History of vaisnavite cultures in assam and bengal a comparative study

Abstract

newline 1 newlineAbstract newlineHISTORY OF VAIand#7778;and#7750;AVITE CULTURES IN ASSAM AND newlineBENGAL: A COMPARATIVE STUDY newlineThe Bhakti Movement of Mediaeval India was one of the most significant newlinemovement of the religious and socio-cultural history of India. The old Vedic newlinesacrificial rites as advocated by Sabarasvamin and Kumarila Bhatta and the monistic newlineVedanta Philosophy of and#346;aand#7751;karcharya through rejection of spiritual value of love and newlinedevotion to God, gave birth to a negativistic outlook on the world and life. Religious newlinetraditions and customs prevailed at the mediaeval India created confusion among the newlinemass people. The society was divided in the name of caste creed and religion. The newlinelower caste people were deprived of their legitimate dues. Socio-economic conditions newlineof the common people were very miserable and the acts of oppression perpetrated by newlinethe powerful made the lives of common people unbearable. The authoritarianism of newlineSanskrit in the field of language and literature stood as a barrier of literary newlinedevelopment and thus the class based society of that period lagged behind in all newlineaspects. newlineThe movement which was started in protest against such injustice and newlinemalpractices of the society gained its momentum very rapidly and in course of time it newlineattained such a dimension that it can easily be termed as the first National newlineRenaissance of India and this mass awakening against the prevailing social and newlinereligious evils was known as the famous Bhakti Movement or the Neo-Vaiand#7779;and#7751;avite newlineMovement of India. This was not only a spiritual movement rather the movement was newlinea socio-cultural movement of India. Through rejection of rigidity of religious beliefs newlineand reorganization of the unity of people irrespective of religious consideration and newlineestablishing equality of all before God opposing the caste system and also with newlineemphasizing on devotion as the highest form of worship, this movement gave birth to newlinean altogether new society, Srimanta and#346;aand#7751;karadeva (1449-1568) was the main newlineproponent of this movement in Assam. Along with his beloved disciple Mand#8113;dhabadeva newline