Madhupur Satra is a religious institutional center associated with the

Ekasarana Ekasarana Dharma (literally: ''Shelter-in-One religion'') is a neo-Vaishnavite monolithic religion propagated by Srimanta Sankardeva in the 15th-16th century in the Indian state of Assam. It reduced focus on vedic ritualism and focuses on d ...

tradition of

Vaishnavism Vaishnavism ( sa, वैष्णवसम्प्रदायः, Vaiṣṇavasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. It is also called Vishnuism since it considers Vishnu as the ...

, situated in

Cooch Behar Cooch Behar (), or Koch Bihar, is a city and a municipality in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Cooch Behar district. It is in the foothills of the Eastern Himalayas at . Cooch Behar is the only planned city in the ...

, the Indian state of West Bengal.It is established by Assamese Vaishnavite monasteries for religious practices in 16th century during

Koch kingdom The Kamata Kingdom (pron: ˈkʌmətɑ) emerged in western Kamarupa probably when Sandhya, a ruler of Kamarupanagara, moved his capital west to Kamatapur sometime after 1257 CE. Since it originated in the old seat of the Kamarupa kingdom, ...

.The great Bhakti Saint Mahapurusha Srimanta Sankardeva (1449-1568 AD) and his disciple Mahapurusha Madhavadeva died here. Madhupur satra is also called as dahmukutor than ; 'dahmukut' means 'bhiti' or living houses of ten disciples (bhaktas) of Srimanta Sankardeva.The name ''satra'' originates in the

Bhagavata Purana The ''Bhagavata Purana'' ( sa, भागवतपुराण; ), also known as the ''Srimad Bhagavatam'', ''Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana'' or simply ''Bhagavata'', is one of Hinduism's eighteen great Puranas (''Mahapuranas''). Composed in Sa ...

in Sanskrit (''sattra''), and is used in the sense of an assembly of devotees.

Geography

Location

Madhupur Satra is located at . Note: The map alongside presents some of the notable locations in the subdivision. All places marked in the map are linked in the larger full screen map.

Establishment

This satra buildings were built by Raja Nara Narayan of the

Koch dynasty Koch may refer to: People * Koch (surname), people with this surname * Koch dynasty, a dynasty in Assam and Bengal, north east India * Koch family * Koch people (or Koche), an ethnic group originally from the ancient Koch kingdom in north east ...

in the 16th century. After independence of India,

Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Mahendra Mohan Choudhury (12 April 1908 – 27 December 1982) was a freedom fighter and politician from Nagaon, Undivided Kamrup district (now Barpeta district) of Western Assam. He was Chief Minister of Assam from 1970 to 1972. He also s ...

, chief minister of Assam rebuilt the houses,

Namghar Namghars ( as, নামঘৰ) literally ''Prayer House'' are places for congregational worship associated with the entire Assamese community and the Ekasarana sect of Hinduism, in particular, that is native to Assam. Besides forming the primar ...

, roads with brick and mortar and built Sankardev's temple in January, 1968 with help of 'Madhupur Satra Samiti'.

Satradhikar

Monks, called "bhakats", live in satras under a "satradhikar" or "Mahanta". The main disciple of Srimanta Sankardeva was Madhavadeva.Before death of Sankardeva, he gave the responsibility to his disciple Madhavadeva (-1596 AD), to take care of the Satras. He laid down the system of daily prayer service and initiated the system of religious

tithes A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash or cheques or more ...

.Later, Achyut guru, Shree Ram Ata, bishnu Ata became satradhikar of Madupur satra. After death of Bishnu Ata, 'Samuha' (bhaktas of some nearest villages) took responsibility of this satra. Later, Burhir-po Gobinda Atoi, Gopinath Atoi, Krishna Bapu Satriya, Ramnath Bapu Satriya, Gangaram Bapu Satriya, Pocharam vorali Atoi, Niron Atoi, Tolon Atoi, Lakshmikanta Atoi burha-bhakta, Fatik Chandra Dev Goswami took responsibility as Satradhikar. After the death of Fatik Chandra Dev Goswami, Lakshmikanta Mahanta became Satradhikar of Madhupur satra on 18 April 2012.

Structures

The Satra is four-sided enclosed area with four gateways ("karapat"). Centrally placed in this enclosure is a rectangular prayer-hall ("

" or "kirtanghar") at the aligned in the east–west direction. On its eastern side there is an additional independent structure called the "Manikut" (jewel-house), the sanctum santorum, in which the "asana", a wooden tetradehral structure with four carved lions), is placed containing the main object of worship (usually a copy of the Bhagavat Purana in manuscript or an idol). The "namghar" is surrounded by four straight rows of huts, called "hati", in which monks (bhakats) reside. The ''adhikara'' and other high officers of the Satra reside in the eastern "hatis".

Cultural programmes

Some of the cultural programmes, which are held in Sattras:- *

Bhaona Bhaona ( as, ভাওনা) is a traditional form of entertainment, with religious messages, prevalent is Assam, India. It is a creation of Mahapurusha Srimanta Sankardeva, written in the early sixteenth century. He created the form to conve ...

* Doul utsav or Deul *

Janmastami Krishna Janmashtami , also known simply as Krishnashtami, Janmashtami, or Gokulashtami, is an annual Hindu festival that celebrates the birth of Krishna, the eighth avatar of Vishnu. According to the Hindu lunisolar calendar, it is observed ...

Rasa lila The rasalila (), also rendered the raslila or the ras dance, is part of the traditional story of Krishna described in Hindu scriptures such as the Bhagavata Purana and literature such as the Gita Govinda, where he dances with Radha and the gopis ...

or Raas utsav * Sankardeva's birth anniversary celebration in October. * First Satradhikar Gobinda Ata's death anniversary celebration in Magh (January–February) month.

Madhupur Satra picture gallery

File:Madhupur Satra at Cooch Behar District in West Bengal 06.jpg File:Madhupur Satra at Cooch Behar District in West Bengal 08.jpg File:Madhupur Satra at Cooch Behar District in West Bengal 09.jpg File:Madhupur Satra at Cooch Behar District in West Bengal 10.jpg

References

External links

{{Hindu temples in West Bengal 16th-century Hindu temples Satras (Ekasarana Dharma) Hindu temples in West Bengal Hindu temples in Cooch Behar district Buildings and structures in Cooch Behar district Cultural history of Assam Hindu pilgrimage sites in India Tourist attractions in Cooch Behar district