They are the generation next. The torch bearers of families keen to carry forward the faith and touch of their religious tradition and culture against many intermingled phases of life in Assam.
“We are now living in a concrete jungle. Our family traditions though we feel but could not pursue with time all the time,” said a parent present at the Mass Upanayana venue besides mighty Brahmaputra in Guwahati on April 14.
The birth of “Mass Upanayana” celebration by Brahman Sabha in Guwahati is somehow a life saviour for the families who solely believe in the customary community rituals being a Bengali to carry forward their tradition with time.
The 17 boys from different parts of Assam along with one from Meghalaya’s capital Shillong had obtained sacred thread as ‘Brahmachari’ completing all the customary religious rituals and learning organised by Brahman Sabha in coordination with the authorities of Ram Thakur Mission at Pandu in Guwahati on April 14.
“We have started the ‘Mass Upanayana’ keeping in mind not only the burning crisis of the urban Brahmin society but also to uplift the poor and downtrodden who are eager but not able to carry on with their family legacy due to several unavoidable circumstances. With this Mass Upanayana, 122 boys Upanayana have been conducted by the Brahman Sabha since 2015 covering various states of northeast India,” said Rajib Chakraborty, joint secretary at Brahman Sabha.
Be it a man power problem in the small families of modern world or the subjective livelihood crisis, the contrast picture of a lady like Sukla Chakraborty, the grandmother of one of the boys received initiation seems very satisfied with the words from the new Brahmachari “Bhabati Bhiksham Dehi……?!!” after Upanayana too.
Along with the divine waves of the mighty Brahmaputra, with the Brahmacharis of various nook and corners of Assam and the capital city of Meghalaya, this small but significant step of the Brahman Sabha with Ram Thakur Mission at Pandu have somehow tried their best to bridge the gap of “identity” among the Brahmins in the Northeast states.
