Sankaradeva was all-time relevant pathfinders: Nagen Saikia

GUWAHATI: "The teachings for human life and propaganda for truth and higher philosophy of living were basic values of Sankaradeva's vaishnavite movement which we found in his studies. His outlook and search for supreme's knowledge not only merged through Vedantas, but also scientific outcomes which the physicists claimed as fourth molecule," said Dr. Nagen Saikia, the eminent litterateur poet, scholar and a former Professor at Dibrugarh University while inaugurating the national webinar on the theme "Relevance of Sankaradeva Studies" today.

He said that Sankaradeva was all-time relevant pathfinders in the society of Assam and he first introduced the state to outside and the entire Bharatvarsha to Assam. The webinar was organized by the literary & socio-cultural research magazine Swarnalipi as a part of its 11th year journey and to mark the celebration of the 571st birth anniversary of Srimanta Sankaradeva.

Discussing various aspects of Sankaradeva's studies, from his humanistic and scholarly point of views Dr. Pona Mahanta, former Professor of English at Dibrugarh University said that Sankaradeva's plays were highly scholarly works and he was the first Indian playwright who introduced 'play within the play' the very style of western dramas. His visions enriched with incorporation of mass centric common dialects, sociological educative and realistic sensibilities and established plays as a higher class of democratic performances. The Xatriya dance form, which is now a recognized Indian classical dance form, is an integral part of his plays. Citing many poetical contributions of Sankaradeva, Dr. Pradip Jyoti Mahanta, former Professor of Cultural Studies at Tezpur University, analysed that the primary spirit of the poet was to uplift the heritage of his predecessor poets like Madhab Kandali and others and therefore he used the language of the common people. He established the poetic form as the speech of the mass and as scholar like Dr. K. Pannikar said, his works including Kavya (poetry) cherished with the songs of humanity and joy of the nation, which we should call 'Bharatmanisha'. Dr. Sanjib Kumar Borkakoti, academician-cum-president of Society for Srimanta Samkaradeva cited many economic approaches and measures that the great leader used as socio-economic tools to establish a self-dependent social set-up, mostly in vaishnavite xatras. Sankaradeva's socio-economic thoughts were very much modern and it echoed a democratic set up for every class of individuals, Dr. Borkakoti said further. The philosophical studies of Sankaradeva deserve many aspects which he formulated through his translations from Bhagavata Gita, Puranas etc and he established that human love and values only can give entry to knowledge of the supreme, said by Dr. Archana Baruah, Professor of Humanities at Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati while speaking on the occasion. She further said that the birth of Sankaradeva in eastern India was actually significant and his philosophy needs much study.

The session, also followed by an interactive session, was conducted by Hridayananda Gogoi, Editor of Swarnalipi and renowned writer Sahityacharya Dr. Parag Kumar Bhattacharyya chaired the occasion and more than hundred of scholars participated, a release stated. 

Also Watch: Ganeshguri Flyover to be Ready by Durga Puja? Workers Work 24x7