Harvard University Course Material Includes Assam Scholar's Essay On Saint Sankardeva

An essay on Srimanta Sankaradeva by Dr. Sanjib Kumar Borkakoti, a Nagaon-based industrial economist, has been added to Harvard University course material.

According to a New Indian Express report, Dr Sanjib Kumar Borkakoti¡¯s essay ¡°Unique features of Srimanta Sankaradeva¡¯s religious philosophy Vivaratanvada: Comparison with other Sanatana Hindu philosophies¡± is now a part of the syllabus for the students of its Department of Religions.

Facebook/ Dr Borkakoti/The New Indian Express

Borkakoti has been a researcher of medieval Assamese literature. He uploaded the essay some 10 years back on a blog dedicated to Sankarde.

Borkakoti said that he was unaware of it and he is not sure as for how long the University has been using the essay.

"We have an organization called Society for Srimanta Sankaradeva and it has a website sankaradeva.com. We also have a Facebook group Followers of Srimanta Sankaradeva. We had uploaded the essay in question on both platforms. It appears that Harvard University collected it from one such public domain. They didn¡¯t contact me,¡± Dr. Borkakoti told The New Indian Express.

Saint-reformer Sankaradeva/Twitter

"I found out last week when the university uploaded a part of the treatise as Religion S-1010 probably because of pandemic-related online dissemination of course,¡± The Hindu reported quoting the scholar.

He said that he tried to depict in the essay how Sankaradeva¡¯s philosophy is unique from Indian Hindu philosophies.

Image For Representation/Twitter/Michael Fein/Bloomberg

¡°This is probably the reason why they (Harvard) got attracted. Sankaradeva was the world¡¯s first philosopher who could synthesize the path of knowledge and the path of devotion,¡± Dr. Borkakoti added.

The 60-year-old associate professor of Economics at Nagaon¡¯s ADP College did his post-graduation in 1983 from JNU. Borkakoti has also authored several books on Sankaradeva, apart from several essays and articles.