Compilation to hit stands by Oct: Notations of Auniati Satra geets documented
From Sanjoy Barkataki
Majuli, Aug 6 – Resembling an emerald in the bosom of the turbulent “Bor Luit”, Majuli is all set to make headlines yet once again. Home to about 600 satras at one time, the river island today is widely recognized as a living treasure trove of Vaishnavite culture. Set against this backdrop. Guwahati-based engineer, Sri Dilip Changkakoty, has recently completed the arduous task of compiling and scientifically documenting the rhythms of borgeet and songs prevalent at the Auniati Satra here.
Awaiting publication and set to hit the stands by October next, the work forms part of four-phased strategy and includes compilation, documentation and publication of rhythm used in songs by the Satra under review.
The second phase will involve compilation, documentation and publication of rhythm, found in dance and bhaona, both indigenous to the Satra, and otherwise. The latter will comprise bhaona in namgharas as well as in the stage ‘outside’.
Following on similar lines, the third phase will see Sri Changkakoty concentrate on the rhythm of ojapali, whereas the fourth and final stage will involve Pal naam, Hiya naam, and so on.
Pioneering work on this front was set rolling by the forefathers of Sri Changkakoty four generations ago, while in 1994 Satriya research worker late Keshav Changkakoty, who happened to be the father of the former first took up the project on the advice of the then Auniati Satradhikar Sri Sri Vishnu Chandra Deva Goswami. His successor and the present Satradhikar Dr Pitambar Deva Goswami too has contributed in the endeavour by delegating a bhakat (follower devotee) as ‘resource person’ since June 1998.
At the first phase of the project near completion, with over 90 per cent of the DTP job over, Sri Changkakoty’s documentation of rhythm concerning bhaona performed in namghar has been actively assisted by Maheswar Borbayan, Madhav Borbayan, and Badan Bayan, besides Basudev Borgayan, Binod Khound and Ojah Gopal Kalita ofNorth Guwahati all having helped in the notification of rhythm of borgeet and songs pertaining to Auniati Satra.
Significantly, an analytical and comparative study on the rhythm of Kamalabari, Samaguri, Barpeta, Dravani of Kaliabor and Auniati satras, in reference to Vadyapadip of Yadupati, had since been completed by late Keshav Changkakoty and translated into modern script by the former’s son. If things work out as planned, the translated version too is likely to see the light of the day sometime next year.
It would perhaps not to out of place to mention here that sometime back Sri Dilip Changkakoty had launched a website for the Auniati Satra at Guwahti as a first-ever initiative of its kind in this part of the world.
In any case, with unique facts of Vaishnavite culture already blurred (read lost) due to lack of scientific documentation and partly due to memory lapse on the part of its exponents, the present exertion would, it is widely felt, prove effective in checking further loss and help to preserve these invaluable ‘nuggets of wisdom’ for posterity.
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