DOCSLIB.ORG

Automatic Phoneme Recognition for Bangla Spoken Language

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Automatic Phoneme Recognition for Bangla Spoken Language 1 B.Sc. in Computer Science and Engineering Thesis Automatic Phoneme Recognition for Bangla Spoken Language Submitted by Israt Jahan Mouri 201014040 Tahsin Sultana 201014023 Md. Wahiduzzaman Khan 201014063 Supervised by Dr. Mohammad Nurul Huda Professor & MSCSE Coordinator Department of Computer Science and Engineering United International University (UIU), Dhaka, Bangladesh. Department of Computer Science and Engineering Military Institute of Science and Technology CERTIFICATION This thesis paper titled “Automatic Phoneme Recognition for Bangla Spoken Language ”, submitted by the group as mentioned below has been accepted as satisfactory in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree B.Sc. in Computer Science and Engineering on December 2013. Group Members: Israt Jahan Mouri Tahsin Sultana Md. Wahiduzzaman Khan Supervisor: ———————————- Dr. Mohammad Nurul Huda Professor & MSCSE Coordinator United International University (UIU), Dhaka, Bangladesh. ii CANDIDATES’ DECLARATION This is to certify that the work presented in this thesis paper is the outcome of the inves- tigation and research carried out by the following students under the supervision of Dr. Mohammad Nurul Huda, Professor & MSCSE Coordinator ,United International University (UIU), Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is also declared that neither this thesis paper nor any part thereof has been submitted any- where else for the award of any degree, diploma or other qualifications. ———————————- Israt Jahan Mouri 201014040 ———————————- Tahsin Sultana 201014023 ———————————- Md. Wahiduzzaman Khan 201014063 iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT We are thankful to Almighty Allah for his blessings for the successful completion of our thesis. Our heartiest gratitude, profound indebtedness and deep respect go to our supervisor Dr. Mohammad Nurul Huda,Professor & MSCSE Coordinator,United International Uni- versity (UIU), Dhaka, Bangladesh, for his constant supervision, affectionate guidance and great encouragement and motivation. His keen interest on the topic and valuable advices throughout the study was of great help in completing thesis. We are especially grateful to the Department of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) of Military Institute of Science and Technology (MIST) for providing their all out support during the thesis work. Finally, we would like to thank our families and our course mates for their appreciable assistance, patience and suggestions during the course of our thesis. Dhaka Israt Jahan Mouri December 2013 Tahsin Sultana . Md. Wahiduzzaman Khan iv ABSTRACT Speech recognition (also known as automatic speech recognition or computer speech recog- nition) converts spoken words to text. The term “voice recognition” is sometimes used to refer to recognition systems that must be trained to a particular speaker as is the case for most desktop recognition software. Recognizing the speaker can simplify the task of translating speech. For the past two decades, research in speech recognition has been intensively carried out worldwide, spurred on by advances in signal processing, algorithms, architectures, and hard- ware. Speech recognition systems have been developed for a wide variety of applications, ranging from small vocabulary keyword recognition over dial-up telephone lines, to medium size vocabulary voice interactive command and control systems on personal computers, to large vocabulary speech dictation, spontaneous speech understanding, and limited-domain speech translation. In this paper, we prepare a Bangla Phoneme recognition system of Bangla Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR). Most of the Bangla ASR system uses a small number of speakers, but 30 speakers selected from a wide area of Bangladesh, where Bangla is used as a na- tive language, are involved here. In the experiments, mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) are inputted to the hidden Markov model (HMM) based classifiers for obtaining phoneme recognition performance. It is shown from the experimental results that MFCC- based method of 39 dimensions provide higher phoneme correct rate and accuracy. More- over, it requires fewer mixture components in the HMMs . Moreover, this paper we review some of the key advances in several areas of automatic speech recognition. We also illustrate, by examples, how these key advances can be used for continuous speech recognition of Bangla Language. Finally we elaborate the requirements in designing successful real-world applications and address technical challenges that need to be harnessed in order to reach the ultimate goal of providing an easy-to-use, natural, and flexible voice interface between people and machines. v TABLE OF CONTENT CERTIFICATION ii CANDIDATES’ DECLARATION iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iv ABSTRACT v List of Figures x List of Tables xi List of Abbreviation xii 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Introduction . 1 1.2 Background of research . 2 1.3 Goal of the thesis . 4 1.4 Significance of the Study . 4 2 Speech Recognition 6 2.1 Introduction . 6 2.2 Introduction to ASR Systems . 7 2.3 Applications of ASR Systems . 8 2.4 Speech Recognition Basics . 9 2.5 Overview of the Full System . 11 vi 2.6 Types of Speech Recognition . 12 2.7 Conclusion . 13 3 Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) 14 3.1 Introduction . 14 3.2 Hidden Markov Models . 15 3.3 HMMs for Word Modeling . 17 3.4 Emission Probability Density of a Vector Sequence . 18 3.5 The Viterbi Algorithm . 20 3.6 Gaussian Probability Density Function . 21 3.6.1 Continuous Mixture Densities . 21 3.7 Conclusion . 22 4 Bangla IPA Table 24 4.1 Introduction . 24 4.2 Bangla Script . 25 4.3 Bangla IPA Table . 26 4.3.1 Vowels & Consonants . 26 4.4 Bangla Phoneme Schemes . 28 4.4.1 Bangla Phoneme . 28 4.5 Conclusion . 30 5 Our contribution 31 5.1 Introduction . 31 5.2 Why is ASR hard to accomplish? . 32 5.3 Preparation of Bangla Speech Corpus . 33 vii 5.4 Feature Extraction and Phonemes . 35 5.5 Bangla Phonemes with Phonetic Symbols . 36 5.6 Bangla Words . 39 5.7 HTK Tool . 39 5.7.1 HCopy . 39 5.7.2 HList . 40 5.7.3 HCompV . 41 5.7.4 HRest . 42 5.7.5 HERest . 43 5.7.6 HHEd . 45 5.7.7 HParse . 46 5.7.8 HVite . 46 5.7.9 HResults . 48 5.8 Steps of the Experiment(Data preparation) . 49 5.9 Steps of the Experiment(Training) . 52 5.9.1 Mixture 1............................... 55 5.9.2 Mixture 2............................... 56 5.9.3 Mixture 4............................... 56 5.9.4 Mixture 8............................... 57 5.9.5 Mixture 16.............................. 57 5.9.6 Mixture 32.............................. 58 5.10 Steps of the Experiment(Testing) . 58 5.11 Conclusion . 59 6 Conclusions and Future works 61 viii 6.1 Conclusion . 61 6.2 Future Works . 62 References A Batch HList.m ix LIST OF FIGURES 2.1 General Solution. 9 2.2 Overview of the Project . 11 3.1 An hmm example state diagram. Three states with corresponding output distributions are interconnected by transitions with transitional probabilities architecture. 17 3.2 Typical lefttoright HMM for word recognition . 18 3.3 Possible state sequences through the HMM . 19 3.4 scatterplot of vectors emitted by a gaussian mixture density process . 22 4.1 A chart of the full International Phonetic Alphabet . 27 4.2 Bangla phonetic scheme in IPA (Vowels) . 28 4.3 Bangla phonetic scheme in IPA (Consonants) . 29 5.1 HCopy Command . 51 5.2 HERest Command . 55 5.3 HTK Processing Stages . 60 x LIST OF TABLES 2.1 Typical parameters used to characterize the capability of speech recognition systems. 7 5.1 Bangla Vowels . 37 5.2 Bangla Consonants . 37 5.3 Some Bangla words with their orthographic transcriptions and IPA . 39 xi LIST OF ABBREVIATION AF : Articulatory Features ASR : Acoustic Model ATR : Automatic Speech Recognition BPF : Band Pass Filter CMN : Cepstral Mean Normalization DARPA: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency DCT : Discrete Cosine Transform DPF : Distinctive Phonetic Featur DCR : DPF Correct Rate DSR : Distributed Speech Recognition ETSI : European Telecommunications Standards Institute EM : Expected Maximization FFT : Fast Fourier Transform GS : Gram-Schmidt GMM : Gaussian Mixture Model GI : Gender-Independent HNN : Hybrid Neural Network HMM : Hidden Markov Model HL : Hidden Layer In/En : Inhibition/Enhancement BNAS : Bangla Newspaper Article Sentences JEIDA : Japan Electronic Industries Development Association KLT : Kahunen-Loeve Transform LF : Local Feature LM : Language Model LR : Linear Regression MFCC : Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficient MLN : Multilayer Neural network xii OL : Output Layer OOV : Out-of-vocabulary PCR : Phoneme Correct Rate PRA : Phoneme Recognition Accuracy RNN : Recurrent Neural Network SPINE : Speech recognition In Noisy Environments SNR : Signal-to-noise Ratio xiii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Introduction Speech is one of the oldest and most natural means of information exchange between hu- man beings. We as humans speak and listen to each other in human-human interface. For centuries people have tried to develop machines that can understand and produce speech as humans do so naturally [1] [2] . Obviously such an interface would yield great benefits [3]. Attempts have been made to develop vocally interactive computers to realise voice/speech recognition. In this case a computer can recognize text and give out a speech output [3]. Voice/speech recognition is a field of computer science that deals with designing computer systems that recognize spoken words. It is a technology that allows a computer to identify the words that a person speaks into a microphone or telephone. Speech recognition can be defined as the process of converting an acoustic signal, captured by a microphone or a telephone, to a set of words [4] [5]. Automatic speech recogni- tion (ASR) is one of the fastest developing fields in the framework of speech science and engineering. As the new generation of computing technology, it comes as the next major in- novation in man-machine interaction, after functionality of text-to-speech (TTS), supporting interactive voice response (IVR) systems. The reason for the evolution of ASR, hence improved is that it has a lot of applications in many aspects of our daily life, for example, telephone applications, applications for the physically handicapped and illiterates and many others in the area of computer science.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • M Ij K H ODP a 3D H Y a V Proquest Number: 10731648
    M iJ K H ODP A 3D H Y A V ProQuest Number: 10731648 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10731648 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 BRAJABULI LITERATURE. ITS OOftlTEfflT AMD LANGUAGE WITH SPECIAL SEPEREHOE TO BENGAL by Tar a pa da M u k ho pa d hy a ya Thesis submitted for the Degree of Ph.D ., University of London 1959 ABSTRACT The subject of this essay is the Vaisnava literature of Medieval Bengal composed in the Bra^abuli language# It is .discussed in its three aspects: religion, literature and language. The songs, composed according to the conventions prescribed by the highest authority of the CaurTya Vaisnava school are primarily religious; and they are at the same time literary products some of them of great beauty. In them religious sentiment is expressed in terms of human emotion anc passion* The language in which the poems are composed is use exclusively by the Vaisnava poets of the Caitanya sect and ha£ especial features of its own# Therefore for a proper under­ standing of the works of the Vaisnava poets, these three aspec must be all taken into consideration.
    [Show full text]
  • CURRENT AFFAIRS DECEMBER 2019 a Magazine for APSC CCE and UPSC CSE
    Lucent IAS CURRENT AFFAIRS DECEMBER 2019 A magazine for APSC CCE and UPSC CSE Includes Assam related topics for APSC Specific topics for UPSC CSE-2019 Personality Tests Holistically covers articles from The Hindu, Assam Tribune Covers the issues of Citizenship Amendment Act, Assam Accord, ST status Copyright © by Lucent IAS All rights are reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of Lucent IAS LUCENT IAS CALL@6003834101 LUCENT IAS pying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of Lucent IAS Contents HISTORY AND CULTURE .................................................................................................................................................... 6 1.1 Maharaja Surajmal and the third battle of Panipat ................................................................................................ 6 1.2 Jnanpith Award: ...................................................................................................................................................... 6 1.3 India’s first maritime museum in Gujarat: .............................................................................................................. 6 1.4 Maharaja Duleep Singh: .......................................................................................................................................... 6 1.5 Paika Rebellion .......................................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • PRAG CONSILIENCE RNI No
    ISSN 2456-6861 PRAG CONSILIENCE RNI No. ASSMUL/2016/70132 PRAG CONSILIENCE A Multi-lingual Peer-reviewed Annual Research Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, Science and Commerce Vol. 4, No 1, August 2019 PRAGJYOTISH COLLEGE RESEARCH COUNCIL (PCRC) PRAGJYOTISH COLLEGE Bharalumukh, Guwahati 781 009 (Assam) 2019 PRAG CONSILIENCE / VOL.4, NO.1 / AUGUST, 2019 1 PRAG CONSILIENCE, ISSN 2456-6861, RNI No. ASSMUL/2016/70132, A Multilingual Peer-reviewed Annual Research Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, Science and Commerce, Printed by Prince Choudhury, Published by Dr. Manoj Kumar Mahanta, Principal, Pragjyotish College, on behalf of Pragjyotish College Research Council (PCRC), Pragjyotish College, Bharalumukh, Guwahati 781 009 and Printed at Bhabani Offset & Imaging Systems Pvt. Ltd., 7 Lachit Lane, Rajgarh Road, Guwahati 781 007 and Published at Pragjyotish College, Bharalumukh, Guwahati 781 009. Editor: Dr. Jyotirmoy Sengupta. © Copyright, 2019, Pragjyotish College Research Council (PCRC) Pragjyotish College Address for Communication Editor PRAG CONSILIENCE (ISSN 2456-6861) Department of Bengali Pragjyotish College, Guwahati 781 009 E-mail: [email protected] Contact No. +91-8638850289 Price: Rs. 250/- (Rupees Two Hundred and Fifty only) Disclaimer The Editorial Board and the Publisher of the Journal are not responsible for the opinions expressed by the authors 2 PRAG CONSILIENCE / VOL.4, NO.1 / AUGUST, 2019 From the Editor's Desk _________ I am very pleased to introduce the Volume 4, No 1 of the Research Journal PRAG CONSILIENCE published by Pragjyotish College Research Council (PCRC), Pragjyotish College, Guwahati. At the outset, I am offering my sincere apology for unexpected delay to publish this 4th volume of the journal.
    [Show full text]
  • Contribution of Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardeva to Assamese Literature and Culture
    International Journal of Innovative Technology and Exploring Engineering (IJITEE) ISSN: 2278-3075, Volume-10 Issue-7, May 2021 Contribution of Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardeva to Assamese Literature and Culture Abul Hussain Abstract: Mahapurusha Srimanta Sankardeva was an The tutorial, cultural and literature contribution by Assamese saint-scholar. Study on his life and works is of great him still influences the fashionable creative academic importance in Assam. The tutorial, cultural and works.Srimanta Sankardeva was a pioneer of Assamese literature contribution by him still influences the fashionable art and culture, language and literature and also of creative works. The ideas, cultural contribution and education. Therefore, the investigators have felt the philosophy of Srimanta Sankardeva became an integral an area of the lifetime of Assamese people. Therefore, the requirement to review aboutthe contribution of investigators have felt the requirement to review about the Mahapurusha Srimanta Sankardeva within the sphere of contribution of Mahapurusha Srimanta Sankardeva within the assamese literature and culture in relevance its sphere of Assamese literature and culture in relevancy its educational significanceto uplift the moral, spiritual, educational significanceto uplift the moral, spiritual, value value based thought, character building and personality based thought, character building and personality development development of the long term generation of the people. of the long run generation of the people. the foremost objectives of the study are to review the Contribution of 1.2. Delimitation of the study Mahapurusha Srimanta Sankardeva within the sphere of The delimitation of this study is as under: Assamese literature and culture and to review the tutorial a) This study is delimited to the materials available significance of the Contribution of Mahapurusha Srimanta to the investigators concerning with Srimanta Sankardeva within the sector of Assamese literature and culture.
    [Show full text]
  • Shakespeare's Influence on Pre-Independence Assamese
    Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities (ISSN 0975-2935) Indexed by Web of Science, Scopus, DOAJ, ERIHPLUS Vol. 12, No. 1, January-March, 2020. 1-15 Full Text: http://rupkatha.com/V12/n1/v12n141.pdf DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v12n1.41 Shakespeare’s Influence on Pre-Independence Assamese Tragedy: a Historical Perspective Mohammad Rezaul Karim1 & Soleman Ali Mondal2 1Assistant Professor of English, College of Business Administration Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University, Al Kharj, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. ORCID: 0000-0002-8178-8260. Email: [email protected] 2Associate Professor, Department of English, B.N. College, Dhubri, Assam, India ORCID ID: 0000-0001-5576-1139. Email: [email protected] Abstract In Assamese, the tradition of writing and production of plays on the model of Sankardeva, Madhavdeva and their contemporaries fell into decadence with the arrival of a new type of plays under the influence of Shakespearean dramas. The presence of Shakespeare is deeply felt as close translations of his texts are being done and his style and technique being freely adopted. Some of these Assamese plays have nothing authentically Shakespearean about them but they could not have been written in the first place but for Shakespeare’s influence on their writers. Shakespeare is thus the main creative force behind this entire body of dramatic literature in Assamese. Since the late 19th century productions of Shakespearean plays by different writers and his influence on Assamese drama has continued unabated even to this day. In this article, an attempt has been made to selectively focus on pre-Independence Assamese tragedy.
    [Show full text]
  • A Study on the Contribution of Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardeva in the Field of Assamese Literature and Culture in Relation to Its Educational Significance
    JOURNAL OF CRITICAL REVIEWS ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 6, 2020 A STUDY ON THE CONTRIBUTION OF MAHAPURUSH SRIMANTA SANKARDEVA IN THE FIELD OF ASSAMESE LITERATURE AND CULTURE IN RELATION TO ITS EDUCATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE Nipshikha Bonia1, Bilina Devi Kataky2 , Dipika Baruah3 1,2 Research Scholars, Dibrugarh University, Assam 3 Lecturer, Rev. William Ward Junior College, Lakhimpur, Assam. India ABSTRACT: Mahapurusha Srimanta Sankardeva was an assamese saint-scholar, poet, social-religious reformer, playwright, polymath and a figure of importance in the cultural and religious history of Assam. Srimanta Sankardeva had given Assam a new life and new shape.The religious preaching and activities of Srimanta Sankardeva contributed significantly in shaping the Assamese Culture and literature. Study about his life and works is of great academic importance in Assam. The educational, cultural and literature contribution by him still influences the modern creative works. The ideas, cultural contribution and philosophy of Srimanta Sankardeva have become an integral part of the life of Assamese people. Therefore, the investigators have felt the need to study about the contribution of Mahapurusha Srimanta Sankardeva in the field of assamese literature and culture in relation to its educational significanceto uplift the moral, spiritual, value based thought, character building and personality development of the future generation of the people. The main objectives of the study are to study the Contribution of Mahapurusha Srimanta Sankardeva in the field of Assamese literature and culture and to study the educational significance of the Contribution of Mahapurusha Srimanta Sankardeva in the field of Assamese literature and culture. KEYWORDS: Mahapurusha Srimanta sankardeva, Cultural Contribution, Assamese Literature, Educational Significance.
    [Show full text]
  • ANKIYA NAAT of Assam
    ANKIYA NAAT of Assam The Ankiya Naat (traditional Assamese one-act plays) are the true index of Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardev’s creative genius. These plays, composed on the combined formats of Assamese puppet dances of pre-modern era, Ozha-Pali, and also other Indian theatrical institutions as well as techniques and practices followed in the Sanskrit plays, have been termed the Ankiya Naat produced and presented by the Mahapurush in Assam. Although the plays composed by Mahapurush Sankardeva and Madhavdeva had received popular acceptance, the term Ankiya Naat was not found during Sankardeva’s life time. This nomenclature gained currency in subsequent time only. Twelve such plays, scripted by Sankardeva and Madhavdeva between them are found on record. According to some Carit Puthis (biographies) Sankardeva started as a play-wright by planning and presenting the ‘Chihna-Yatra’ and proceeded to compose a few more subsequently. The ‘Chihna-Yatra’ has no written script, the written scripts of his other plays either. The six plays composed by him are- ‘Patni-Prasad’, ‘Keli-Gopal’, ‘Rukmini- Haran’, ‘Parijat Haran’and the ‘Ram Bijoy’. The palys of Madhavdeva are ‘Chor-Dhara’, ‘Pimpara Guchuwa’, ‘Bhojan Bihar’, ‘Arjun Bhanjan’, Bhumi Letowa’ and the ‘Nrisinha Yatra’. These six palys are also known as ‘Jhumur’. Ankiya Naat are also called as Ankiya Bhaona . There is no significant difference between these two terms. Generally, Naat is referred to the writer document and Bhaona is the performance of the play. Both the words are interchangeable. The Bhaona is often performed in the Namghar in a Sattra or a village. If the given space in a Namghar being inadequate spectators make – shift arrangements (rabhaghar) are often made by extending both sides of the verandah.
    [Show full text]
  • The PRINT VERSION of ALL the PAPERS OF
    LANGUAGE IN INDIA Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow Volume 15:6 June 2015 ISSN 1930-2940 Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D. Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D. Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D. B. A. Sharada, Ph.D. A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D. Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D. Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D. S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D. G. Baskaran, Ph.D. L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D. C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics) N. Nadaraja Pillai, Ph.D. Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A. Materials published in Language in India www.languageinindia.com are indexed in EBSCOHost database, MLA International Bibliography and the Directory of Periodicals, ProQuest (Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts) and Gale Research. The journal is listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals. It is included in the Cabell’s Directory, a leading directory in the USA. Articles published in Language in India are peer-reviewed by one or more members of the Board of Editors or an outside scholar who is a specialist in the related field. Since the dissertations are already reviewed by the University-appointed examiners, dissertations accepted for publication in Language in India are not reviewed again. This is our 15th year of publication. All back issues of the journal are accessible through this link: http://languageinindia.com/backissues/2001.html Contents Language in India www.languageinindia.com ISSN 1930-2940 15:6 June 2015 List of Contents i English as a Lingua Franca: Creating a ‘Model’ Out of a ‘Muddle’? Anindya Syam Choudhury, Ph.D., PGCTE, PGDTE, CertTESOL (Trinity, London) 1-8 Pause Duration in Typically Developing Malayalam Speaking Children Anuja Sara Abraham, Final Year Post-Graduate Student Satish Kumaraswami, Principal Janet George, Final Year Post-Graduate Student Arya, G.
    [Show full text]
  • Vaishnavism in Assam During 13 and 14Th Centuries AD in India There
    Vaishnavism in Assam During 13th and 14th centuries AD in India there was a plexus of forces that led to the development of new dimensions in Hinduism. One of the dimensions was founded on the liberal doctrine of Bhakti basically simplifying the Hindu philosophy and religious practices from complex Sanskrit tradition to easily comprehensible vernacular languages. It was a progressive and democratic movement which laid emphasis on the unity of the Godhead, stood against excessive ritualism, preached a faith based on constant devotion, fought against caste prejudices and stressed on the equality of man. Several saints of great endowments appeared in various provinces to carry the gospels of the new faith to the masses by rendering the Sanskrit Puranas into regional languages. Of these saints, Ramananda, a Brahmana of Allahabad, was the most impressive figure and occupied the first place at that time (1400-1470 A.D.). He worshipped Rama and preached his doctrine in Hindi. Kabir (1440-1470 A.D.) was one of his chief disciples. Another eminent leader of the movement was Vallabhacharya (1479-1531 A.D.), a Brahmana of the Telugu country. He worshipped Krishna and propagated his doctrine in the south. In Maharashtra the religion of Bhakti was preached by Namadeva (1400-1430 A.D.) who was a tailor by caste. In Bengal arose the notable saint Chaitanya (1485-1533 A. D.), born of a learned Brahmana family of Nadia. In Assam appeared the great Guru Sankardeva (1449-1569 A.D.), a Kayasth by caste, who shaped the religious, social, cultural, and literary life of the people of the province for ages to come.
    [Show full text]
  • Art and Culture of Majuli: History and Growth
    Chapter II Art and Culture of Majuli: History and Growth 2.1 Introduction Majuli a pilgrimage island of Assam is distinguished for its geography, culture and primarily a place where Vaisnavism has prospered since fifteenth century (plate-2.1). The island is a paradise of biodiversity of flora and fauna, which is nurtured by vast Brahmaputra River. Majuli is celebrated as the world’s biggest river island nestles in the lap of the mighty Brahmaputra (plate-2.2) and also the place of numerous Satra Institutions (Vaisnavite monasteries), in which some of the Satra celebrated as the most legendary Satras of the Assam, caring the heritage of socio-religious culture, and rich traditions of various art and literature, signifies it from the other places of Assam (plate-2.3, 2.4). Majuli has its own inherent features, due to its topographical conditions the island has not been much coupled with the mainland and creates isolated water bounded populated zone. The inhabitants of the island had no often interaction with the main stream society during the Middle Ages. Presently Majuli is a subdivision of the Jorhat Dristirct of Assam, (plate- 2.5, 2.6) the old stream of Brahmaputra namely the Luit or Luhit Suti with a thin stream of water flows north of the island, its eastern stream is called Kherkatiya Suti and the western stream is known as Suvansiri (Subansiri), and in the south of the island main Brahmaputra flows which was earlier the course of the Dihing and Dikhow combined.(Nath: 2009) Therefore the east and the west ends of the island are pointed as the junction and amalgamation respectively of the two channels of the same great river.
    [Show full text]
  • Mysticism in Assamese Poetry: an Analysis of Vaishnavite ‘Rhythmic Rachanas’
    MSSV JOURNAL OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES VOL 1 NO. 2 [ISSN 2455-7706] MYSTICISM IN ASSAMESE POETRY: AN ANALYSIS OF VAISHNAVITE ‘RHYTHMIC RACHANAS’ Gutimali Goswami Ph.D Research Scholar, Lucknow University Abstract—The terms ‘mystic’ and ‘mysticism’ are not distinctly defined in the history of thought. The terms ‘mystic’ and ‘mysticism’ are much abused in English, being extended even to mean magic, occultism, or the esoteric. It is hard to find out certain common, definite and invariable usage of language to define the doctrine of mysticism. Yet, it can be attempted to understand as belief that union with or absorption into the Deity or the absolute, or the spiritual apprehension of knowledge inaccessible to the intellect, may be attained through contemplation and self- surrender. We find expression of mysticism in various literary and religious text of India. Bhakti Movement witnessed emergence of this belief or thought and its reflection can be very well seen in Assam and Assamese language too. This article will attempt to deconstruct few "Rhythmic Rachanas" (Podyo, Kobita, Ghusa) of Assam to discuss about the mysticism that we find knitted in its strands. The prime focus of this article will be creations of Mahapurush Sankardeva and his disciple Madhavadeva. Keywords —Mysticism, Bhakti Movement, Rhythmic Rachanas, Sankardeva, Madhavdeva I. INTRODUCTION Mysticism is the belief that union with or absorption into the Deity or the absolute, or the spiritual apprehension of knowledge inaccessible to the intellect, may be attained through contemplation and self-surrender. Mystic elements are prominently found in the writings of the poets of Vaishnava and pre-Vaishnava age.
    [Show full text]
  • The Translation of Shankaradeva's Parijata Harana Nata
    The Translation of Shankaradeva’s Parijata Harana Nata William L. Smith --- www.atributetosankaradeva.org feels proud to present before the readers Dr William L. Smith’s complete translation of Shankaradeva’s Parijata Harana Nata. This is extracted from Krishna. A Source Book, ed. Edwin Francis Bryant, Oxford University Press, 2007. [About the Translator] Dr. William L. Smith, distinguished Indologist and the ‘Max Mueller of Sankaradeva studies’ who passed away in December 2009, was one of those rare contributors to the field whose manifold contributions will prove to be of enduring value in appreciating not only the literature and the language of Sankaradeva but also most importantly the outlook of this great Saint. Dr Smith devoted his life to the study of the medieval religious traditions of India, particularly Eastern India and his monumental Patterns in Indian Hagiography (Indian Edition, Sri Krishna Prakashan, Guwahati. 2003) reveals his deep understanding of Indian hagiography or the lives of the Saints. One recalls with a feeling of deep gratitude how for the first time the Assamese carita puthis (biographies of the Vaisnava Saints) had been brought within the ambit of such a study. He was certainly the first Western scholar to make a conscious effort to ensure that the life of Sankaradeva got the attention it deserves. He is also to be saluted for his neutrality, for his writings on Sankaradeva are absolutely free from any kind of ‘scholarly bias’ - a malaise that has affected (afflicted rather) the field perhaps more than anything else. Some of the major works of Dr Smith are The Wrath of Sita: Sankaradeva's Uttarakanda (Journal of Vaishnava Studies.
    [Show full text]