Assam is a land of calm blue hills, red rivers, and varied flora and fauna inheriting great wonders and diversities having dew kissed tapestry of hills, happy valleys and greeneries where history whispers with myths where hospitality is a tradition and culture a true religion , vibrant and colorful like a song of rainbow. Mahabahu Brahmaputra has been the lifeline of the people of Assam. The nature has given her ample beauty and thus with the arrival of Autumn , there comes merriment and gaiety. Autumn is the time for celebrating Raas Leela in Assam.

‘Bhaona’ which is an enactment of mythological stories of Ramayana and Mahabharata, was first introduced by the Great Saint Srimanta Sankaradeva and Madhavdeva. The celebrations of Raas festival in Assam is very much related with the Bhakti Movement of the Neo Vaishnavism. The neo Vaishnava movement of Assam is associated with the personality of Sri Srimanta Sankaradev( 1449-1568 AD).The oneness of the Ultimate Spirit had been the governing ideal of most branches of Hinduism. Social reform was Sri Sankaradeva’s main agenda, his religion was a means for his people to climb out the abyss they found themselves in. He knew that faith needed to be liberal , practical universal and successible. His religion was democratic in nature, which was open to all, irrespective of any caste or creed and thus advocates communal harmony. His teachings says every living being possesses ‘atma’(soul) and therefore should be treated with dignity which is very much relevant to the present world scenario of conservation and sustainable movement. The neo- vaishnava movement ushered in by the saint created an unprecedented zeal for the culture of religious literature. He adopted several forms of literature , prose, translations or adaptations , complications from different texts, songs and lyrics , longer narratives and a doctrinal treatise.
Basanta Kumar Baruah’s sole motto to assimilate all ethnic tribes of Assam under one common roof to strengthen the thread of brotherhood and peace.

The ‘Raas Leela’ in a broader sense means Dance of Divine Love that takes place one night when the gopis of Vrindaban upon hearing the sound of Krishna’s flute , sneak away from their households and families to the forest to dance with Krishna throughout the night .In the Bhagavata Purana it is stated stated that whoever faithfully hears or describes the Raasa Lila attains Krishna’s act , play and dance. The Raas Lila is a apart of the devotional story of Krishna where he dances with Radha and her Sakhis. Such spiritual descriptions can be found in Hindu scriptures like Bhagavata Purana, Gita and Gobinda.

The Raas Leela Mahotsav in Assam begins on the Raas Purnima day. The festive  spirit grips all reaches when sounds of khols, sankhas , kahas reverberate  the sky line to give the entire State a religious atmosphere. The celebration of Raas Leela  was once associated more with rural life. But of late the cosmopolitan Guwahati is witnessing growing popularity of Raas Mahotsav. In Assam  places like , Majuli, Nalbari, Barpeta , Kamrupa are major locations of the State where the celebrations reach its peaks. In upper Assam Raas is observed  through human enactments of different  episode from Krishna’s life in complete adherence to Vaishnaivite traditions. However renditions of Rass Leela is quite contrasting in lower Assam than in Upper Assam.

Basanta Kumar Baruah , the founder and Managing Director of B B Creations is the main architect who designed and shaped the Sampurna Raas Leela , a unique creation of Vaishnavite Culture. The Sampurna Raas Leela was showcased  for the first time in Guwahati with affluent and  recognized Assamese artists of the Assamese Film Industry as well as  from Bodo, Karbi , Mising, Deuri and Tea Tribe in their own dialects . Each year the fulfillment of the Basanta Kumar Baruah’s motto of assimilation of all ethnic tribes of Assam in the common platform to strengthen the thread of brotherhood and peace. Thereby , creating a cosmopolitan  communal cultural harmony through human enactments of different episodes from Krishna’s life in complete adherence to Vaishnavite traditions.

The land of Assam is the first place of the country which gave birth to the modern theatre movement with Chinnha Yatra more than five hundred years ago. The great religious spiritual Guru Sri Sankardev invented Chinnha Yatra to promote and spread ‘Ek – sarana-nama-dharma’. He taught the worship of Sri Krishna and renounced idolatry , animal sacrifice , discrimination in caste system and untouchability. But he realized that for shaping his vision into reality, he would need to necessitate an essential change in the whole socio cultural scenario and thus he established two unique institutions Sattra and Namghar. These pious places are not confined to worship of God only. Other religious activities like performing Bhaona , Raas leela, Sattriya dance are the integral part of Sattriya cultures. These places are in reality more than congregational hall of prayer .It brings about a degree of bonding within the community . The naam ghar later expanded to another form of institution called Sattras. Through his literary genius , social reformative approach and zeal for propagation of Bhakti marg Sankaradeva gave a new touch to his age old art form called ‘ Raas Leela’.

This gave a new dimension to the whole concept as people were able to dedicate their mind and soul fully to attain heavenly peace and on the other hand it developed the cultural and social bonding and brotherhood and oneness among the people of Assam. People from every caste and creed were received by Sri Guru Sankaradev as disciples and were accepted whole heartedly to the new faith. Sri Guru Sankaradev was a social reformer who unified people under the same roof. The social taboos like untouchables, backward classes and tribes were taken into the new fraternity. Some of his disciples were Gobindo – a Garo , Paramananda – a Missing, Narahari an Ahom, Narottam – a Naga, Jayarama –a Bhutia and Muslim Chansai ,and a Bhattadeva – Brahmana scholar and so on. That was the very foundation on which the great saint Sri Srimanta Sankaradev had built the modern Assamese society.

It was the efforts of Great Saint Srimanta Sankaradeva , that the very pillars of Assamese culture was laid through devising new forms of music (Borgeet), theatrical performance (Ankia Naat, Bhaona), dance (Sattriya), literary language (Brajavali). Srimanta Sankaradeva left an extensive literary oeuvre of trans-created scriptures (Bhagavat of Sankaradev), poetry and theological works written in Sanskrit, Assamese and Brajavali.

The Bhagavatic religious movement he started, the Rasa lila (also known as Raas Leela) or Rasa dance is part of the traditional story telling of Krishna described in Hindu scriptures such as the Bhagavata Purana and literature such as the Gita Govinda, where he dances with Radha and her sakhis. The term, rasa meaning “aesthetics” and lila meaning “act,” “play” or “dance” is a concept from Hinduism, which roughly translates to “play” (lila) of aesthetics (rasa),” or more broadly as “Dance of Divine Love”.

The magnificent contributions of Sri Srimanta Sankaradev has earned reputation from all over the country and abroad. Sattriya dance has been also recognized as classical dance form from Sangeet Natak Academy.

Sri Guru Sankaradev emphasized on the fact that if a person lacks in moral education , human values , work culture, social commitment , discipline and sense of brotherhood, then they can never succeed But there was no instance of performing Sri Krishna’s Raas Leela by the artists in Lower Assam prior to 2008.Only few sculptures of various deities , demons and animals were nicely arranged in the festival sites for the viewers. People used to throng into each other during the Raas Leela festival ground every night and enjoy the ambience.
This was completely a different portrayal of Raas Leela than staging the Raas Leela in Guwahati city amidst over crowded audiences and performance of artists live. An estimated of more than two hundred artists, musicians, instrumentalists, script writers , directors take part in rehearsals every night for a month or so.

Being a philanthropic of culture sanctified with a dynamic personality, Basanta Kumar Baruah initiated to bring this traditional enactment of scriptures of ‘ Bhaona’ which was confined to only Satra’s and Namghars, to the door step of the cosmopolitan lives of the Guwahatians.

Basanta Kumar Barua was successful to gather around 200 youths to take part in his new creative endeavor with minimum available resources from his native place in Gohpur. With this humble beginning, Basanta Kumar Baruah continued his creative journey thereafter under the banner of Basanta Bobby from 2009 till date. Accompanied by a rage of propensity to promote this cultural parody , Basanta Baruah first time performed Bhaona in Guwahati city in the year 2010 remodeling its whole presentation with modern equipments of lights, sound and stage. This very performance redefined the galore of traditional Bhaona to a new level . With majestic stage laid across the venue, superb technology of sound and lights, make up and costumes of authentic traditional attire and artists from across the region, Basanta Kumar Baruah ensemble the best from every field, showcasing the chivalric heritage of Sattriya Culture. Apart from youths from the different region, Cine and small screen Artists like Late Lokhi Borthakur, Moloya Goswami, Nishita Goswami, Gayatri Mahanta, Prastuti Parashar, Barasha Rani Bishoya, Aimi Barua, Chetana Das, Manmath Barua Bijit Barua also participated in this platform adding glitz and glamour to the whole theme.
The Bhaona’s which were once a Namghar culture was brought in to the very doorstep of city dwellers attracting thousands of people from across the region as well beyond. Basanta Kumar Baruah’s dream to exhibit the rich culture of Assamese society was just the beginning of a new path.

Adored with deep rooted values of Vaishnavism , Basanta Kumar Baruah’s contribution to the society is not only confined to the cultural field but to various social causes like untouchability and racism as well ,where he has been successful in bringing awareness among people through his organization. His sole motive to dedicate his life to bridge the gap between various communities have seen the day of the light with his continuous efforts to unite everyone under one cultural platform.

Basanta Kumar Barua’s cultural odyssey of the great Satriya Heritage have been reaching out to people from across the region, from every tribe, race and breed of Assam and other North eastern States. He has been instrumental in involving and generating unity among various communities under one common platform , that of Sattriya Culture. His very concept of ‘ Building Cultural Bridge’ have been victorious in showcasing this magnificent cultural extravaganza amongst both Lower Assam and Upper Assam.

Inspite of barriers of language and beliefs, Basanta Kumar Baruah’s Sampurna Raas Leela has celebrated Raas Leela preserving the sentiments of both Upper and Lower Assam. The Raas in Upper Assam is observed through human enactment of Lord Krishna’s life while it is manifested through different idols in Lower Assam. Thus keeping both the cultures alive, Sampurna Raas Leela performed in Guwahati through human enactment of Lower Assam.