Assam government, Visva Bharati to establish Srimanta Sankardeva Chair

GUWAHATI: The Assam government and the Vishva Bharati, Santinketan signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Thursday to establish a Srimanta Sankardeva Chair at the varsity in West Bengal. The MoU was signed in the presence of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Visva Bharati Vice Chancellor Arabinda Mondal.

“Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardeva's teaching has illuminated Assam through centuries and united Sanatan Dharma by relegating individual caste identities,” Sarma said on the occasion. He also urged the academic fraternity to utilise the agreement to build scholarship around Sankardeva's “unparalleled contribution to Indian society”.

The objectives of the chair, to be set up with a one-time grant of Rs 5 crore, will be to extend the study and research on Srimanta Sankardeva and his ‘Bhakti movement’ beyond the borders of Assam and India, he said.

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The MoU will also facilitate doctoral and post-doctoral research on the ‘Bhakti movement’, its history, different facets, literature, culture and institutions. Earlier, similar Srimanta Sankardeva Chairs were set up at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi and Punjab University, Chandigarh.