A simple man’s burning desire to rewrite the history of traditional cultural forms of dramatics have brought new dimensions facilitating world class production by bonding communities under one faith of Vaishnavism. An exemplary ideal Assamese ,Basanta Kumar Baruah’s dream to upgrade the traditional Sampurna Raas Leela has immensely contributed culturally by promoting the goodness of the age old heritage of the Bhakti Movement. His outstanding contributions to revive , promote and develop the folk songs and Satriya culture of Assam have been admirable. With his rich experience of the Satriya culture, for the first time Sri Baruah had come out with a compendium of a few episodes of Mancha Bhaona and Sri Krishna Sampurna Raas Leela and performed the same in the cosmopolitan city Guwahati in 2009. In the subsequent years he performed the same in Bodo, Mising , Deuri Karbi and Tea Tribe in their dialects. At a time when Bodos and Karbis were fighting for separate homelands, Shri Baruah’s such a venture is time worthy , laudable and deserves commendations for bridging up brotherly relationship between various sensitive tribes of Assam. Basanta Kumar Baruah has also taken steps to perform Raas leela in various language dialects of Tea Tribes, Mising , Rabhas, Tiwa, Deuri etc. A team of all women artists from Khumtai tribe from Golaghat District, performed the Raas Leela in 2015 at Rudrasingha Sports Complex , Dispur Super Market.

Hailing from a small town of Borigaon, of Gohpur in the Sonitpur District of Assam, Basanta Kumar Baruah was felicitated with the very essence of Vaishnavism and its beliefs from a very tender age. His family inspired him to follow the Vaishnavite way of life and thus was bestowed with lessons in Borgeet and Bhaona inculcating the very seed of culture in his young mind.
Basanta Kumar Baruah’s childhood atmosphere at his home was one of the main reasons of his profound and deep rooted connection with Bhaona. His father often enacted as the king in the village Bhaonas thus leaving strong articulate impressions of larger than life images of the characters inspiring him to enact some day . His mother loved listening to Borgeets and Lokageets thus encouraging him to take up music as well. He himself took part in the Bhaona’s of his village where he played female part ‘QUEEN’ for his melodious voice was perfect for the same.

But Basanta Kumar Bhuyan’s turning point in life came at the age of 10 years when he shifted his base from his parents village in Gohpur to his maternal uncle , his guru Sri Jiban Bhuyan , in Narayanpur . Under the brilliant guidance from his gurus Sri Jagat Bhuyan and Sri Arun Bhuyan , Basanta Kumar Bhuyan started learning Lokageet , Borgeet in Raas Leela in Narayanpur. His parents encouraged him to continue Music and thus for this sole purpose, kept him in his maternal Uncles house from class 6 to class 9.

At this very tender age of 10 years, Basanta Kumar Baruah started promoting Lokageets and Borgeets riding on a rickshaw across Narayanpur.

After coming back to his own village , he patronized ‘Moina Parijat’within his locality and as a President of the same, encouraged and inspired young children of his village to learn Lokageet,Borgeet,Rabha geet, Jyoty Sangeet and perform the same in the various functions of Moina Parijat.

In 1979 when Basanta Kumar Baruah was 15 years old first he solely patronized Sri Sri Krishna Sampurna Raas Leela in Gohpur. This was an remarkable achievement for young Basanta Kumar Baruah.

In 1981, Basanta Kumar Baruah joined Darrang College after his matriculation.He was also introduced to the world of Sattriya culture under the guidance of Guru Satradhikar , Puniyabrata Deva Goswami of Nikamul Sattra in Tezpur. It was during this early period of his life, that he was acquainted to the world of Bhakti movement initiated by Saint Srimanta Sankaradeva.

With the guidance and mentorship from his Gurus, Basanta Kumar Baruah started performing in Bhaona’s in Namghars at the very age of 10. It was his undying passion of this form of art, that later gave way to organize the Sampurna Raas Leela in a voluminous way.
Galvanized in an atmosphere of culture, belief and faith , Basanta Baruah’s early growing years was inclined to yearn for knowledge of the great Saint Srimanta Sankaradeva. With each passing year, he was drawn to the mesmerizing world of Bhaona and its wonderful characters in portrayal.

It was Basanta Kumar Barua’s interminable devotion and immortal love for his culture that inspired him to dedicate his life for the enhancement of the cultural activities of Assam to the next level. And thus gave birth to Sampurna Raas Leela and Mancha Bhaona.