Namghar and Xatra: Centre of vaishnavite culture

 Gunin Borah

(The writer is the HOD, Geography, Biswanath College, Chariali. He can be reached at borah.gunin@gmail.com)

Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardeva introduced a new kind of Vaishna-va institution, which reshaped the religious dimension along with the social life and communal structure of the religion. The two main institutions that he introduced were Xatras, i.e., monastic centres, and Namghars, or chanting houses. While Xatras, which has a Guru (Xatradhikar) and his disciplines initiated by him, serves as a centre of learning and study of Vaishnava traditions, the Namghar serves as a religious congregation of many local communities.

Xatras and Namghars play a vital role in spreading the ideology of the Vaishnava faith in Assam. They were unique, and religious teachings and beliefs spiritually served as the radiating forces of all religious activities. Xatra is a place where people from different castes and tribes stay and try to connect to God through prayers and religious discourses. They also celebrate various cultural programmes like Bhaonas, Ras-Leelas, Jonmastomi, Dol-Utsav, etc. The head of the Xatras is called Xatradhikar, who takes the initiative of Sarana (surrender). Through the Sarana ceremony, one can come into the fold of Xatra and become a disciple, irrespective of their caste, creed, religion, etc. The people who take saran are called Saranian, and they assimilated into Assamese society. This simple process helps people from various tribes, like Moran, Kachari, Chutia, Deuri, and others, accept Vaishnavism and gradually adopt the Hindu way of life and religious practices. These tribes also gave up their many impure practices and became more and more refined. Thus, Neo-Vaishnavism helped the tribes come under the fold of Hinduism and assimilate with other caste people within the fold of Hinduism. Satra, hence, plays an important role in the context of the uplift and upgradation of the status of backward classes and other communities in Assam.

The growth of Xatras and Namghar reached its pinnacle in the 18th century, when the Ahoms and Koch kings extended their support to a number of Xatras accepting Vaishnavism. The patronage that Xatras received during this period boosted the economy too; hence, a large number of functionaries also increased. The royals helped spread Vaishnavism by allocating land. Sundaria Satra is one such Xatra that received the royal patronage of the Ahom and Koch kings.

From a historical point of view, the term Xatra is as old as the Vaidic age. The concept was taken from the Bhagawat Purana, in which it was mentioned that the space where a great number of saints and sages assembled to perform a long session of sacrifice of a thousand years duration is called Xatra. In ‘Hemkosh’ written by Hemchandra Baruah, the first dictionary of Assamese based on Sanskrit spellings, Xatra is identified as a dwelling place of Neo-Vaishnavite scholars and devotees like Gossai, Mahanta, and Bhakat.

A xatra consists of a large assembly hall or prayer hall (Namghar or Kirtanghar) with two rows of pivoting pillars and is generally an enclosed area. Each main Xatra is marked by the existence of Namghar, Manikuta, A Batsara, and two or four rows of Xatra.

The Xatra and Namghar, both of which began to serve not only as the instrument spreading faith but also intimately associated with the social as well as cultural life of Assamese society, are the most distinguished and influential socio-cultural institutions of the state. Today, the Xatras are the fountainheads of culture and heritage. For centuries, certain Xatras have preserved the cultural tradition of the movement initiated by Sankerdev in its pristine purity. The Xaras have relentlessly encouraged the art and craft of dance, drama, music, book illustration, and making decorative objects for the beautification of the Xatra interiors—the Xatriya art and culture.

Over the centuries, the Xatra has become intimately connected with Assamese life and culture, paving the way from Majuli to Cooch Behar. Today, the number of Xatras in Assam is over 500, with numerous Vaishnava householders affiliated with the other Xatras. The preservation of Xatras is of great importance, more so in light of the fact that they contain manuscripts, artefacts, and antiques of immense historical value as well.

Xatra institutions have faced many challenges in development and extension over the course of their five centuries of history. During this period, Xatras multiplied and became a special feature of Assamese society.

Namghar is considered to be more than a reverent place of worship; it serves as a common place of worship for congregations, doubles up as a theatre for dramatic performances, and also becomes a venue for the village panchayats. Namghar is thus an inherent feature of Assamese society. The size of Namghar varied on the basis of the number of disciples and devotees. The eastern end of the Namghar opens into Manikuta (the house of the supreme jewels), where the holy book ‘Kirtana’ is placed on a multi-tiered wooden throne, along with other prayer items. Sometimes the whole thing is referred to as Kirtanghar. All these structures are surrounded by a wall according to the length of the main prayer hall, with opening gates, but sometimes they are without the compound wall.

Namghar, or Kirtanghar, has played an important role in maintaining unity and solidarity in the Assamese society, which served as a centre of spiritual, intellectual, and cultural activities for the villagers. Almost every village in Assam today has its own Namghar. In some places, even different castes come together to constitute a Namghar. It becomes a cultural centre, public hall, and common forum for villagers to assemble for discussion of various issues to establish a friendly and cooperative environment. Namghar became venu for chanting prayers, or nam-prasangas, singing borgeet composed by Sri Sankardeva and his disciple Madhabdev, and celebrating Bhaona on various occasions. The cultural performance in Namghar has united the people, irrespective of their castes and classes, and established a strong bond among them. Namghar is sometimes considered a small parliament too. All sorts of quarrels and disputes among the villagers were settled by the villagers themselves in Namghars, which stands as a court of justice. Birinchi Kumar Baruah, in his book ‘Sankardev: Saint of Assam’ stated that’Namghar, which were setup as central religious institutions of village, work to a great extent towards the spread of intellectual and cultural activities in village, in the course of time being nerve centres of village to coordinate all aspects of social, cultural, economic, and political life of Assamese people’.

It is a fact that Namghar has the potential to mould human society based on a culture of self-help, tolerance, unity, and integrity. Namghar, serving as a community communication institution, can promote religion directly in society.

Namghar-Xatra provided a well-organised and decentralised religious structure, which is a unique feature of Vaishnavism in Assam. In 1503, Sankardeva constructed the first Namghar with the help of his initial followers. He composed prayers himself. Recitations from Bhagabat and religious discussions were held in this Namghar. Sankardeva was conversant with the raga-based music and composed his devotional songs. He popularised and developed art and music in the form of borgeets, Ankiya Nats, and Bhaonas in Namghar. The Namghar served as the ideal platform to showcase these art forms and attract the common mass of people to identify with the philosophy of Neo-Vaishnavism.

The Xatraas and Namghar have contributed immensely to the process of assimilation and socialisation and the evolution of Assamese society’s identity. The development of the culture of the indigenous people of Assam, with the help of Satras and Namghar, has a major role to play in the preservation and development of indigenous culture in the region of Northeast India.