Naam Ghosa: Hymns to the Blessed Lord

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

Naam Ghosa is a poem in praise of Lord Krishna and of Vaishnavism or the Bhakti cult. Written in Assamese in the sixteenth century by Shree Shree Madhabdeva, it extols the practice of devotion to the deity and chanting hymns in praise of the Lord, as the only way to attain moksha or salvation.

Shree Shree Madhabdeva was inspired by and became a disciple of Shree Shree Shankardeva, the poet and mystic of Assam who introduced and propagated the Bhakti cult of Vaishnavism. This cult enjoins one to surrender oneself to, and sing the praises of Lord Krishna.

The present author Pranabananda Pathak was introduced to these verses by his mother. Pathak's translation of the 1001 stanzas has been a labour of love which he accomplished with total dovotion. It was an urge that made him work night and day at the translation so that he could complete it.

The author has attempted to keep the simplicity of the original Assamese while bringing out the philosophy embedded in the verses. The book should be of interest to Indologists and students of religion and philosophy as well as the general reader.

PRANABANANDA PATHAK (b. 1953) graduated from Guwahati University in 1973 with a B.Sc. degree, and in 1977 completed his LL.B. from the same university. A lawyer by profession he joined the High Court Bar, Guwahati in 1978 and has been a successful lawyer for the last twenty-five years.

He is now Advocate General of Mizoram. Earlier he served as Additional Advocate General of Assam.

Naam Ghosa is the versified expression of Mahapurush Shree Shree Madhabdeva, based on the experience of his spiritual life. It is also described as Vedanta based phiolosophy. As in the case of the Bhagawat Puran which is described as the essence of all the Vedas, Naam Ghosa can also be described as an incomparable book of celestial verses which determine the spiritual knowledge of devotion.

Shree Shree Madhabdeva was born in the year 1489 at a place known as Narayanpura in the present Lakhimpur District of Assam. He was a great believer of the Shakti cult until the year 1522 when he met his great master Mahapurush Shree Shree Shankardeva, the great Vaishnavaite poet, artist and mystic who was born in the middle of the 15th century. At the time of Shree Shree Shankardeva's birth, Assam was full of turmoil.

The country was disunited through various warring religious sects, heterogenous faiths and practices. Saktism or the worship of the Goddess with many names and forms adorned with the sacrifices of animals, became the most preferred religion of the then Assam. This practice of sacrificing animals became popular and constituted an integral part of the Shakti rituals in Assam. In the midst of such a situation, the great man Shankardeva started the Vaishnava Movement and its propagation through literature and music, against all odds and opposition. As a religious reformer, Shankardeva's greatest achievement was his success in bringing the people of the then Assam from a debased form of Shakti tantricism to the pure monotheism of his Vaishnava faith.