Madhupur Satra


Madhupur Satra is a religious institutional center associated with the Ekasarana tradition of Vaishnavism, situated in Cooch Behar, the Indian state of West Bengal.It is established by Assamese Vaishnavite monasteries for religious practices in 16th century during Koch kingdom.The great Bhakti Saint Mahapurusha Srimanta Sankardeva and his disciple Mahapurusha Madhavadeva died here. Madhupur satra is also called as dahmukutor than ; 'dahmukut' means 'bhiti' or living houses of ten disciples of Srimanta Sankardeva.The name satra originates in the Bhagavata Purana in Sanskrit, and is used in the sense of an assembly of devotees.

Establishment

This satra buildings were built by 16th century's koch king Nara Narayan. After independence of India, Assamese chief minister Mahendra Mohan Choudhury rebuilt the houses, Namghar, roads with brick and mortar and built Sankardev's temple in January, 1968 with help of 'Madhupur Satra Samiti'.

Satradhikar

Monks, called "bhakats", live in satras under a "satradhikar" or "Mahanta". The main disciple of Srimanta Sankardeva was Madhavadeva.Before death of Sankardeva, he gave the responsibility to his disciple Madhavadeva, to take care of the Satras. He laid down the system of daily prayer service and initiated the system of religious tithes.Later, Achyut guru, Shree Ram Ata, bishnu Ata became satradhikar of Madupur satra. After death of Bishnu Ata, 'Samuha' took responsibility of this satra. Later, Burhir-po Gobinda Atoi, Gopinath Atoi, Krishna Bapu Satriya, Ramnath Bapu Satriya, Gangaram Bapu Satriya, Pocharam vorali Atoi, Niron Atoi, Tolon Atoi, Lakshmikanta Atoi burha-bhakta, Fatik chandra dev Goswami took responsibility as Satradhikar.After death of Fatik chandra dev Goswami, Lakshmikanta Mahanta became Satradhikar of Madhupur satra in 18 April 2012.

Structures

The Satra is four-sided enclosed area with four gateways. Centrally placed in this enclosure is a rectangular prayer-hall at the aligned in the east-west direction. On its eastern side there is an additional independent structure called the "Manikut", is placed containing the main object of worship. The "namghar" is surrounded by four straight rows of huts, called "hati", in which monks reside. The adhikara and other high officers of the Satra reside in the eastern "hatis".

Cultural programmes

Some of the cultural programmes, which are held in Sattras:-