Medhijan Gajala Satra

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Manuscripts

As of 2026

August 4, 2026: The Times of India

Handwritten Vaishnavite manuscripts of early 18th-century, on the verge of being lost forever from floods in Assam, 2026
From: August 4, 2026: The Times of India

Guwahati: A team from Gauhati University is on a rescue mission of a different kind at Medhijan Gajala Satra (monastery) in Assam’s flood-ravaged Sivasagar district: to save handwritten Vaishnavite manuscripts of early 18th-century vintage from being lost forever to a dual assault of moisture and fungi.

Around 35 of these texts – scribbled on sanchipat or sun-dried strips of agarwood bark that traditional scribes used more than a century before Baptist missionaries set up the state’s first printing press – have been restored since the operation began last weekend, reports Kangkan Kalita.

The collection includes manuscripts of the Kirtan, Dasham, Namghosa, Bhakti Ratnawali, Bhakti Premawali, Ramayan, Vyakhyashram Kathasar, Gopal Atar Charit and Adi Charit, all linked to Assam’s 16th-century patron saint Srimanta Sankardev’s Vaishnavite movement.

Details

August 4, 2026: The Times of India

The oldest of the texts the conservation team is trying to restore include a Ramayan manuscript estimated to be 300-odd years old and a 263-year-old copy of the Kirtan and Dasham from the Bhagavat, said Medini Mohan Gogoi, scientific officer (Indian knowledge systems) at university’s Centre for Southeast Asian Studies.

“We have been primarily carrying out antifungal treatment. Pages of many of these manuscripts are sticking like glue after being submerged for so long... Restoring them to their original form is a challenge,” he said. The restoration started after Sivasagar MLA Akhil Gogoi flagged the issue, prompting vice-chancellor Nani Gopal Mahanta and registrar Utpal Sarma to dispatch a team.

Medini Mohan and archival assistant Dhanjit Talukdar of the university’s K K Handiqui Library reached the satra Saturday and got to work immediately, restoring the first batch of manuscripts by Monday. They have been separating, cleaning and chemically treating each page to halt fungal damage.

The heritage at stake extends beyond the satra. Several manuscripts have been preserved by families traditionally associated with the monastery. “We were told the flooding started without warning and the manuscripts were submerged in no time. People were in tears on seeing the damage,” the scientific officer said. The monastery dates back to the reign of the 34th Ahom king Lakshmi Singha (1769-1780).