The Sattra Institution and Sattriya Culture
- Dr. P o n a  M a h a n t a

The Sattra institution of Assam was a creation of Srimanta Sankaradeva (1449-1567 A.D.), the great saint-scholar, poet-playwright and philosopher reformer, who nearly revolutionized the medieval society of Kamarupa-Asama in nearly all its aspects about five and a half centuries back. Born in a non-Brahmin Kayastha family, known as the Bhuyans and educated in an indigenous tol under the guidance of a well-known teacher of the time, Sankaradeva soon became well-versed in classical scholarship. Having studied most of the sastras, Sankara became a devout believer in and follower of one and only one Supreme Godhead, represented in Krishna-Visnu, and thus joined the pan-Indian neo-Vaisnava movement which soon became a strong religious-social-cultural force in this part of the country under his leadership. At the age of about twenty Sankaradeva wrote his first poetic composition on the story of king Harishchandra, thus beginning his long and chequered career of writing poems, hymns, plays and songs which were all centred on the concept of bhakti or devotion to the Supreme Being. When he was hardly thirty-two, Sankardeva undertook a pilgrimage in the company of some of his disciples to Northern India spending twelve years of his life during which he gathered immense experience about the religion of bhakti which became the dominant spirit of the faith and way of life he was soon to propagate. The geographical expression, now known as Assam, was in those days a habitat of people belonging to numerous ethnic groups of diverse creeds and faiths some of whom indulged in evil practices like animal slaughter and even human sacrifice in the name of religion. Sankaradeva aimed at synthesizing that society by introducing a very simple faith based on bhakti and nama, that is complete devotion to and chanting the names of that one God, the cause of all life in the universe, without any expensive and ostentatious rituals. To achieve his purpose of bringing the diverse people together under that simple religion he had to take the help of popular art and literature and also introduce some institutions of which sattra is a major and important one.

Sankaradeva is said to have established his first sattra at Bordowa, his birth place and then at different centers as he had to move from one place to another on account of internecine conflicts and royal persecution. A sattra is like a medieval shrine of math with central prayer-hall, called namghar, rows of houses arranged in particular order for the bhakats or disciples and office-bearers and separate residential building for the head of the sattra, called sattradhikar and his deputy known as deka satradhikar. The model of a sattra introduced by Sankaradeva and his chief follower and successor, Madhavadeva, was followed by others like Gopaladeva and Damodaradeva whose disciples took to establishing sattra which, in course of time, spread all over the Brahmaputra Valley gradually growing into hundreds in number. The administration of a sattra is run by the satradhikar assisted by his deputy and a number of other office-bearers. Some of the important functionaries of a sattra are Bhagawati, the reciter and expounder of the Bhagawata, also known as Namlogowa in some sattra of Upper Assam, Deori or Biloniya, the distributor of sacred offering known as mah-prasad, Bharali, the store-keeper. The musicians trained to organize devotional music and plays are known as gayan, the singers, and bayan, players of instruments like drums and cymbals. Prasanga or congregational prayer consisting of singing devotional hymns was originally held for fourteen times a day, but later on reduced to four or even two in some sattras for obvious reasons.

The center of a sattra is the namghar where members of the community assemble not only for prayer but also deliberations, religious, moral and cultural. A namghar consists of two principal parts, the manikut, the sanctum-sanctorum, where a sacred text is placed on a thapana, a pedestal receptacle or simhasana, and a bigger hall known in some sattras as rabhaghar. This hall, where people assemble for prayer, religious discourses or enjoying dramatic presentations, is usually open in all three sides except the one to which the manikut stands. It is to be noted that originally constructed with bamboo, reeds and thatch, the namghar is even now a humble structure without any outward show or ostentation.

Besides singing or chanting of devotional hymns and playing orchestral music, another very significant mode of popular education and entertainment which Sankaradeva introduced was bhaona, that is, performance of plays known as ankiya nats which is saint poet-playwright himself wrote, directed and even acted in. He wrote six full-fledged plays which, interestingly were preceded by a dramatic performance known as Cinhayastra where painted pictures of the seven Vaikunthas (about of Lord Vishnu) were presented with accompaniment of song, music and dance. As this proved to be extremely popular, Sankaradeva went on to write full-fledged plays on subjects taken from the epics and the Bhagawata Purana where the greatness and supremacy of Lord Krishna or Rama is shown. The plays were performed in the spacious hall of a namghar which, as has been noted already, was an inseparable part of a sattra. Singing, dancing, playing on musical instruments like khol, cymbals and many other indigenously developed instruments, acting mask-making and so on became part of sattriya culture as these were primarily cultivated and developed within the precincts of a sattra. Ankiya plays and bhaona, in course of time, became a welcome means of entertainment even for the royal family and the nobility. Ahom kings and courtiers invited satradhikars and Mahantas (spiritual leaders and preachers) from satras to perform plays in the royal palaces. For instance, it is mentioned in the Tungkhungia Buranji that at the invitation of king Kamaleswar Simha the Mahantas of Bareghar Satra presented the play Rukminiharana (1816), one of Sankaradeva’s well-known plays, and another sattras called Namati Dihing Satra, enacted a play titled Akrura-gamana. In this way ankiya plays and bhaona gradually came out of the confines of the sattras and namghars and people, irrespective of whether they lived in a sattra or outside, took to performing plays which were enjoyed by all sections of the society. Bhaona thus became ingrained in Assamese cultural life, and despite the invasion of modern drama and theatre in the nineteenth century, it has never lost its hold, particularly on the vast majority of the people living in the countryside. And in recent years bhaona appears to be regaining its earlier popularity as is evident in frequent performances and even bhaona competitions organized in the lines of modern one-act play competitions.

Ankiyan nat and bhaona is a dramatic institution where there is a preponderance of dance and songs. Characters in an ankiya play enter the stage dancing in a given manner to the accompaniment of songs and music. In nam prasanga, that is, daily services offered at regular intervals in the namghar and other forms of praying and singing, dance has a distinctive place. Those people in a sattra, therefore, who take part in bhaona, devotional singing and chanting and other manner of congregational praying, have to be dancers trained the proper way. Dance is thus an inseparable part of sattriya culture which has been sustained through the aged since the days of Sankaradeva who himself was a master dancer and musician. The dance form introduced and developed by Sankaradeva and followd by his great disciples like Madhavadeva, Damodaradeva, Gopaladeva, Harideva and others, is known as sattriya nritya probably because it was an integral part of the bhakti movement led by the great master and also because it was in a sattra that, like bhaona, dance also was initially cultivated. As Sankaradeva’s aim was to bring the common people into the fold of his ekasarana nama dharma (complete submission to one and only One God through chanting His name again and again), he laid great emphasis on dance, along with acting, which could easily catch the fancy of the ignorant laity. So Sankaradeva saw to it that the dance forms he developed, though classical in spirit, would take in their ambit as many elements from indigenous sources as possible. It is, therefore, found that sattriya dance is an assimilation of classical elements and elements taken from folk dance forms practices by various othnic groups. Some of the important and popular forms of sattriya dance are sutradhari nritya, gosai or Krishna nritya, dasavatar nritya, bhortal nritya, jhumura, chali, gayan-bayan and son on. Sattriya dance is now a popular dance form which is avidly cultivated by enthusiasts, particularly from the younger generation. Having received formal national recognition, sattriya dance has now joined the family of national dance forms which are integral part of Indian culture.

The sattra is a democratic organization in which each and every member of the society has a role to play, however small it might be. The doors of the namghar are open to all, no matter what caste or gender one belongs to. Sankaradeva asserted that all men are equal, and so there must not be any discrimination against anybody on consideration of caste, community or social status. He admitted into his religion of bhakti and nama members from all castes and communities beginning from the Brahmins and the Kayasthas to the so-called outcaste and the lowest of the low. Among such known names were Candsai, a follower of Islam, Gobinda, a Garo, Jayantahari, a Bhutiya, Shriram, a Kaivarta, and Madhava, a potter. Women have equal access to namghars and can take part in nama-kirtana. They can receive initiation and even hold responsible positions. It is to be noted that Kanaklata, Sankaradeva’s grand daughter-in-law, became not only the head of a sattra, she also appointed twelve sattradhikars to organize more sattras. The role of a sattra in propagation religious and moral education and organizing religious-cultural activities is confined not just to the physical boundaries of a sattra, it goes far beyond into the villages lying far and wide. Villagers or members of the laity come to sattras to attend religious functions and also to listen to religious and moral deliberations organized in sattra namghars. Not just the bhakats or the functionaries, others also can take part in the activities of a sattra under the over-all guidance of the sattradhikar. The sattradhikar or his representative, accompanied by some of the sattra functionaries, pay periodical visits to the villages where followers or sisyas of the sattra live. He stays either in a namghar or in a temporary camp made for the purpose, give sarana to new entrants to the faith and bhajana to senior disciples. Sarana is a simple ceremony through which new converts are advised to follow four fundamental principles of the faith, known as cari-vastu, namely, nama (reciting the names of God), deva (surrender to God), guru (acceptance of a preceptor), and bhakat (taking delight in the company of religious brotherhood), while bhajan entails an elaborate ceremony intended for spiritually advanced followers.

The sattra institution since its inception has contributed immensely to the building of a cohesive Assamese society. The principles and ideals of Sankaradeva were religiously followed by his successors and disciples who, through the ages, have endeavoured to carry on the mission of the great master. Madhavadeva, who became chief apostle after Sankaradeva, carried on the mission initiated by his master. The two great maestros were followed by a succession of preceptors, including Damadaradeva, Vamshigopala, Harideva and Gopala Ata who, despite certain differences which propped up in later years, were one in propagating the message of bhakti among all sections of the people in this part of the country. Gopala Ata of Bhabanipur Sattra in Lower Assam who received initiation from Madhavadeva and who considered Sankaradeva as his guru’s guru, made all-out efforts to reach to the people of diverse ethnic groups living in the Upper Assam region ruled by the Ahom Kings. He entrusted twelve of his learned disciples, both Brahmins and non-Brahmins, with the task of programming the Vaishnava faith based on equality and brotherhood throughout the length and breadth of Assam. His message was propagated among almost all sections of the Assamese people by his disciples who tried to remove the evils of caste distinctions by embracing people from all tribes and ethnic groups into the fold of the faith enunciated by Sankaradeva and Madhavadeva. One of Gopaladeva’s followers, Aniruddhadeva, initiated among others, the Morans and Motoks of Upper Assam into the faith who later fought even the Ahom kings for their attempts to humiliate their gurus of the Kala Samhati sect, consider to be most liberal of the sects or samhatis into which the sattras were later divided. Another of Gopaladeva’s distinguished followers, Sriramadeva (1665-1740), satradhikar of Chaliha Baregahar Satra, then situated on the bank of the Dihing river near Naharkotiya nad presently at Nazira in Sivasagar district, accepted even the Nocktes of NEFA (Arunachal Pradesh) as his disciples. He initiated the Nockte chief, Lothakhunbao, and gave him the well-known name of Narottama. Even now Srirama Ata’s followers, who hail from nearly all sections of the Assamese society, believe in the myth of ‘Naga (Nockte) Narottama Gosai Sriram lage Vaikunthalai jai’ (Naga Narottama Goasi Sriram go to heaven together). Another sattra, Mairamora, also near Nazira, brought into the fold of the bhakti faith even Nagas of the nearby hills whose descendents are now living in a village of their own close to the sattra. Besides these, there are many other sattras of Gopala Ata lineage who have freely mixed with people from the so-called lower strata of the society in an attempt to make them equal partners of the universal brotherhood enunciated by Sankaradeva’s bhakti faith.

Over the centuries sattras have multiplied into some hundreds, and socio-political and other changes have affected this religious-cultural organization also. There have also been differences among the sattras as evident from the emergence of the four samhatis or sects. But the differences are peripheral, and the hard-rock of Sankaradeva’s democratic faith of bhakti remains unshaken. No matter to what denomination a sattra belongs, its ultimate allegiance is always to Sankaradeva and Madhavadeva, the great cementing forces behind sattriya culture which, to some extent, have homogenized Assamese society. It is time the sattras shed their differences, if there are any, and organized themselves in a proper way so that they can contribute effectively to the enrichment of Assam’s cultural life.