Aniruddhadeva: the great saint of Assam

Aniruddhadeva (1553–1626 A.D.) the great saint of post Sankardeva era was born at Vishnu Balikunchi, in present Lakhimpur district. He was a great Vaishnavite to propagate Neo-Vaishnavism side by side creating a new society. He spent his later years at Naharati Satra and passed away in 1626 A.D. It was Aniruddhadeva, who stood out among the post Sankardeva's Vaishnavites, had asympathy towards downtrodden and backward classes. He gave ‘Saran’ (initiation) to his religion, those who could not get Saran at other Vaishnavites finally chose to his Vaishnavism. Aniruddhadeva, a Bhuyan (large land owner) like Sankardeva, and a scion of the Kala-Samhati of Gopaldeva, created his ultra-revolutionary branch of Neo-Vaishnavism- The Mayamara order. He established the Mayamara satra in Upper Assam, as the centre of his activities. He worked for a society that experienced little of Sankardeva's reform. This paper is an attempt to reconstruct the life history of the saint.