| Describing the
general set-up of a Satra, the District
Gazetteers of the Sibsagar District, 1905 writes, "There is something
singularly gracious and pleasing in the whole atmosphere of the place. Everything is
fresh and neat, and well to do. The well-groomed smiling monks are evidently at
peace with themselves and with the world at large, and even the little boys who
flock around them are usually clean and well behaved. These children are recruited from
the neighboring villages and trained up to be Bhaktas, but ii at any then they find
the rituals of celibacy irksome,they are at liberty to return to the outer
world.’ To educate the Bhaktas in religious
learning and to train them in monastic life as well as to look after the administration of
the establishments, the Satras have different
ecclesiastical order and a hierarchy of officers. The ecclesiastical order consists of Satradhikar or Mahants,
Bhaktas, Sisyas, laity, both men and women. |
