Srimanta Sankaradeva`s World View: A Cursory Glance from Admin's blog

By Dr Dayananda Pathak

Srimanta Sankaradeva, the poet-playwright and social engineer of legendary height, from 15-16 century Assam, overstepped the regional and national frontiers for his human concerns and the glorification of an individual`s latent creativities. Although he is associated with Vaishnavism, he was essentially above all these religious identities in terms of strait-jacket exclusivities. Vaishnavism as a religious principle and practice started long before Srimanta Sankaradeva was born. Every principle has to be readjusted and rejuvenated to suit to local situations. For that we need not add a separate appellation for old ideas and their practical applications. A saint cannot be a local or national identity. He is born for the greatness and glorification of human beings erasing the entire national and sub-national frontiers. It is not the physical man, but the ideas that matter most in human civilization. The idea has to be humanity-centric for the acceleration of civilization. For that we need great thinkers, great ideologues and saintly messengers for peace and creativity, latent within every individual.

            Srimanta Sankaradeva`s idea of life was multi-dimensional. His place cannot be confined only within the narrow geographical periphery of what we call religiosity. Our ideas of religion, largely across the world, are insularity-prone. For example, Islam is for the Muslims only. Christianity, with all the diversities, is for the Christians only. Similarly, Vaishnavism with all its time-tested and history-based credentials is also for a specified community of believers.

            Religion implies the character of a particular object, live or non-live. For example, the religion of fire is to burn, to give light and warmth. The religion of water is to quench the thirst of all living animals, to fertilize the earth, and to regulate the weather and many more traits. Where there is no water there is no life, there is no civilization. Every object of nature has a religion, and that trait keeps mankind and human civilization vibrant.

            A man cannot live by the narrower religious identities. For life, one has to work hard. He also has to keep his sociality alive. For this, we will have to look at the life and teachings of Lord Krishna, as explicated to Arjuna, as narrated in the Bhagawat-Gita. There it is said, the prime duty of a man is to do work, and to spend time on what is desirable and indispensable, as decided by time and situation. Srimanta Sankaradeva abided by this concept in all his works.

            All the literary works of Srimanta Sankaradeva carry a message for the humankind at large. His works stood for the total man and for the totality of human potentials. Religion, as we understand in insular perspective, was only a part of that totality. If that stage could be reached, the world of human beings will be a world of peace and real prosperity. Lest, it will remain as it was thousand years back, full of turmoil and internecine warfare at the cost of peace and cohesiveness.

            The religious protagonists of the religious ideologies have not gone for literary expression and flowering of latent creativities in men. Srimanta Sankaradeva was quite an exception. He wanted to scale the height of what is being described by Longinus as Sublime.

            Do we have any world community or a social leader in this enlightened context and world view? Every writer speaks and writes in his or her own language, or in a language one feels comfortable. William Shakespeare, George Bernard Shaw, and T.S. Eliot wrote in English. Their intent and content covered the man in his struggle for existence. Their writings are adumbrated by their wide world views. Leo Tolstoy may have written in Russian, but he is for the world community across all the man–made barriers. Same is the case with Rousseau who wrote for humanity, dispelling all man-made barriers. Cannot we state the same thing for Plato and Aristotle?

            Srimanta Sankaradeva, like Plato and Aristotle, never spoke for any specific community. He had spoken for every morally alienated person who, he says, has chosen to pick up the glass in preference to diamond. In most of his verses the point of glass and diamond is seen to beat our heart and ethos with great profundity. In every literary expression Srimanta Sankaradeva is seen to excel with a spectrum of global dimension.

            Srimanta Sankaradeva`s literary domain was large and all-inclusive. His literary works include his poetic compositions, popularly described as Kavyas. They are as follows:

1.Harichandra Upakhyana

2.Rukmini Haran Kavya

3.Azamil Upakhyana

4..Balichalana

5.Kurukhetra

6.Amrit Manthan

7.Kirtana-Ghosha

He was a great dramatist, being the first dramatist in medieval India. In this connection we need not mention the name of the great dramatists of ancient India. We can succinctly refer to the dramatist like Kalidas, who wrote in Sanskrit and for the select few who had the knowledge of Sanskrit language. But Srimanta Sankaradeva wrote for the common people in a popular language to access the heart of the common people –Brajabuli- the language of the common people covering the entire northern, eastern and north-eastern parts of India. His plays which are now available are as follows:

1. Patni Prasad

2. Kaliya Daman

3. Keli Gopal

4. Parijat Haran

5. Rukmini Haran

6. Ram Vijay

He also authored a number of books containing his own doctrinal ideas of Vaishnavite philosophy. These are –

1. Bhakti Pradip

2. Anadi Patan

3. Nimi Navasiddha Samvad

4. Bhakti Ratnakar (in Sanskrit)

5. Gunamala (Shortened form of theBhagawatapurana).

Srimanta Sankaradeva wanted to bring the spirit and content of the Bhagavatapurana and the same of the epic Ramayana within the knowledgeable periphery of the common people with the intention of acquainting them with the spiritual resources of Indian philosophy. He made an Assamese rendering of the two great works and thereby made them accessible by the common people of his time. These renderings cannot be called replica of the Bhagavatapurana as composed by Vyasa and the epic Ramayana as composed by Rishi Valmiki. Srimanta Sankaradeva had his own ways of looking at things without being limited by the original portrayals by the great sages in Sanskrit. He rendered only the 7th kanda of the Ramayana, popularly called the Uttara Kanda. He also advised his disciple Madhabadeva to make the similar kind of Assamese rendering of the Adikanda of the Ramayana. The reason was stated to be clear. In the 14th century, Madhaba Kandali made an Assamese rendering of the Valmiki Ramayana. Srimanta Sankaradeva found only five Kandas of the Kandali Ramayana. He, therefore, wanted to fill in the two lost or missing Kandas of the Ramayana. His portrayal of Sita, exiled by her husband Lord Rama, was quite a protesting voice. Sita in Srimanta Sankaradeva’s version did not look at her husband and preferred to get lost in the boson of mother earth. Valmiki`s Sita was quite submissive and docile, but Srimanta Sankaradeva’s Sita was for woman`s due honor and dignity.

            Srimanta Sankaradeva was a singer and a composer of lyrics called Bargeets. He composed as many as 240 devotional lyrics, but we have only 34 of them left, that too saved from the memory of his devotees. One Kamala Bayon, one of his devotees, took the 240 lyrics from his Master for perusal at home, but unfortunately got the lyrics burnt to ashes in a devastating fire that consumed his house as well.

            Srimanta Sankaradeva also composed some panegyric verses called the Bhatimas. They are classed as Deva Bhatima (addressed to Lord Krsna), Nat Bhatima (as presented in his plays) and Raj Bhatimas (as addressed to his patron king.)

            Painting was also one of the passions of Srimanta Sankaradeva. For that we must refer to his wonderful work Chinhayatra, wherein he painted seven layers of heavenly presence. Some of the scholars hold a different opinion. For them Chinhayatra was a dance-centric dramatic presentation accompanied by painting and dance. The word ‘Yatra’ also means dramatic presentation. Srimanta Sankaradeva himself presented a role in that yatra.

            Weaving was yet another passion for Srimanta Sankaradeva. At the request of King Naranarayana, he had woven a wonderful garment wherein he had woven the lilas of Lord Krsna from his birth and childhood days on to his adulthood days. At his command the great weavers of the place assembled and helped their Master to complete the work of weaving named as Vrindavani Bastra, now preserved in a Paris Museum.

            Srimanta Sankaradeva’s passion for nritya (dance) was yet another chapter of his cultural ethos. For him the body language –the hastas– convey meaningful significance. The body language is no lesser than the verbal language. Now his dance form is christened as sattriya nritya by the people at large – also being accepted as one of the classical dance forms, say like Kathak, Bharatnrityam, Kathakali, Odissi and others.

[Lecture delivered in Srimanta Sankaradeva Chair at Panjab University, Chandigarh on 15th October, 2024]