Editing Sankardev (section)

===Early life: Bordowa===
[[File:Partha Pratim Bora Photography.jpg|thumb|Kirtan Ghar in the birthplace of Simanta Sankardev. ]]
{{Sankardev's Family Tree}}
Sankardev, then named Sankaravara,<ref>{{harv|Neog|1980|p=101}}</ref> was born into the Shiromani (chief) ''[[Bhuyan chieftains|Baro-Bhuyans]]'' family at [[Bordowa Than|Bordowa]] (Alipukhuri, Tembuani) in present-day [[Nagaon]] district in c1449.<ref>The traditional date of Sankardev's birth, generally considered correct, is in the month of Ashwin-Kartika (October) 1449 {{harv|Neog|1980|p=98}}. Assuming the middle of October as his birthdate in that year, his life span was 108 years, 10 months and a few days {{harv|Neog|1980|p=100}}.</ref> Though some authors have expressed doubt that Sankardev could have lived that long, considering that he was of good health 1449 is generally accepted.<ref>{{harv|Neog|1980|p=101}}</ref> The Baro-Bhuyans were independent landlords in Assam, and Sankardev belonged to the Kayastha(Kalita) family. His family-members, including parents Kusumvar Bhuyan and Satyasandhya Devi, were [[Sakta]]s. Sankardev lost his father to smallpox when he was about 7 years old,<ref>{{harv|Neog|1980|p=101f}}</ref> and his mother died either soon after his birth, or soon after his father's death;<ref>{{harv|Neog|1980|p=67}}</ref> and he was raised by his grandmother Khersuti.

He began attending Mahendra Kandali's ''tol'' or ''chatrasaal'' (school) at the age of 12 and soon wrote his first verses ''[[karatala-kamala]]''. <!--

<blockquote>
''karatala kamala kamaladala nayana |''<br>
''bhavadava dahana gahana vana xayana ||''<br>
''napara napara para xatarata gamaya |''<br>
''xabhaya mabhaya bhaya xamahara xatataya ||''<br>
''kharatara varaxara hatadaxa vadana |''<br>
''khagachara nagadhara fanadhara xayana ||''<br>
''jagadagha mapahara bhavabhaya tarana |''<br>
''parapada layakara kamalaja nayana ||''<br>
''..''
</blockquote>
-->
The complete poem was written before he was taught the vowels except, of course, the first one, and is often cited as an example of the early flowering of his poetic genius.  He stayed at the ''tol'' during his teens, and studied grammar and Indian scriptures.<ref name="Harv102">{{harv|Neog|1980|p=102}}</ref> He practised ''[[yoga]]'' (which he gave up later) and was physically very able,<ref>{{harv|Neog|1980|pp=102–103}}</ref> and according to legend, he could swim across the [[Brahmaputra]] while it was in spate.  It is generally believed that he wrote his first work, ''Harishchandra upakhyan'', while at the ''tol''.<ref name="Harv102" /> Mahendra Kandali changed his name to 'Sankardev' while he was at school.<ref name="Harv102" />

====Bhuyan ''shiromaniship''====
Sankardev soon mastered the major scriptures and thereafter left the ''tol'' in his late teens (c1465) to attend to his responsibilities as the Shiromani Bhuyan. He came to be known as the ''Dekagiri'' among his subjects and admirers. As Alipukhuri had become crowded, he moved his household from Alipukhuri to Bordowa. He married his first wife Suryavati when he was in his early 20s and a daughter, Manu, was born in about three years, but his wife died about nine months later.<ref>{{harv|Barman|1999|p=19}}</ref>

====First pilgrimage====
It is possible that the death of his wife increased his already existing spiritual inclination and he left for a twelve-year-long pilgrimage, sometime after his daughter was married to Hari, a Bhuyan scion.  He handed over the maintenance of his household to his son-in-law Hari; the Bhuyan Shiromaniship to his grand uncles Jayanta and Madhav; and began his journey in 1481. He was accompanied by seventeen others including his friend and associate Ramaram and his teacher Mahendra Kandali.<ref>{{harv|Neog|1980|p=103}}</ref> At this point of time, he was 32. The pilgrimage took him to [[Puri]], [[Mathura, Uttar Pradesh|Mathura]], [[Dwarka|Dwaraka]], [[Vrindavan]], [[Gaya, India|Gaya]], [[Rameswaram]], [[Ayodhya]], [[Sitakunda]] and almost all the other major seats of the Vaishnavite religion in India.  He seem to have spent many years at Jagannath-kshetra at Puri, where he read and explained the Brahma Purana to the priests and lay people.<ref>{{harv|Neog|1980|p=104}}</ref> At Badrikashram in 1488, he composed his first ''[[borgeet]]''—''mana meri ram charanahi lagu''—in [[Brajavali]].<ref>{{harv|Neog|1980|p=179}}</ref> According to Katha Gurucharit, the first Borgeet was "Rama meri hridaya pankaje baise" and he composed it in 1481 at the very outset of the pilgrimage at a place called Rowmari.<ref>{{harv|Borkakoti|2006|p=92}}</ref> He returned home to Alipukhuri after 12 years (his family had moved back from Bordowa in his absence). During his pilgrimage, he became the part of a pan-Indian Bhakti movement and helped it blossom.

====''Shiromaniship'' refusal====
On his return from his pilgrimage (c1493), Sankardev refused to take back the Shiromaniship, though on the insistence of his elders, he took responsibility of a hundred families (''gomastha'') but he soon handed over the responsibility to his son-in-law Hari. On his grandmother's insistence, he married Kalindi at the age of 54. Finally, he moved back to Bordowa and constructed a temple (''devagriha'') in c1498,<ref>After five years, Sankara had a temple built for him a little away from the abode of householder" {{harv|Neog|1980|p=69}}</ref> possibly a thatched house, built on the original site of his father's house where he could meet with people, discuss religious matters and hold prayers, and preach. He wrote ''Bhakti pradipa'' and ''Rukmini harana''. Soon after, he received a copy of the [[Bhagavata Purana]] from Jagadisa Mishra of [[Mithila (ancient)|Mithila]], with Sridhara Swami's [[monism|monistic]] commentary "Bhavartha-dipika".  Mishra recited and explained the entire Bhagavata in the presence of Sankardev and this event is considered critical in the development of Ekasarana.<ref>{{harv|Neog|1980|p=107}}</ref> Datyari, an early biographer of Sankardev writes: Sankardev listened with rapt attention to the exposition by Jagadish Mishra and realised that the ''Bhagavata'' was a scripture without parallel, a scripture that determined Krishna as the only God, ''naam'' as the real dharma, and ''aikantika-sarana'' and ''sat-sanga'' as the indispensable elements of the faith."<ref>{{harv|Sarma|1999|p=12}}</ref> He also began composing the ''Kirtana ghosha''.

====''Cihna-yatra''====
[[File:XUTRADHAR1.jpg|thumb|Xutradhar in Assamese Bhaona]]
After his exposure to the detailed Bhagavata Purana and Sridhara Swami's commentary ''Bhavartha-dipika'', Sankardev produced a dance-drama called ''Cihna yatra'', for which he painted the ''[[Vaikuntha|Sapta vaikuntha]]'' (seven heavens), guided the making of musical instruments and played the instruments himself.<ref>The early biographers are silent on ''Cihna-yatra''.  ''Katha-guru-carita'' and ''Borduwa-carita'', both late biographies, say ''Cihna-yatra'' was performed after Sankardev's first pilgrimage; only Ramcaran says Sankardev arranged it when he was 19 years old, which is unlikely according to [[Maheswar Neog]]. {{harv|Neog|1980|p=107}}</ref><ref>But Bhuban Chandra Bhuyan, Dr. Sanjib Kumar Borkakoti etc have opined that Cihna yatra was enacted before the pilgrimage, to be precise in 1468 AD.{{harv|Borkakoti|2005|p=17}}</ref> According to other biographers, Sankardev produced ''Maha-nata'' in the presence of Jagdish Mishra in the temple he had constructed at Alipukhuri.<ref>{{harv|Neog|1980|p=108}}</ref>

According to Neog, this was the point when Sankardev decided to preach a new religion.  Some of the first to be initiated into this religion was the wife of Jayanta-dalai, a leper named Hariram (later Tulasiram), Ramaram his associate and Mahendra Kandali, his ''tol'' teacher.<ref>{{harv|Neog|1980|pp=108–109}}</ref> The 13 years at Alipukhuri was the period during which he reflected on Vaishnavism and on the form that would suit the spiritual and ethical needs of the people. Ananta Kandali, a profound scholar of Sanskrit, became his disciple during this time; he translated the later part of Canto X of the Bhagavata Purana after consulting Sankardev.

From Alipukhuri Sankardev moved back to Bordowa in 1509 and built a ''thaan''. Some authors claim that this ''than'' had all the major features of a sattra (central ''kirtanghar'', ''cari-hati'' etc.),<ref>{{harv|Borkakoti|2006|p=23}}</ref> whereas many others assert that these features did not exist during Sankardev's time.<ref>"It is not known from biographical or contemporary literature of the period whether the sattra of Sankardev besides containing the prayer-hall and the shrine did really contain the system of ''cari-hati'' like that of later-day sattras". {{harv|Sarma|1966|p=105}}</ref><ref>"It may be recalled (Daityari, Katha-guru-carit) that in Sankardev's days, the daily sittings...were held in the open or under shades of trees" {{harv|Neog|1980|p=312}}</ref> This ''than'' was abandoned and more than a hundred years later in the middle of the 17th-century, Sankardev's granddaughter-in-law, Kanaklata, established it again.<ref>{{harv|Sarma|1966|p=93}}</ref>

====Literary works in the Baro-Bhuyan territories====
# Non-''Bhagavata'' group
#* ''Harishcandra-Upakhyana''
#* ''Bhakti-pradip''
#* ''[[Kirtan Ghoxa|Kirtan-ghosa]]'' (''Uresa-varnana'')
# Non-''Bhagavata'' mixed with ''Bhagavata'' elements, not influenced by Sridhara Swami
#* ''Rukmini-harana-kavya''
# Lyrics
#* ''[[Borgeet]]''
# ''Bhagavata'' tales, not from Book X
#* ''Ajamilopakhyan'' (Book VI)
#* ''Amrta-manthan'' (Book VIII)
#* ''[[Kirtan Ghoxa|Kirtan-ghosa]]'' (''Ajamilopakhyan'', ''Prahlada-caritra'', ''Harmohana'',
#* Sections ii–vi<ref>{{harv|Noeg|1980|p=160}}</ref><ref>{{harv|Barman|1999|p=120}}</ref>