| Vaisnavism
prevailed in Kamarupa at a time when the Brahmanical culture made considerable progress in
the country and as evidence shows, the worship of both Visnu and his incarnations
(avaturas), was prevalent in the land from early times. In the Santiparva section of the
Mahabharata Visnu is called Pragjyotisa Jyestha. Harsacarita
of Bana describes Bhaskara- varman (7th century A.D.) as belonging to Vaisnava
family (vaisnava vantsa). Yuan Chwang, the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim, also states that
Bhaskaravarman descended from Nara yanadeva. However, Vaisnavism occupied only a
subordinate position in the subsequent centuries and was revived again in the 13th
century.
Vaisnavism became the popular religion of the land in the 15th
century when Sankaradeva, the founder of the neo Vaisnavism began preaching his Bhakti
Cult. The worship of the incarnation is a significant feature of Vaisnavism and this
was introduced into Assam in about the 4th century A.D. |
