Volume XIV, Issue I, May 2025 - October 2025

ISSN 2319-8281

Approved by UGC and enlisted in the UGC-CARE List in Arts and Humanities section.

A Refereed (peer-reviewed) Bi-Annual National Research Journal of English Literature/Assamese/Literature/Folklore/Culture

Members of Advisory Body

Volume XIV, Issue I

• Dr. Gayatree Bhattacharyya, Former Professor, Dept. of English, University of Gauhati
• Dr. Dayananda Pathak, Former Principal, Pragjyotish College, Guwahati
• Dr. Dwijen Sharma, Professor, Dept. of English, North Eastern Hill University (Tura Campus)
• Dr. Bibhash Choudhury, Professor, Dept. of English, University of Gauhati
• Dr. Kalikinkar Pattanayak, Former Associate Professor in English, Khallikote University (Odisha)
• Dr. Anway Mukhopadhyaya, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT-Kharagpur

Members of the Editorial Body

Volume XIV, Issue I

• Dr. Soubhagya Ranjan Padhi, Dept. of Sociology and Social Anthropology, Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, Madhya Pradesh
• Dr. Manash Pratim Goswami, Dept. of Media and Communication, Central University of Tamil Nadu
• Dr. Rabi Narayan Samantaray, Dept. of English, Aeronautics College, Berhampur University
• Dr. Jayanta Madhab Tamuli, Dept. of English, M.S.S Vishwavidyalaya
• Dr. Lakshminath Kagyung, Dept. of English, Dibrugarh University
• Dr. Premila Swamy D, Regional Director, IGNOU Regional Centre, Kohima, Nagaland
• Dr. Pranjal Sharma Bashishtha, Dept. of Assamese, Gauhati University, Assam

Editorial

THE SINGULARITY OF THE BHAKTI MUSICAL TRADITION WITH REFERENCE TO MAHAPURUSHA SANKARADEVA

The lyrical acumen of Mahapurusha Sankaradeva- a Bhakti saint from Assam comes in full circle in his Bargits. Bargits are grand devotional compositions written in the Vrajavali language. They are meant for singing in different hours of the day, depending upon the content and the Ragas. A few of the compositions are meant for singing in the morning, some in the midday and the rest in the evening. The Bargits display the very dignity of the Indian classical music. Regarding the reason why these compositions are named as Bargit, one Vaishnavite scholar- Kaliram Medhi states: “These songs are celestial or great songs in Assamese literature.” According to Prof. Satyendra Nath Sharma, these compositions are so called because “..they are distinguished from ordinary classical songs by their nobility of theme, richness of their idiom and the perfect harmony in them of the dignity of classical music and the restraint of the imagination.”He (Prof. Sharma) further states that the theme of the Bargits hinges upon the poet’s yearning for a space beyond the mundane world which is free from sins and temptations.The Bargits evoke in the listener’s mind an immediate intuition about the ultimate reality. There is a clear and transparent flow in the compositions. The thematic anecdotes are narrated in an impressionistic manner and the entire drama of the things get concrete figurative representations bringing the heart of the listener to a state of heightened sensibility. The mellifluous effect of the song finally makes the listener to feel completely out of the world, dissociating his mind from the mundane or the ordinary and giving him a miraculous psycho-physical attainment of the sense of the glory of the Divine.

Besides the Bargits and other musical properties like Ankiya Naat, the Ekasharn Dharma established by the saint also gave birth to a kind of congregational singing called Naam Kirtan. These are lined-out community songs, widely circulated among the rural folk who use to sing these in their ‘Namghar’ (a common prayer hall in a village). During Sankaradeva’s time, the common people of the villages were generally illiterate and did not own books for any use. So, in a Naam Kirtan there would be a song leader who will read or jog the lines aloud so that the others participating can follow him in unison. The lined-out song structure follows a call-and- response format. The leader of the song chants a line in measured tone, and the congregation responds by singing after him. This creates a unique musical experience, each line unfolding with deep emotion and spiritual intensity. Apart from spiritual intensity, this practice also promoted inclusiveness. Thus, the Namghar movement led by the saint in the fifteenth century played an important role in the shaping of the social and spiritual life of the Assamese. Thanks to these musicals, the Namghar turned into centers for the community gathering, religious discourse and cultural expression- promoting unity and moral values. The spiritual or sacred aspects apart, the saint’s was a reformist movement, towards which the oral tradition which he spearheaded could be highly instrumental; and the musical tradition thus formed, is still running in the veins of the people of the Assamese race.

It is heartening to see that such a convention of sacred songs and music can still be found continuing in the entire Pan Indian landscape of the Bhakti tradition in all its indigenous forms and genres unaffected by the nation’s changing economic and social paradigms.