Under the series of ‘Exhibit of the Month’ at Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya, a traditional object “Garudasan” (An altar for the worship of Holy Scriptures) has been displayed for a whole month.
Director of NSC & NGMA, Mumbai, Shivprasad Khened, Ex Director of IGRMS, Prof KK Basa, Retd Geographer of AnSI, Sumit Mukherjee, Director of IGRMS, Prof SK Chaudhuri and Joint Director, IGRMS, Dilip Singh, jointly inaugurated the Exhibit of the Month at Veethi Sankul indoor exhibition building.
This Exhibit of the Month has been curated by N Sakmacha Singh (Museum Associate).
Garudasan is a three tiered wooden platform used by the families of the Assamese Vaisnavas to set a place of worship in the specified place of the house. This colourful wooden altar is used for worshiping the Holy Scriptures like the Bhagata Purana, Gunamala etc.
Garuda (an Eagle), being the vehicle of lord Vishnu, this Asana (altar) is named after the sculptures of Garuda it contains in all the three tiers of the platform. Unlike the massively built structure of Singhasana (multitiered wooden altar for Holy Scripture) worshipped in the Satras (Vaisnavite Monastries), the three tiered Gadudasana is traditionally meant for worshipping at home.
The faith in the worship of Holy Scriptures using Asanas (altar for Holy Scriptures) is said to have emerged with the neo-vaisnavite movement in the late 15th Century AD, laid by Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardev and his disciples. This exhibition attempts to describe the socio-cultural significance and the Philosophical thought lingering with the religious utilities of Singhasana and Garudasana by the Vaisnavites of Assam.