|| V. Literature ||

Sankaradeva was a literary genius. His writings heralded the Renaissance in Assamese literature and also inaugurated a new era into the social and political, cultural and religious life of Assam.

In and around the lifetime of the two great saint-poets of Assam Sankaradeva (1449-1568) and Madhavadeva (1489-1596), there flourished an age, the age of efflorescence. “It is the age when the garden of Assamese poetry ran riot with flowers of verses, coloured with hundred hues and dowered with diverse fragrances.” It is mainly due to the genius of the two great masters as metrical artists, that in this period, we witness the flowering of innumerable new forms.

• Contents

  • The Master Literateur
  • Poet non - pareil
    • The Poetic Skill of Sankaradeva
    • Narrative Poet par excellence
    • The Master of Simile and Metaphor
    • The Eco-poetics of Sankaradeva
    • The Metrical Art of Sankaradeva
  • Literateur Extraordinaire
  • The Master's first masterpiece
  • Cihna Yatra - Opera Extraordinaire
  • The Holy Kirttana
  • Kirttana Ghosa - Translations
  • The Bhagavata of Sankaradeva
  • The Bhāgavata X, Purvārdha : Ādi-Dasama
  • The Bhakati Pradip of Sankaradeva
  • Sankaradeva's Bhakti Ratnakara
  • The Exquisite totay
  • Gunamala - The Bhagavata In A Nutshell
  • Vrajawali - The Language of Vraja
  • Golden Age of Creativity
  • Sankaradeva's Uttarakanda Ramayana

The repertory of Sankaradeva’s poetic ideas and thoughts is indeed very large. If he could write a philosophical poem like Anadi Patana intellectually so invigorating, he could also produce a play like Kaliya Damana and kirttanas of the Kirttana Ghosa emotionally so saturating.

The taste of Sankaradeva’s poetry can be best savoured through a judiciously selected collection or anthology of his varied poetic fare.