Social Reform and the Bhakti Tradition in Medieval Assam: Reading the ‘Borgeet’ of Srimanta Sankardeva

Abstract

This paper aims to study the borgeet of Srimanta Sankardeva and examine the linkages between his social interventions and his philosophical vision, as articulated in his devotional compositions. Through a close reading of select borgeet of Sankardeva, we have elucidated the complex relationship between his egalitarian social vision and the Advaita Vedanta philosophy that animates his compositions. We argue that an egalitarian ethos does not merely inform Sankardeva‟s borgeet at the level of content, but, in fact, is the organising principle of communities formed around the practice of such compositions in Kirtanas. We are just as interested in asking the question of the relevance of such a study in contemporary times. What do Sankardeva‟s borgeet offer to the modern auditor and reader? We argue that Sankardeva‟s borgeet are a fertile site to pursue questions about identity, faith, and social reform from the perspective of Indic traditions. While the regnant frameworks of understanding identity within academia are largely derived from colonial modernity, our project aims at recuperating other ways of thinking the self.