Assam: Land of Devotion – Part 1

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Karbi women in locally woven cotton outfits, including the dokhona dress and jwmgra scarf, dance at the Brahma Dharma Jyoti Mondir in Langhin Manikpur, central Assam. THOMAS KELLY

Meeting the many peoples of Assam​

Assam, India’s Northeast state embracing the immense Brahmaputra River valley, is a land of remarkable variety—of people, traditions, religious practice, flora, fauna and natural resources. Join us as we visit the major temples and religious institutions of this place of ancient and modern migrants from both inside and outside modern India.
By Rajiv Malik, New Delhi

Assam, one of the “seven sisters” states of northeastern India, is famous for its Vaishnava satras (religious centers) and majestic ancient temples, including Kamakhya for the Goddess Shakti and Sivasagar, built by the Ahom dynasty in the 18th century. The name Assam is possibly based on Ahom, though others ascribe it to a-cham (“undefeated”) from the Tai language, ha-sam (“land of the Bodo people”) or asama (“peerless”) from Sanskrit. In ancient times the area was known as Kamarupa. The Pandava brothers of the Mahabharata lived and married here while in exile.

Map of Assam, central state of India’s “Seven Sisters” of the Northeast which are connected to the rest of India by the 27-km wide Siliguru Corridor

Assam is 61% Hindu, 34% Muslim, 3.7% Christian plus a small number of Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs. It is home to all the three main streams of Hinduism: Vaishnavism, Shaktism and Saivism—this among a population of 31 million people comprising hundreds of tribal, ethnic, linguistic and religious communities speaking 45 languages. Of the 20 largest tribes, the most prominent are the Bodos and Misings of Tibeto-Burmese origin. There are also millions of Bangladeshi illegal migrants, both Hindu and Muslim. Assam is blessed with an abundance of natural resources, including tea, silk, oil and the mighty Brahmaputra River.

Assam: Land of Devotion – Part 1 – Hinduism Today

www.hinduismtoday.com

 

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Mother and daughter worship at the Tilinga (bell) Temple in Tinsukia, Assam. They are offering a bell in thanks for the fulfillment of their prayer. Thomas Kelly

Assam continues to amaze in this second part of our report as we explore the religious centers, called satras, founded by the 16th-century Vaishnava saint Sankardev, the great temples of the Ahom kings and the educational projects of a wide range of Hindu institutions striving to meet the state’s modern challenges.​

By Rajiv Malik, New Delhi

Last issue we explored guwahati and environs in western Assam, which include both Kamakhya, the state’s most famous Goddess temple, and the birthplace in Nagaon of Srimant Sankardev (1449-1568), Assam’s most influential saint. Along the way, photographer Thomas Kelly and I met with the Bodo tribal community, visited both a Brahma Samaj and a Bathou temple and spoke with leaders of several organizations engaged in education and social upliftment. The state’s immense diversity was immediately evident.

The second part of our adventure, reported here, takes us east and up the mighty Brahmaputra River to Dibrugarh, center of the tea country, and from there to Majuli Island, where Sankardev established the great satra centers of Ekasarana Dharma. As around Guwahati, we visited famed places of worship, including Tilinga (the “bell temple”) and the 18th-century Sivadol Temple built by the Ahom kings at Shiv Sagar. We met with the tea garden workers whose ancestors were brought by the British from different parts of India as indentured laborers, and with the native Assamese people and tribes, some of whom arrived thousands of years ago. We learned of modern issues, such as the large-scale migration of Bangladeshis into the state, which is impacting its demography with possibly disastrous consequences in the future. Finally, we were impressed with the serious work of a number of Hindu organizations who are developing basic educational institutions in the most remote villages as well as elite schools in the city which challenge even those of the Christian missionaries.

Assam: Land of Devotion – Part 2 – Hinduism Today

www.hinduismtoday.com