Religion in Assam

As Assam is a state of many ethnic groups of people, it is also a state of many religions. It represents in full the religious diversity of the country. Besides the major religions, some of the tribes also follow animism, and worships nature in its various manifestations. Worship of trees, mountains and rocks are common among tribes such as the Dimasas of North Cachar Hills in the south.

The Hindus, who constitute a majority of the population, themselves practise different diciplines of Hinduism. Sakti temples such as the Kamakhya shrine at Guwahati and the Kechaikhati temple at Sadiya stands testimony to a past in which tantricism was the predominant form of Hinduism. This was followed by its modified form Saktaism, a primitive faith which like tantricism worshipped the female form of God.

The Vaisnava revival of the Middle Ages brought to the limelight the great Vaisnavite saint Srimanta Sankardeva (1449-1568) who developed and propagated Eka-sarana-namadharma (a faith of allegiance to one God) which was part of the neo-Vaisnavite movement of India and is characterized by absence of the rituals practised by the Saktas and the principle of eqauality which annuled all caste barriers.

Mahapurush Sri Sri Sankaradeva, as he is known in the State, composed hymns (borgeet), dance-dramas (ankianaat) and recitals, and with the help of his desciples, set up sattras (monasteries) and namghars (community prayer halls) for the propagation of the new faith which soon gained large-scale acceptance.