Assam is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of 78,438 km2 (30,285 sq mi). It is the second largest state in northeastern India by area and the largest in terms of population, with more than 31 million inhabitants. The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur to the east; Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram and Bangladesh to the south; and West Bengal to the west via the Siliguri Corridor, a 22-kilometre-wide (14 mi) strip of land that connects the state to the rest of India. Assamese and Boro are the official languages of Assam. Meitei (Manipuri) is the official language of Hojai district and the entirety of the Barak Valley region, while Bengali is an official language in the three districts of Barak Valley.
Kirtana, also rendered as Kirtan or Keertan, is a Sanskrit word that means "narrating, reciting, telling, describing" of an idea or story, specifically in Indian religions. It also refers to a genre of religious performance arts, connoting a musical form of narration, shared recitation, or devotional singing, particularly of spiritual or religious ideas, native to the Indian subcontinent. A person performing kirtan is known as a kirtankara.
Srimanta Sankardev was a 15th–16th century Assamese polymath; a saint-scholar, poet, playwright, dancer, actor, musician, artist social-religious reformer and a figure of importance in the cultural and religious history of the Bhakti movement in Assam. He is credited with building on past cultural relics and devising new forms of music (Borgeet), theatrical performance, dance (Sattriya), literary language (Brajavali). Besides, he has left a literary oeuvre of trans-created scriptures, poetry and theological works written in Sanskrit, Assamese and Brajavali. The Bhagavatic religious movement he started, Ekasarana Dharma and also called Neo-Vaishnavite movement, influenced two medieval kingdoms – Koch and the Ahom kingdom – and the assembly of devotees he initiated evolved over time into monastic centers called Sattras, which continue to be important socio-religious institutions in Assam and to a lesser extent in North Bengal.
Mājuli or Majuli is a large river island located in Assam, India. It is formed by the Brahmaputra River to the south and east, the Subansiri River to the west and an anabranch of the Brahmaputra River called Kherkutia Xuti to the North.
Vaisakhi, also known as Baisakhi, marks the first day of the month of Vaisakh and is traditionally celebrated annually on 13 April and sometimes 14 April. It is seen as a spring harvest celebration primarily in Punjab and Northern India. Whilst it is culturally significant as a festival of harvest, in many parts of India, Vaisakhi is also the date for the Indian Solar New Year.
Batala is the eighth largest city in the state of Punjab, India in terms of population after Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Patiala, Bathinda, Mohali and Hoshiarpur. Batala ranks as the second-oldest city after Bathinda. It is a municipal corporation in Gurdaspur district in the Majha region of the state of Punjab. It is located about 32 km from Gurdaspur, the headquarters of the district. It is also a Police district. Batala holds the status of the most populated town of the district with 31% of the district's total population. It is the biggest industrial town in the district.
Jorhat is an administrative district of the Indian state of Assam situated in the central part of the Brahmaputra Valley. The district is bounded by Majuli on north, Nagaland state on the south, Sivasagar on the east and Golaghat on the west. On the north of the district, the river Brahmaputra forms the largest riverine island of the world. The administrative seat is at Jorhat city.
Sikh music, also known as Gurbani Sangeet , and as Gurmat Sangeet, or even as Shabad Kirtan, is the classical music style that is practised within Sikhism. It exists in institutional, popular, and folk traditions, forms, and varieties. Three types of Sikh musicians are rababis, ragis, and dhadhis. Sikh music exists in various melodic modes, musical forms, styles, musicians, and performance contexts.
The Moamoria rebellion (1769–1805) was an 18th-century uprising in Ahom kingdom of present-day Assam that began as power struggle between the Moamorias (Mataks), the adherents of the Mayamara Sattra, and the Ahom kings. This uprising spread widely to other sections of Ahom kingdom including disgruntled elements of the Ahom aristocracy leading to two periods in which the Ahom king lost control of the capital. Retaking the capital was accompanied by a massacre of subjects, leading to a steep depopulation of large tracts. The Ahom king failed to retake the entire kingdom; a portion in the north-east, Bengmara, became known as Matak Rajya ruled by a newly created office called Borsenapati, became a tribute-paying but virtually independent territory.
Ekasarana Dharma is a neo-Vaishnavite Hindu monolithic Hindu vaishnav sect propagated by Srimanta Sankardeva in the 15th-16th century in the Indian state of Assam. It reduced focus on Vedic ritualism and focuses on devotion (bhakti) to Krishna in the form of congregational listening (shravan) and singing his name and deeds (kirtan).
Assamese literature is the entire corpus of poetry, novels, short stories, plays, documents and other writings in the Assamese language. It also includes the literary works in the older forms of the language during its evolution to the contemporary form and its cultural heritage and tradition. The literary heritage of the Assamese language can be traced back to the c. 9–10th century in the Charyapada, where the earliest elements of the language can be discerned.
Sukhrungphaa or Swargadeo Rudra Singha was the 30th Ahom king, reigning from 1696 to 1714 A.D. His father Gadadhar Singha freed Assam from the Mughal disturbances and internal conspiracies, thereby Rudra Singha inherited a stable state and government and had the advantage of the solid foundations laid by his father. He devoted his time to transform Assam into a first-rate power in India. He stopped the persecution of the Neo-Vaisnava sect and built temples, several public works, and patronized art, literature, and culture. Rudra Singha is also famed for being the real father of Ahom architecture. He giving up the isolationist policy of his predecessors forged diplomatic ties with various states of that time and established extensive trade with Bengal.
Satra are institutional centers associated with the Ekasarana tradition of Vaishnavism, largely found in the Indian state of Assam and neighboring regions. Numbering in the hundreds, these centers are generally independent of each other and under the control of individual adhikara, though they can be grouped into four different Sanghati (orders).
Narayanpur is a developmental block (place) located in the Lakhimpur district of the northeastern Indian state of Assam, within the North Lakhimpur subdivision. It falls under the Bihpuria constituency of the Assam Legislative Assembly and is served by the Narayanpur Police Station. The town of Narayanpur, situated at the center of the block, serves as the headquarters of the Deori Autonomous Council, the governing body of the Deori ethnic group. Narayanpur is also notable as the birthplace of several famous Vaishnavite saints, including Mahapurush Madhavdev.
Prof Bhabananda Deka was a pioneer Assam economist and author who conducted novel research on the economy of the far eastern part of India. He was also a leading Indian-Assamese litterateur of the famed 'Awahon-Ramdhenu Era' of Assamese literature during the mid-20th century. He was the author of a total of 115 English and Assamese books including textbooks on a range of fifteen subjects including economics, ancient Assamese literature, philosophy, education, religion, mythology, archaeology, tribal study, poetry, drama, memoirs, civics, political science, biographies; he also edited books and journals. He also authored a variety of research papers and articles about the state of Assam, a state in the north-eastern part of India. He pioneered the writing of books on Economics in Assamese. His Assamese book Axomor Arthaneeti was the first ever research-based comprehensive book on Assam Economics, which was published for the first time in 1963. He was conferred with the honorary title of 'Asom Ratna' -- 'Jewel of Assam' by the intellectuals of Assam on 19 August 2007 at a public meet held under the presidency of Prof. (Dr) Satyendra Narayan Goswami.
Vrindavani Vastra is a drape woven by Assamese weavers led by Mathuradas Burha Aata during 16th century under the guidance of Srimanta Sankardeva, a Vaishnavite saint and scholar who lived in present-day Assam. The lead weaver Mathuradas Burha Aata a disciple of Sri Sri Madhabdev, who was the first Satradhikar of the Barpeta Satra. Mathuradas Burha Aata along with his 12 assistant weavers wove the Brindavani Bastra. The large drape illustrates the childhood activities of Lord Krishna in Vrindavan. Parts of the original Vrindavani vastra are presently owned by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and Musee Guimet in Paris. The piece of cloth demonstrates the skillful weaving methods developed during medieval times and such complexity is rarely seen in present-day Assam.
Northeast India consists of eight states: Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura. Tourism in this area is based around the unique Himalayan landscape and culture distinct from the rest of India.
Madhupur Satra is a religious institutional center associated with the Ekasarana tradition of Vaishnavism, situated in Cooch Behar, the Indian state of West Bengal. It was established by Assamese Vaishnavite monasteries for religious practices in the mid 16th-century during Koch kingdom (1515–1949). The great Bhakti Saint Mahapurusha Srimanta Sankardeva (1449–1568) and his disciple Mahapurusha Madhavadeva died here. Madhupur satra is also called as Dahmukutor than; 'dahmukut' means 'bhiti' or living houses of ten disciples (bhaktas) of Srimanta Sankardeva. The name satra originates in the Bhagavata Purana in Sanskrit (sattra), and is used in the sense of an assembly of devotees.
Bharali Namghar is a temple situated in Bharali village, India. Bharali is approximately 2 km away from Hatbor, a place of historical importance under the Kaliabor subdivision in the Nagaon district, Assam in India. People from the Nagaon district are mostly agriculture oriented and are guided by rich Sattria culture.
Bordowa 'Batadrava' Than is a holy pilgrimage site in Nagaon, Assam. It is located in the birthplace of the great Assamese saint and social reformer Srimanta Sankardev. Sankardev at the age of 19, established the Bordowa Than in 1468, it is also the first Namghar or Than constructed. The rituals of this Than is conducted according to the norms of Purush sanghati. The pilgrimage site is located at Batadrava, about 16 km from Nagaon city and it covers an area of 16 bigha.
