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.
The Ahom dynasty (1228–1826) ruled the Ahom Kingdom in present-day Assam, India for nearly 598 years. The dynasty was established by Sukaphaa, a Shan prince of Mong Mao who came to Assam after crossing the Patkai mountains. The rule of this dynasty ended with the Burmese invasion of Assam and the subsequent annexation by the British East India Company following the Treaty of Yandabo in 1826.
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 monolithic religion 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.
Choapha Supatpha also Swargadeo Gadadhar Singha, was the twenty-ninth king of Ahom kingdom, who reigned from 1681 to 1696. He established the rule of Tungkhungia royal house of Ahom kings, whose descendants continued to rule till the climactic end of the Ahom kingdom in 1826. He was earlier known as Gadapani Konwar and was a son of Gobar raja, a descendant of Suhungmung, and who had become king for twenty days. Gadadhar Singha stabilized the Ahom kingdom, which was going through a long decade of political turmoil and instability. This period saw the ruthless power grab of Debera Borbarua and Laluksola Borphukan's abandonment of Guwahati to the hands of Mughals and oppression via Sulikphaa alias Lora Roja.
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.
Pitambar Deva Goswami was a spiritual leader and social reformer in the Indian state of Assam. At age six, he was accepted into the monastic order of the Garamur Satra. Goswami was schooled in Sanskrit by Nityanandadeva Bhagawati Vidyavagish in the satra. When he was 21, he was appointed Satradhikar of the Garamur Satra after the death of Jogachandra Deva Satradhikar Goswami..
Sutanphaa also Siva Singha was the 31st king of Assam from the Ahom dynasty who reigned from He was the eldest son of King Rudra Singha. Siva Singha was with his dying father at Guwahati, who then proceeded to the capital Rangpur where he ascended to the throne. He is noted for his elaborate system of espionage. He had numerous temples erected and made large gifts of land to them. With his patronage, Hinduism became the pre-dominant religion of the Ahoms. The king was also a patron of music and literature and music and himself composed Sanskrit songs and learnt songs. His reign coincided with the arrival of the first Europeans traders into Assam.
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).
Sutamla (1648–1663) Jayadhwaj Singha was the 20th king of the Ahom kingdom. During his reign the Mughal viceroy at Bengal Mir Jumla II invaded and occupied his capital Garhgaon as a result of which he had to retreat to the Namrup area, and because of this flight he is also known as the Bhagania Roja in the Buranjis. In the days of Jayadhwaj Singha Auniati Satra and Dakhinpat Satra was established. He formally accepted the initiation of Niranjan Bapu and settled him as the as Satradhikar in the Auniati Satra. He even exempted disciples of satra from personal labour to the state.
Damodardev (1488–1598) was sixteenth century Ekasarana preceptor from Nalaca, Nagaon. Damodardev was a follower of Sankardeva's Ekasarana dharma order. He started his own order after the death of Sankardeva that came to be called the Brahmasamhati, which admitted Brahmanical rituals and greater adherence to the caste system alongside the namadharma of Sankardev. He was succeeded by Bhattadeva.
Basudev Than or Narua Satra is a satra located in Dhakuakhana, Lakhimpur, Assam. It was first established in the 14th century by the Chutia king Satyanarayan. Originally known as Laumura Satra, this satra is well known in Assam and other parts 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.
Hinduism is the dominant religion practised in the state of Assam. According to some scholars, it is home to some of the most complex and poorly understood traditions in Hinduism. People follow traditions belonging to Shaivism, Shaktism, Tantra, and an indigenous form of Vaishnavism called Ekasarana Dharma; taken together the practitioners constitute around 61% of the state population as per the 2011 Census. Hindus form a majority in 17 out of the 29 districts of Assam. By region, there is a significant diversity among the ethnic groups that profess the Hindu faith, traditions, and customs. As per as 2011 Census, In Brahmaputra valley of Assam, Hindus constitute 62% of the population, the majority being ethnic Assamese. In the autonomous Bodoland region of Assam, Hindus constitute 71.3% of the region's population, most being of the Bodo tribe. In the Barak valley region of southern Assam, Hindus constitute 50% of the region's population, most being ethnic Bengalis. The Hill Tribes of Assam, particularly the Karbi people of Karbi Anglong and Dimasa people of Dima Hasao, are mainly Animism.
Aniruddhadev (1553–1626) was a 16th-century Ekasarana preceptor from Assam. Born to a Bhuyan named Gondagiri, Aniruddhadev was a disciple of Gopal Ata and the founder of the Mayamara satra of the Kalasamhati, the followers of which revolted against Ahom kingdom. who priotized the Brahmasamhati.
Painting of Assam, the art of manuscript painting in the Assam region developed through the movement of Vaishnavism. Vaishnava saints were primarily responsible for the establishment of manuscript painting tradition in Assam. A large number of manuscript paintings were done and copied during the 16th to 19th centuries. Assam has a very long history of visual art from the pre-historic age up to the end of Ahom rule in 1826 A.D. Among the earliest reference of Assam painting, the account of Chinese traveller Xuanzang records that King Bhaskaravarman of Kamarupa who was a friend of King Harsa of Kanauj presented the king “Carved boxes of panels for painting with brushes and gourds."
Badala Padma Ata (1546-1678) was a Vaisnavite Preacher and a saint who propagated his teaching during 16th and 17th centuries. He was one of the principle founder of Nika Samathi along with Mathuradasa Ata and Keshav Ata, and established 24 Satras in Upper Assam including the famous Kamalabari Satra. He first met Madhavdev at Bhela Satra and became a very devout disciple of him.
Sri Sri Auniati Satra is a satra or monastery located in the Majuli river island in Assam, India, that adheres to the Brahma Sanghati of the Ekasarana Dharma, a socio-religious and cultural movement initiated by Srimanta Sankaradeva, who was born in 1449 CE. It is one of the four "raj satras" or royal satras associated with the Ahom dynasty. It is the first satra patronised by the kingdom. It is usually believed that this satra was established in the year 1653 CE, with the initiative of Ahom king Jayadhwaj Singha, the first head monk or satradhikar being Sri Sri Niranjana Deva Goswami, even though different opinions exist.
