Emergence of Sankar Sangha Movement: It's Impact in the Socio-Religious Life of the Twentieth Century

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to understand the change of attitude and perception of a section of socially backward non Brahmin Assamese people towards the Vaishnava religion in a democratic environment and their objective to reform the religion from the orthodox brahmanical rituals. With the spread of modern education under the British rule an educated socially backward non-Brahmin class was emerged who openly challenged the prevailing caste system, untouchablity and authoritarian attitude of the upper caste Hindus in religious matters in the society. They very strongly expressed their views against such religious traditions and proclaimed that they were in no way inferior to the Brahmans. The year 1930 may be considered as a watershed mark in the history of social reform in modern Assam, as this point of time, an organized effort had been taken to reform the Vaishnava religion. The birth of the Sankar Sangha was an important step in this direction. So in this paper a very critical approach have to be taken to discuss about the prospects and limitations of Sankardeva Sangha movement and its impact on the socio-religious life of twentieth century Assam.