Book breather in poll run-up
- Volume on Sankardeva in English for youth & busybees
SUDIPTA BHATTACHARJEE
Picture from the book shows an atoi reciting from the prayer book
‘To call Sankaradeva a mere religious
reformer is a misnomer. His being a man of religion did not limit the
scope of his universal influence. The reforms he engendered pervaded
every strand of the social milieu’
Calcutta, March 8: Life
in election-bound states tends to spiral down to predictably monotonous
manoeuvres once the dates are announced. A book launch at this juncture,
on Vaishnava saint Srimanta Sankaradeva at that, against the raging
controversy surrounding his birthplace, comes as a welcome breather.
Srimanta Sankaradeva, Vaishnava Saint of Assam
is an effort by Bimal Phukan to “initiate” those who “have neither the
time nor the inclination to go through weighty tomes.” It is also “for
the youth who have grown up hearing of the saint but know little about
him; and for those from afar, curious for a glimpse” into Assam’s
religious and cultural lives.
This purpose is effortlessly achieved, for
the volume is remarkable in its brevity without compromising on
substance or quality.
The “uninitiated” reader would be wont to
echo sarod maestro and Assam’s son-in-law Amjad Ali Khan, who says in
the foreward: “This book gave me the opportunity to satiate my
longstanding desire to learn more about Mahapurush Sankaradeva. It
fulfils the need for a concise book in English tracing the life, time
and works of the great son of Assam. Written in simple prose, its focus
is on its multifaceted genius.”
While the language is indeed simple, it
is not simplistic by any yardstick. The felicity of style adds to the
comprehensive content. The packaging of the volume, with its selection
of rare xatra photographs, maps, luminous section breaks and
sub-heads, adds to its appeal. The author combines a biographer’s sense
of reverence with academic expertise. There are extensive references to
prior work on Assam’s great son — by the likes of Edward Gait, Maheswar
Neog, P.J. Mahanta, D. Neog and R.K. Dasgupta, among others — to
highlight the unique achievements of the saint. Sankaradeva straddled
the Ahom and Koch reigns, weaving his unifying bridge of reforms in
socio-cultural and literary genres.
His story is indeed captivating. While
the saint’s “life and times” form the opening segment, it is the section
on the “legacy” that lends an added aura to the volume.
In a life spanning 119 years, Sankaradeva
was already 20 when Guru Nanak was born in Lahore; he was 36 when
Bengal witnessed the birth of Sri Chaitanya. Vaishnavism was by then
flourishing in Assam. These facts are remarkably portrayed in a
carefully compiled chronology of world events by the author at the end
of the volume. It is this that a reader will savour as data that puts
events in a perspective, instead of glossing over what is usually the
“end-of-book” detail.
(The Telegraph, 09.03.2011)
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