting dried by the next morning. Madhavadeva set out for the house of Dibakar Maral, a weaver, after taking supper. Dibakar had been given yarn to prepare a third set of clothes for Srimanta Sankaradeva.
There was a heavy downpour that night and the roads were completely inundated. But Madhavadeva did not care for that. He had to walk through chest-deep water in some places. Not only that, he even avoided the safe land route and instead travelled through the fields and jungles in order to reach early. His body was scratched by thorns; the leeches sucked blood from him. But he was not dissuaded. Eventually he reached Dibakar’s house after three hours. Dibakar bathed him and gave him a new change of cloth to wear. Madhavadeva returned to Patbausi after collecting the clothes from Dibakar. He presented those to Srimanta Sankaradeva when the Guru just completed his bath and started mopping water from his body.
Srimanta Sankaradeva set out for his second pilgrimage in 1550 CE. Madhavadeva took all care of theGuru during this trip. He washed the feet of Srimanta Sankaradeva when those suffered from day-long walk in the Sun. He would arrange provisions for Guru as well as the fellow pilgrims and assist his Guru in cooking food. Only after that he would cook his own food. Whenever any adverse situation arose, Madhavadeva took the first step to solve it.
Srimanta Sankaradeva had composed two hundred and forty Bargeets in his inimitable style. These songs were sung by the devotees as part of their prayer sessions and also as item of cultural entertainment. Once a devotee named Kamala Gayan took the manuscript of Bargeets to his house for memorizing. A forest fire ravaged Patbausi that very year during the Chat (March-April) month. Kamala’s house was engulfed by that devastating fire. With that, the manuscript of Bargeets also was burnt to ashes. Srimanta Sankaradeva was upset by this unfortunate incident. He asked Madhavadeva to compose some songs. Actually, Madhavadeva had been composing Bargeets even before that. Even during the second pilgrimage, Srimanta Sankaradeva quite often asked his favourite disciple to come up with own composition, whenever he came across any penegyrist from other sects. Madhavadeva was an expert composer of not only Bargeet, but also of Bhatimā and other verses.
Madhavadeva tried his best to jot down the verses of Srimanta Sankaradeva, which some or other devotees had memorised already. This way he recovered thirtyfour Bargeets composed by Srimanta Sankaradeva fully. Next, he tried to recover the scattered parts of the remaining songs. He went on to embellish those parts with his own compositions so as to make complete songs out of them. In total, one hundred ninetyone Bargeets are now available between Srimanta Sankaradeva and Madhavadeva.
Srimanta Sankaradeva gave yet another important responsibility to Madhavadeva. It was the task of translating the first canto of the epic, Rāmāyana. Srimanta Sankaradeva and Madhavadeva were editing the Assamese translation of Rāmāyana, which had been originally rendered into Assamese by Madhava Kandali, a reputed poet of yesteryears. Srimanta Sankaradeva and Madhavadeva carried out this editing in order to save the valuable work of Madhava Kandali from being plagiarised by a contemporary author. But Madhava Kandali had translated only five cantos of Rāmāyana. So, Srimanta Sankaradeva decided to render the remaining two cantos also. He translated the last canto, while the first canto was translated by Madhavadeva. It is called Adikānda Rāmāyana.
In the early part of 1568 CE, Srimanta Sankaradeva came over to Bhela permanently to spend the remaining days of his life there. Before that, he settled the issue of succession in the order as his disciples had started worrying about it. The Eka Sarana Nāma Dharmahad already been established as an important religious order and the number of followers also increased by leaps and bounds. Srimanta Sankaradeva invited all his disciples living in the Brahmaputra valley to Patbausi. He entrusted the responsibility of leading the order upon Madhavadeva formally in that congregation by putting a garland of holy Basil leaves on Madhavadeva’s head. Thus, Madhavadeva was declared an Achārya as well as the over-all head of the order.
Madhavadeva was looking after the family of his preceptor, Srimanta Sankaradeva at Patbausi with great sincerity after the Guru’s demise. But some jealous persons made some derogatory comments on his involvement with a family full of widows. The eldest son of Srimanta Sankaradeva, Ramananda also died in 1569 CE leaving his widow. The second son, Kamal Lochan had died earlier in 1561 CE leaving his widow. Madhavadeva was taking care of all these helpless women. But he was hurt by the cruel comments of his adversaries and therefore he shifted to a nearby place Sundaridiya. He visited the family of his Gurufrom there now and then. He translated the scripture Bhakti-Ratnāwali by Bishnupuri to Assamese. He also gave a systematic form to the prayer sessions of Eka Sarana Nāma Dharmaand divided them into fourteen sessions to be perfomed at different times of the day. These are called Chaidhya Prasanga.
The religious order Eka Sarana Nāma Dharmawas characterised by its stress on aesthatics. Both Srimanta Sankaradeva and Madhavadeva were great artists. They both composed many songs, dances, and plays. Madhavadeva sought to maintain the tradition of his Guruand therefore constructed a beautiful Kirtanghar at Tantikuchi (Barpeta), where Srimanta Sankaradeva had prepared the famous Vrindavani cloth and woven the life and works of lord Krishna in fabric. This Kirtanghar, established by Madhavadeva in 1585 CE, was beautified by elements like quartz, which glittered like gold. Religious festivals were held in this Kirtanghar. A lot of people started coming from far and wide. This made the adversaries very jealous. They complained that Madhavadeva had decorated the Kirtanghar with gold and silver. They got a royal official, Surananda to check the Kirtanghar thoroughly. Surananda almost tore down the Kirtanghar. He also arrested the devotees on the false allegation of making young females act in the plays and dances. Actually, all those actors and danceuses were boys, who played the roles of damsels. Surananda released the devotees only after extracting huge amount of ransom money from them. All these made Madhavadeva very sad. But he was not dissuaded from the mission entrusted upon him by Srimanta Sankaradeva. He gave Gopal, the erstwhile head weaver of Tantikuchi the responsibility of maintaining the Barpeta Kirtanghar. Gopal later became famous with the name of Mathuradas Burha Ata.
Madhavadeva travelled extensively to spread the message of Srimanta Sankaradeva. Many people got initiated in the Eka Sarana Nāma Dharma. This made a section of the elite class very jealous. They incited the local king, Raghu, who was son of Chilarai, former General of the undivided Koch kingdom, against Madhavadeva. These people got Madhavadeva banished to Hajo. But there too Madhavadeva became a centre of attraction. People visited him more than the famous Hayagriva Mādhava Dewālaya. This made the royal officials of Kochbehar sit up. Lakshminarayan was then the king of Koch kingdom. He was the son of Naranarayana, the former king of the undivided Koch kingdom. His administration invited Madhavadeva to their kingdom. Madhavadeva was glad to comply with that request. He immediately moved to Kochbehar. He built a Thān at Madhupur, a place earlier shown by Srimanta Sankaradeva as a holy spot. Over time it became a centre of pilgrimage for the followers of Eka Sarana Nāma Dharma.
Madhavadeva completed some pending works. Srimanta Sankaradeva had asked him to compile the hymns authored by him (Srimanta Sankaradeva) for prayer. Madhavadeva sent his nephew, Ramcharan Thakur to different places of the Brahmaputra valley to gather those hymns. Different chapters were lying with different devotees in different places. Ramcharan gathered all those by great effort and compiled those to a book. This book is known as Kirtana-ghoshā. It is the most popular book in the Assamese language.
Madhavadeva also authored a book named Nāmghoshā. He had been asked by Srimanta Sankaradeva to write that book, where a devotee would be able to find the gist of the Eka Sarana Nāma Dharmaand also get help in developing devotion. Thus, this book was to be a mixture of philosophy and devotion, which was a very difficult task. But Madhavadeva made that difficult task possible by his great intellect and devotion. Nāmghoshā continues to attract the devotees even now with its deep philosophy and sweet devotional verses.
Srimanta Sankaradeva authored several plays in his life. Madhavadeva also followed in the footsteps of his Guru and composed several plays. Among all the direct disciples of Srimanta Sankaradeva, only Madhavadeva happened to be a playwright. So Madhavadeva could continue with the Ankiyā play tradition initiated by his preceptor. But his plays were of a different genre and these were called Jhumurā. He authored several plays like Arjuna bhanjana, Bhojana byavahāra, Chor dharā, Pimparā guchowā, Bhumi lutiowā, Rāsa jhumurā,and Kotorā khelowā. He also authored two Kāvyas named Rājasuya and Janma rahasyaat the instruction of Srimanta Sankaradeva.
Both Srimanta Sankaradeva and Madhavadeva were engaged in formulating a new pattern of music and dance, which they distanced carefully from other schools. There was an academic seriousness in them, which goaded them to compete with other classical schools of India. It became very distinct during the second pilgrimage of Srimanta Sankaradeva in 1550-51 CE. Whenever a penegyrist from any other cult sang a hymn during that journey, Srimanta Sankaradeva would ask Madhavadeva to come out with own rendering. Such encouragement worked wonder for Madhavadeva, who composed several beautiful songs. So, the school of Sankari music is highly indebted to Madhavadeva for the nourishment in its formative years.
Madhavadeva had been a merchant till the time he met Srimanta Sankaradeva. But once Madhavadeva and Srimanta Sankaradeva came together, it was as if sparks flew. The multi-faceted talent of Madhavadeva came out only after he came in contact with Srimanta Sankaradeva, who brought out the best from Madhavadeva. Srimanta Sankaradeva was thus a catalyst for Madhavadeva.
Madhavadeva had a good sense of history. He understood the importance of his preceptor, Srimanta Sankaradeva in the annals of history. So, he saved the valuable informations about Srimanta Sankaradeva’s life for posterity by introducing an oral tradition of discussing the anecdotes from the Guru’s life, in the Thāns. This practice is called Charit tolā and it continues to be practised even today. It was due to this tradition that the hagiographies of Srimanta Sankaradeva and his disciples could be written later on. Such acts of Madhavadeva proves his visionary nature and futuristic character.
The dance items like Chāli innovated by Madhavadeva had more vitality in them compared to the dance numbers by Srimanta Sankaradeva. There is a resemblance to the joyous expression of peacock in this dance form developed after the demise of Srimanta Sankaradeva. It was because of this dynamism that the Chāli dance was adapted for presentation in the Ahom royal court under the name Rajāghariyā Chāli in later times.
As is natural with any genius having a wide gulf with those around him, Madhavadeva also faced great inconvenience from his contemporaries who did not understand him well. His contemporaries were also jealous of his creativity and they ridiculed him for his creative activities. In fact, it had been happening since Srimanta Sankaradeva’s time itself. The Guru had then consoled Madhavadeva and encouraged him to carry on with the creative activities. The Guru went to the extent of declaring some time before his death that henceforth it would be Madhavadeva who would compose the institutional literature for the order. Madhavadeva was entrusted with the task formally in order to keep the baiters at bay. Unfortunately, it did not work and the order suffered a vertical split soon after the passing away of Srimanta Sankaradeva. Madhavadeva tried his best to deliver the good. He sent Bangshi Gopal, Jadumani and Badula Padma to upper Assam to spread the order.
Madhavadeva stood by his preceptor in the social restructuring activities ever since the Dhuwahata days. The Dhuwahata premises of the saint was nothing but a Thān. It was Madhavadeva who looked after the management of the Thān. He also maintained discipline among the devotees even during the life-time of the saint, as we can surmise from the available information in the hagiographies. He pointed out contradictions even in his preceptor’s wife, Kalindi, who had been dishonouring her husband and worshipping a lesser deity. All these went into strengthening the Thān institution. Madhavadeva understood very well that an institution prospered only if the members were loyal to its cause and philosophy. He took great care to uproot any contradiction within the system.
The dedication of Madhavadeva to the egalitarian outlook preached by Srimanta Sankaradeva could be seen in his refusal to accommodate the whims of the rich. Once he had to visit a person named Sivananda Laskar, a very proud royal official. Madhavadeva called on Sivananda since it was a directive of his preceptor, but he did not even touch water at Sivananda’s house, let alone partake of any food there. Sivananda tried to test Madhavadeva whether he succumbed to the attraction of money. Sivananda presented a lot of money, cloth, utensils etc to Madhavadeva immediately on his arrival. Madhavadeva spent the night there uneasily without even washing his feet as he did not want to use even water of the household of an arrogant person. He stayed there only to honour the word of his preceptor. He preferred the hospitality of poor devotees like Bol Buja, Krishna Teli etc and tribal devotees like Zemal Kachari.
The conspiracies against the Eka Sarana Nāma Dharmahad not ended. A royal official, Birupaksha Kaji took the leadership of the adversaries. Initially, Birupaksha used to admire Madhavadeva. But his views changed. His sons embraced Eka Sarana Nāma Dharmaand stopped having meals with him. This infuriated Birupaksha. He arranged a debate of eminent scholars to defeat Madhavadeva and prove Eka Sarana Nāma Dharmaas wrong. But Madhavadeva defeated all those scholars brought by Birupaksha Kaji. It turned out to be a non-event and Madhavadeva vanquished his opponents from Bengal. Undaunted, Birupaksha even engaged young damsels to distract the devotees. But he failed in that attempt too.
King Lakshminarayan was disgusted by those misendeavours of Birupaksha. The king reproached Birupaksha severely for bringing false allegations against such earnest devotees. The Koch king declared Madhavadeva as the head of all religious orders in his country. He also beseeched Madhavadeva to initiate him. But Madhavadeva refused to do so since his Guru Srimanta Sankaradeva had also refused to initiate the previous king.
Soon it became clear that Madhavadeva would not live much longer. The devotees asked him about his successor. Madhavadeva told them that he had not found any person fit to take the enormous responsibility of leading the order. He left the responsibility of maintaining the order upon the devotees themselves. He also advised them to elect someone to formally represent them from time to time. In this process, he bequeathed a firm democratic tradition in the order. Eventually he left for heavenly abode on 27th Bhāda of 1518 Sakābda (September, 1596 CE).
Srimanta Sankardev’s Naamghar establishments where all the cultural and religious ideologies were followed found its places in nook and corner of every part of Assamese villages.
Srimanta Sankardev’s Naamghar establishments where all the cultural and religious ideologies were followed found its places in nook and corner of every part of Assamese villages.
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