Staff Reporter
Guwahati: The All Assam Students' Union (AASU) has proposed to preserve all the manuscripts and texts of Madhupur Satra with the support of the Nanda Talukdar Foundation and Assam Jatiya Vidyalaya Educational Trust, under the ongoing 'Digitising Assam' project.
Today, AASU President Utpal Sarma; General Secretary Samiran Phukon; and Chief Advisor Dr Samujjal Bhattacharya, along with other AASU leaders, visited Madhupur Satra in Cooch Behar. They viewed the items used by Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardev and Mahapurush Madhavdev, the ashes and relics of the two great saints, and the rare manuscripts.
Mrinal Talukdar, Secretary of Nanda Talukdar Foundation, and Dr Narayan Sarma, Secretary of Assam Jatiya Vidyalaya Educational Trust, also visited Madhupur Satra along with the AASU leaders to see these priceless artefacts. Following this visit, AASU put forward the proposal for preservation of the rare manuscripts. The AASU leadership also held discussions with Madhavdev Mahanta, the Deka Xatradhikar of Madhupur Satra, regarding the preservation proposal.
It is worth mentioning here that, under the 'Digitising Assam' project, around 28 lakh pages of books, documents, and records have already been digitised.
With help from the project, AASU has also digitally preserved books and manuscripts of three endangered indigenous languages of Assam: Tai Singpho, Tai Phake, and Khamyang.
AASU has now decided to digitise and preserve the rare manuscripts at Madhupur Satra in Cooch Behar, under the 'Digitising Assam' project. It is worth noting that Madhupur Satra is the place where Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardev attained Mahaprayan (departed from this world).
Meanwhile, it has been pointed out that a lot of work is still needed for the infrastructure development of Madhupur Satra. Based on the report of the retired Justice Biplab Kumar Sharma Committee formed for implementation of Clause 6 of the Assam Accord, and following discussions with AASU chaired by Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma, the Assam government has earmarked Rs 50 crore in the budget for Madhupur Satra.
AASU has urged the government to release the funds soon and carry out the planned infrastructure development.
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