New book on Srimanta Sankaradeva by German publisher

The German publishing house Lambert Academic Publishing has published my new book on Srimanta Sankaradeva. It is titled Srimanta Sankaradeva’s Contributions. The ISBN of Srimanta Sankaradeva’s Contributions is 978-3-8465-1276-0. The link for online shopping in amazon.com is http://www.amazon.com/Srimanta-Sankaradevas-Contributions-Literature-Structure/dp/3846512761/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1355794194&sr=8-6&keywords=sankaradeva.

The articles included in the book Srimanta Sankaradeva’s Contributions deal with the multi-faceted contributions of Srimanta Sankaradeva. These have brought out the pioneering role played by the saint in both philosophical as well as socio-cultural arena. The Eka Sarana Nama Dharma, founded by Srimanta Sankaradeva is unique in the absence of female deity worship, which is found in some degree in all other Hindu orders. Not only that, Srimanta Sankaradeva was a forerunner of even philosophers like Spinoza.

The schools of art evolved by Srimanta Sankaradeva in painting, dance and music have been recognized as unique by the scholars. This process of recognition has however been late due to communication gap between Assam and the rest of the world. The present book will go a long way in mitigating that gap. I have explained in the book the process of creation of those cultural assets with ingredients from ethnic groups in the Brahmaputra valley. The Sankari culture has bonded the Assamese community together, it has been shown in the book.

Srimanta Sankaradeva’s activities were not confined to religion only. He was a great social reformer. He created a new social dynamics. He was a great management expert, who used many concepts which are now practised by the management experts. The book also explores those unique contributions by the saint. Contributions of Srimanta Sankaradeva were not confined to Assam only. He was instrumental in giving a concrete shape to the Oriya social structure, the Yatra movement of Bengal, and the paintings of West India. The Bhakti movement in North India was also indebted to him. The Ankiya plays created by him launched an international movement in use of drop-scenes, and in the use of drama for proselytizing works. Madhavadeva, the foremost disciple of Srimanta Sankaradeva was also keenly involved in all these activities. The book Srimanta Sankaradeva’s Contributions goes deep into many such matters.

The chapters of Srimanta Sankaradeva’s Contributions are : 

1.     Life sketch of Srimanta Sankaradeva

2.      Originality of Srimanta Sankaradeva’s contributions

3.      Absence of female deity worship : the unique feature of Eka Sarana Nama Dharma of Srimanta Sankaradeva

4.     Ankiya play and Bhaona of Srimanta Sankaradeva

5.     Costumes and Ornaments of Ankiya Bhaona

6.     Srimanta Sankaradeva’s Bargeet and traditional instruments used in Sankari Music

7.     Characteristics of Srimanta Sankaradeva’s writings

8.     Evolution of the Sankari art form

9.     Ethnic integration by Srimanta Sankaradeva

10.  Relevance of Srimanta Sankaradeva legacy from management perspective

11.  Philosophy of Srimanta Sankaradeva

12.  Place of Srimanta Sankaradeva in all-India perspective

13.  Mahapurusha Madhavadeva : worthy disciple of a perfect guru

Details of my other books are available in my blog at the link http://borkakoti.blogspot.in/2011/05/my-books.html.

Some news about Srimanta Sankaradeva’s Contributions are posted below :