Manuscripts in Religio-cultural Context: Puthis of Assam

Abstract: Scribing/ scripting marks a significant phase in the history of mankind. With the coming of writing through signs, pictures and characters (letters) human beings became more and more expressive. This change from the oral/ gestural/ postural to writing with hand using chisel, reeds, quill, stylus etc. on different surfaces like rock, metal (copper), clay tablet, wafer of wood,leaf is a paradigmatic shift. Sankaradeva(1449 -1568 A.D) appears towards the close of this phase, and gives a significant push to the script culture. The neo-Vaishnavism he propagated in medieval Assam facilitated the spread of script culture through a network in which the village naamghars played a crucial role. The practice of such Vaishnavism required the chanting of Vishnu naam (as Hari/Krishna) without the elaborate ritualism of Brahmanical Hinduism. This makes the practice of Vaisnavism seem simpler and easier to the masses. At the same time the masses, the common villagers needed something concrete, in addition to the name-chanting, to clutch and be convinced of their own faith. Bhagavata Purana, hand-written on sacipat or tulapat, called puthi, fills the vaccum when put on the thapona in monikut of the naamghar. This led to the proliferation of manuscripts and script culture of which miniature illustration became an important element/aspect. This paper is a modest attempt at pointing at this aspect of naamghars that was conceptualised and executed by Sankaradeva in 15th - 16th Centuries Assam