Doctoral defence: Baburam Saikia “Contradictions in(side) the tradition: lived religion, ritual and change with reference to Majuli sattras”

On 21 June at 14:00 Baburam Saikia will defend his doctoral thesis “Contradictions in(side) the tradition: lived religion, ritual and change with reference to Majuli sattras” for obtaining the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (in Folkloristics).

Supervisor:
Professor Ülo Valk, University of Tartu

Opponent:
Professor Lidia Guzy, University College Cork (Ireland)

Summary
This fieldwork-based dissertation discusses the lived Hinduism in Assam, India. It focuses on oral traditions and ritual life in sattras, monastic institutions established by the religious and social reformer Sankaradeva (1449-1568), who contested the caste system, developed Assamese literature, and preached the worship of Vishnu through the ritual practice of devotion (bhakti). Some of the oldest sattras are founded on Majuli, an island in the Brahmaputra River; they have become powerful religious centres. In addition, sattras are social orphanages and centres of learning. They have acquired symbolic value as markers of Assamese ethnic identity and carriers of cultural traditions such as the classical sattriya dance.

Life in the sattras is today going through remarkable changes. Whereas the authority of the sattras is based on the concept of unchanging tradition, the practices and lives of young devotees in the sattras can hardly follow these prescriptions: it has become a challenge for them to follow the strict rules of ritual purity that have become of paramount importance in the celibate sattras. In addition to which the all-pervading world of technology and social media keeps them closely connected with secular life outside sattras. Hence, there are contradictions between religion as it is prescribed and as it is lived. Remarkably, there are also contradictions between the doctrine of egalitarianism, once preached by Sankaradeva, and the political views of the sattra authorities, who often work closely with the right-wing Hindu nationalist movements and support Brahmin supremacy. The author of the dissertation has lived in a sattra for many years, an experience that enables him to shed light on sattra culture from an insider’s point of view.