Assam Vaishnavism

Lakshminath Bezbaroa (1864-1938), the most illustrious amongst the litteratures of the twentieth century Assam is the maker of an epoch in novelist. Dramatist, poet, short-story writer, folklorist, hagiologist, writer of humorous and philosophical essays, all rolled into one. Yet even after acknowledging his impressive versatility, it can be asserted that in the history of Assamese society Bezbaroa is to be esteemed most of all as an exponent and expositor of the Vaishnava faith and philosophy of Srimanta Sankaradeva and of that saint?s precious contributions to the culture of Assam. The Bhakti Movement of medieval India was founded in Assam by Sankardeva and his disciple Mahavedeva and since then it has been getting deeply entrenched in the Assamese society. This living faith was in need of a defender to vindicate itself in the changed situations of the twentieth century. While attempting to rise up to this task, Bezbaroa not only achieved his purpose, but also successfully instilled into the minds of the Assamese people the full sense of appreciation of their greatest religious and cultural hero. Bezbaroa worked throughout his whole life to reinvigorate the message of Sankaradeva in accordance with the needs of the present-day society. By means of his philosophical and theological writings (included in the Tattva-Katha, Sri-Krishna-Katha, Sri-Bhagavat-Katha, The Religion of Love and Devotion and the biographies of Sankaradeva and Madhavadeva) and his various presidential addresses at different literary and social organisations, Bezbaroa has analysed the principles and ideals of the neo-Vaishnava faith of Sankaradeva. Along with this, he established the fact that an integral interrelationship glowingly exists between Sankaradeva?s ideas and the spendidly rich Indian philosophical concepts. In this book an attempt has been made to assess Bezbaroa as a spokesman of the Assam Vaishnavism. Simultanesusly some aspects of Bezbaroa?s life particularly those happening which shaped his mental make-up as a writer have been brought to focus.