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Volume 27 - Issue 19 :: Sep. 11-24,

2010

Contents

INDIA'S NATIONAL MAGAZINE

from the publishers of THE HINDU

Annunci
Casa.it

CULTURE

Dance of the monks

Scegli tipologia, TEXT: SUSHANTA TALUKDAR &

prezzo e Mq.
PHOTOGRAPHS: RITU RAJ KONWAR
Trova la casa
dei tuoi sogni! The neo-Vaishnavite monasteries of the Majuli island keep
the Sattriya dance form of Assam alive.

A GAYAN-BAYAN performance. It is a Sattriya dance style that

originated from Ankia Nat, or one-act play. Music, dance and
drama are interlaced in it.
BHABANANDA BARBAYAN was three and a half years old when his
parents, upholding a family tradition for the tenth generation, gifted
him to the Uttar Kamalabari Sattra (a Vaishnavite monastery)
located in Majuli, a river island in Jorhat district of Assam. His
family's earliest male representative in the sattra, a socio-religious
institution, was sent there in the 17th century.
Bhabananda grew up in the monastery as a celibate bhakat (monk),
and is now a proud torch-bearer of the five-century-old Sattriya
culture, propagating the religious ideology of the medieval
Vaishnavite saint, social reformer and creative genius Srimanta
Sankardeva (A.D. 1449-1568). Bhabananda's expertise in singing,
dancing and playing musical instruments, which he learnt in the
monastery, earned him the coveted status of Barbayan, or principal
exponent of Sattriya nritya, in 1993, at an early age of 17.

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GHANAKANTA BORA BARBAYAN, Sattriya guru and scholar,

adapted the dance for stage performances without diluting the
purity of the form. He got the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
in 2001.
Sattriya, one of the eight classical dance forms of India, is preserved
in several monasteries in the State.
The year 2008 marked an important phase in this living tradition
when Bhabananda and his team of Sattriya performers gave 16
performances at six international festivals, held in France and
Portugal. In 2009, he demonstrated and taught Sattriya at four
workshops in France in Rodez, Toulouse, Montpellier and Paris
and lectured on Sattriya dance and drama in three discussion
sessions, held in Universite De Toulouse, Musee Du Quai Branly, and
Centre Mandapa, a cultural centre in Paris promoting Indian dance
and art forms.

MATI AKHORA, OR ground exercise training, which is a must

for Sattriya artists.
Between May 31 and June 8 this year, Bhabananda conducted a
workshop and delivered lecture-demonstrations on Sattriya Dance
and Theatre Technique at ARTA (Association de Recherche des
Traditions de I'Acteur), Paris, which was jointly organised by ARTA,
Theatre Du Soleil and the Department of Performing Arts, University
of Paris VIII. He also gave four performances at the Festival of Natya

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Danse Sacrees De L'Inde, organised by Musee Du Quai Branly, from

June 10 to 13.
The French traveller-writer Nadine Delpech, attracted and impressed
by the richness of the Sattriya tradition, wrote a book, L'ile Aux
Moines Danseurs, based on her visits to the sattras of Majuli in seven
consecutive years. Her creation inspired the French film-maker
Emmanuelle Petit to make a 52-minute documentary, Dans Les
Brumes de Majuli (In the Mist of Majuli), which has helped establish
a bond between two different cultures, one sustained by the river
Brahmaputra and the other by the Seine. Bhabananda has firmed up
this bond by sharing his expertise on Sattriya with French artists and
art lovers.

A VIEW OF the Uttar Kamalabari Sattra in Majuli.

Sattriya evolved from Ankia Nat, or Bhaona (one-act play), created
through the interlacing of music, dance and drama by Sankardeva,
his chief disciple Madhavdeva and their apostles during the
neo-Vaishnavite movement in Assam between the 15th and 17th
centuries and preserved and developed by the sattras.
Experts say that while other classical dance forms have been
reconstructed through the revival of a tradition that no longer exists,
Sattriya is a living tradition, practised, preserved and performed
consistently in the Vaishnavite monasteries. Two different types of
dances can be seen in the Sattriya form. One evolved from Ankia Nat
and the other evolved independently. Dances that originated from
Ankia Nat include Gayan-Bayan, Sutrdhari, Gosain Prabeshor Nach
(entry dance number of Krishna and Rama), Gopi Prabeshor Nach
(entry dance numbers of gopis), Jhumura and Bahar (male dance
numbers). Independent dances include Rajagharia Chali, Chal,
Natua, Sattriya Ojapali and Nadubhangi.

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AN AERIAL VIEW of the Majuli river island in Jorhat district of

Assam.
In his book in Assamese, titled Sankardevar Silpalok (Purbanchal
Prakash, 2007), a collection of essays on Sankardeva's visions of art
as reflected in various art forms of the Bhakti Movement in Assam,
Pradip Jyoti Mahanta, Head of the Department of Cultural Studies,
Tezpur University, and an expert on Sattriya, has elaborated on the
richness of the tradition and how the continuous experimentation in
dance, music and drama by the sattras has added to the treasure
trove left behind by Sankardeva and Madhavdeva:
For nearly 150 years after the passing away of Sankardeva and
Madhavdeva, the tradition of establishing new sattras and adding to
their creative work for spreading the religion and culture introduced
by them continued. Simultaneously, various experiments on music,
dance and drama also continued.
Mahanta also explains how the Sattriya dance tradition has become
richer with the push and pull of liberal experimenters and
conservationists.

VAISHNAVITE MONKS AT the Kamalabari Sattra.

Sankardeva propagated a form of Vaishnavite faith known as
Eka-Sarana-Hari-Nama-Dharma, or Mahapurusia dharma, devoted to
a single god, Krishna, and stressed upon unqualified devotion to him.
He spread the liberal and humanistic doctrine of bhakti in Assam.
The religious system of Sankardeva is monotheistic and the worship
of deities other than Krishna is strictly prohibited.
Sankardeva used all audio-visual and performing arts to spread the
neo-Vaishnavite movement initiated by him. He travelled far and
wide to propagate the new faith. A prayer hall called naamghar or
kirtan ghar was built at each place where he camped. Music, drama

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and dances he created were performed there to invoke devotion in

his followers. After Sankardeva's death, a permanent organisation in
the form of the sattra started taking shape as a repository of the
Sattriya culture.
Simultaneously, architectural development also happened to sustain
the institution, with Madhavdeva establishing a sattra at Barpeta and
Damodardeva, another disciple of Sankardeva, starting one at
Patbausi. Their apostles set up similar institutions at different places.
Typically, each sattra has a large prayer hall , where monks perform
various rituals every day. On the four sides of the naamghar are
rows of huts for accommodating the monks. The house of the
sattradhikar, or head of the monastery, is usually situated in one of
the rows. However, architectural and structural variations can be
noticed in the sattras.

YOUNG MONKS PERFORMING Sattriya in the Uttar Kamalabari

Sattra.
After the passing away of Sankardeva and Madhavdeva, the Sattra
Institution was divided into four sub-sects, namely Brahma-samhati,
Nika-samhati, Purusa-samhati and Kal-samhati. Brahma-samhati
consists of sattras set up by the followers of Damodardeva and
Harideva; Purusa-samhati those set up by the descendents of
Sankardeva; Nika-samhati those set up by the followers of
Madhavdeva; and Kal-samhati those formed by Gopaldev Ata.
Sankardeva went on a pilgrimage, which lasted 12 years, at the age
of 35. A popular perception is that he created Sattriya as an integral
part of Ankia Nat on the basis of his experiences and the various
elements he had gathered during the pilgrimage.
Elements of Natya Shastra

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GAYAN-BAYAN, INSIDE the sattra. The vayanas (drummers)

and gayanas (cymbalists, singers) have to master various
useful talas before they can give performances.
Mallika Kandali, who received her doctoral degree from Gauhati
University for her thesis The Sattriya and the Odissi Dances: A
Comparative Study, disputes this perception. She argues in her
book in Assamese, Nritya Kala Prasanga aru Sattriya Nritya
(Published by Kaushik Thakur; The Written Word, 2007), that more
than the resources gathered by Sankardeva during his pilgrimage,
the application of classical elements contained in Natya Shastra and
the elements collected from different indigenous art forms of Assam
are seen prominently in the dramas written by him. Natya Shastra,
the treatise of Indian performing arts, is also the foundation of the
Sattriya tradition. Sankardeva studied Natya Shastra along with the
Vedas and the Upanishads under his teacher Mahendra Kandali.
Mallika Kandali, who is also a Sattriya exponent, argues that apart
from the classical characteristics, the influence of Assam's traditional
and folk dances, sculpture and other images, are also noticed in the
Sattriya dance. Colourful cultural elements of various tribes and
nationalities living in Assam, such as the Mishings, the Bodos and
the Deuris, can be found in Sattriya. Many folk characteristics like
hand gestures found in the dances of the Mishings, footwork and
body movements in Bodo dances, and the gait of the Deuri folk
dance are present in Sattriya, Mallika says. She says the influence of
Devadasi and Ojapali, which were practised in the pre-Sankardeva
period, can also be noticed in Sattriya.
Sattriya has a number of characteristics that make it unique. One of
these is Mati Akhora (ground exercise), considered an unwritten rule
of the dance form. The ground exercises help make the body of the
learner flexible. According to Mallika Kandali, 64 ground exercises
are peculiar to Sattriya.

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SATTRIYA EXPONENT BHABANANDA Barbayan teaching a

group of students at a workshop in France in 2009.
The Sattriya form uses a variety of hand gestures and foot positions.
It also has its own style of music, based on classical ragas and the
talas (rhythm) of borgeets (devotional songs composed by
Sankardeva and Madhavdeva) and the songs of the one-act-plays.
Tala plays the most predominant role in sattra music. All the
instruments used in that circle (the drums mridanga, khol, nagara,
tambourines, or khanjaris; the cymbals bartal, patital, khuti-tal or
manjira) are meant to keep the beat. The vayanas (drummers) and
gayanas (cymbalists, singers) have to master various useful talas
before they can give performances, especially in dramatic
representations. ( Early History of Vaishnava Faith and Movement in
Assam: Sankardeva and his time by Maheswar Neog.)
Mahanta writes in his book that the number of talas used in Sattriya
music has increased from 10, developed by Sankardeva and
Madhavdeva, to more than 40, adding that neither Carnatic nor
Hindustani music has such a large number of talas.
From Sattra to stage
In the 1950s, Sattriya emerged from the confines of the monasteries
to the platforms in metropolitan cities. In the same decade, women
started learning the dance form, which until then was a male
preserve. However, women cannot learn Sattriya in the sattras.

VARIOUS EXPRESSIONS OF dancer Garima Hazarika captured

in a multiple-exposure frame. Though women are barred by
tradition from learning Sattriya, women exponents have
played an important role in popularising the dance form.
It was Rasheswar Saikia Barbayan of Kamalabari Sattra who took the
bold step of training women learners against the wishes of the
conservative sattra society. For this act he was asked to leave the
sattra. In 1967-68, he set up an institute called the Bayanor School,
which later came to be known as the Sangeet Sattra, to impart
formal training in Sattriya in Guwahati. It also marked the beginning
of the expansion of Sattriya learning outside the sattra.
In 1958, Maheswar Neog, an eminent scholar and an authority on
the Sattriya culture and heritage, attracted the attention of experts
and enthusiasts of Indian dance forms to three traditional dance
forms Sattriya, Nati and Ojapali at a national-level seminar
organised by the Sangeet Natak Akademi in New Delhi. A Sattriya
recital by a team of bhakats, led by the late Maniram Dutta Muktiyar
of the Kamalabari Sattra, illustrated Neog's erudition. It was the first
major national-level exposure of the dance form. Subsequently, the
Akademi constituted a committee to explore the possibility of
recognising Odissi and Sattriya as classical dance forms along with
Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Mohiniyattam, Kuchipudi, Kathakali and
Manipuri.
In 1959, the committee, which included experts such as Neog, Dr V.
Raghavan and Rukmini Devi Arundale, recommended the special
inclusion of Sattriya for conferring the Akademi award. Accepting the

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recommendation, the Akademi declared Maniram Dutta Muktiar the

first recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi award for Sattriya in
1963.
Sattriya got its first international exposure in 1975 when President
Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed took the initiative to showcase Ankia Bhaona
and Sattriya during his visit to Indonesia. A troupe of Sattriya artists
from Kamalabari Sattra, which was led by the acclaimed dance
exponent Parmananda Barbayan and included Sharodi Saikia, a
leading present-day exponent, and Dipali Das Bhuyan, performed in
Indonesia.

Dancer Anwesa Mahanta.

The celebrated Sattriya guru and scholar Ghanakanta Bora
Barbayan, who received the Sangeet Natak Akademi award in 2001,
has adapted Sattriya for stage performance without diluting the
purity of the form.
Even though the sattras consider Sattriya as an exclusive dance for
men, it is women Sattriya exponents who have been playing an
important role in popularising this form of dance. They include
Garima Hazarika, Sharodi Saikia, Pushpa Bhuyan, Mallika Kandali,
Indira P.P. Bora, Menaka P.P. Bora, Anwesa Mahanta, Tanmana
Choudhury, Sangeeta Hazarika, Sitarani Hazarika, Pratisha Suresh,
Satarupa Chatterjee, Anita Sarma, Tarali Das, Aparajit Dawka and
Usharani Baishya.
Through a series of performances and workshops, Indira Bora and
her daughter Menaka introduced British and American audiences to
Sattriya. In 2000, they undertook a dance tour, which they described
as Sattriya dance from Luhit to Thames and Mississippi, which
helped create awareness about Sattriya in the United Kingdom and
the United States. In 2002, the mother-daughter duo performed in
mainstream British and South Asian dance platforms in London and
at the Leicester City Museums Festival.
Akademi support
Sattriya was recognised as a major Indian dance form by the
Sangeet Natak Akademi on November 15, 2000, when Bhupen
Hazarika was its Chairman. The formal recognition created great
enthusiasm among the people of Assam in general and among
Sattriya exponents, academics and sattra institutions in particular.

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More and more enthusiasts started taking an interest in learning

Sattriya.
In November 2002, the Akademi launched a project to support
Sattriya and allied traditions of Assam. The project envisaged
support for training programmes in dance institutions and identified
sattras. It also supports research, documentation and publishing in
the subject. An annual festival of Sattriya and presentation of the
dance outside Assam are also part of the project.

A THEATRE ARTIST displaying a traditional Sattriya mask.

On July 15, 2008, the Akademi set up a Centre for Sattriya Dance,
Music and Theatre Traditions, named Sattriya Kendra, in Guwahati. It
also sponsors Nritya Parva A festival of Sattriya Dance, in
association with the Directorate of Cultural Affairs, Assam, with the
broad objective of featuring the creative efforts of young artists. This
has provided Sattriya gurus and senior dancers a national platform
to present their compositions and choreography.
However, there is controversy and debate over the nomenclature of
Sattriya as the Sankardev Sangha wants the dance form to be
named as Sankari Nritya after Sankardeva. It has taken the issue
to court. The sangha, established in the 1940s, is engaged in
practising Sankari Nritya and Sankari Sangeet as part of its
efforts to propagate the religion and tradition of Sankardeva.
With Sattriya gaining popularity, the volume of academic work to
support it has also increased. Mallika Kandali and Anwesa Mahanta
stress the need for performing artists and dance exponents to adhere
to the correct form and grammar of Sattriya and ensure that the
dance remains free from the influence of other styles.
The traditional Sattriya style is not likely to get diluted given the
number of gurus and exponents in the State. But the unabated
erosion caused by the Brahmaputra poses a threat to Majuli, and this
may call for the shifting of the 31 sattras on the world's largest river
island. There were 64 sattras on the island. Thirty-three have moved
out as the river eroded their land.
In 2005, the State government constituted a Sattra Preservation
Committee, which has identified 862 sattras for the release of
financial assistance by the State Directorate of Archaeology. The
government has submitted a Rs.96.59-crore plan to the Central
government for providing assistance to 135 sattras.

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