The Souvenir Booklet: Borgeet, Namghosa and Ankiya Geet
A Guwahati publisher is producing a souvenir booklet for a Sattra centenary. The editor, a former Borgeet student, is given ten texts by the organising committee: four are Borgeets attributed to Sankardeva, two are Borgeets attributed to Madhavdeva, two are verses from Madhavdeva's Namghosa, and two are songs that appear in Ankiya Bhaona plays. The committee wants all ten printed under the title 'Ten Borgeets' and wants the two Namghosa verses placed first because, in the chairperson's words, 'Madhavdeva is the greater singer.' A committee member insists that a Madhavdeva Borgeet cannot open a programme because Sankardeva must come first. The editor has one week, no access to the Sattra's manuscript collection, and a small budget. The booklet will be distributed to 300 visitors, many of whom will treat it as a reference.
1. How should the ten items be classified, and what title and section headings should the booklet carry?
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The ten items fall into three genres, not one. Borgeet is the devotional song repertoire composed by Sankardeva and Madhavdeva, sung in Assamese to raga-based melodies with Khol and Taal. Namghosa is Madhavdeva's collection of devotional verses; it is deeply revered but it is not a Borgeet repertoire item. Ankiya Geet are songs belonging to the Ankiya Bhaona plays, related in devotional purpose but distinct in dramatic function and, in the plays, often in Brajabuli rather than Assamese.
A defensible title is 'Borgeet and Devotional Songs of the Sattra', with three sections: 'Borgeet composed by Srimanta Sankardeva', 'Borgeet composed by Madhavdeva', and 'Namghosa and Ankiya Geet'. If the committee insists on the number ten in the title, 'Ten Devotional Texts' is safer than 'Ten Borgeets'.
The reasoning is that a souvenir booklet distributed to 300 visitors will be cited. Mislabelling Namghosa verses as Borgeets creates a small but durable error, and it obscures the real relationship between the genres: Madhavdeva's Namghosa is not a lesser Borgeet, it is a different kind of devotional composition.
2. Evaluate the two committee claims: that a Madhavdeva Borgeet cannot open a programme, and that Namghosa verses should lead because Madhavdeva is 'the greater singer'.
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The first claim is a convention presented as a rule. In many Sattra and Namghar programmes a Sankardeva Borgeet, or a formal opening item, comes first, and respect for the founder-composer is a real part of the etiquette. But practice varies between Sattras and between occasions, and I would not assert a universal prohibition. The honest formulation is: 'In our local convention, programmes usually open with a Sankardeva Borgeet; this is customary, not doctrinally fixed.' That gives the committee its preferred order without converting custom into law.
The second claim mixes admiration with genre. Madhavdeva's standing in the tradition is not in doubt, but 'greater singer' is not a category that decides booklet order, and Namghosa verses are not Borgeets that can be ranked against Borgeets. If the committee wants Madhavdeva represented early, a Madhavdeva Borgeet can open the Madhavdeva section; the Namghosa verses belong in their own section.
The reasoning is to separate three questions that the committee has merged: doctrinal authority, local etiquette, and genre classification. Only the second is negotiable, and it should be described as custom.
3. Given one week and no manuscript access, how should attributions and source notes be handled so that the booklet remains honest?
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I would not invent scholarly certainty. Each item should carry the attribution as supplied by the committee, phrased as 'attributed to' where the committee itself is relying on memory or on a later printed collection. A short editorial note should state the basis: texts supplied by the centenary committee, checked against available printed editions, with manuscripts not consulted.
Where a text is well known, a standard printed edition can be cited; where it is not, the safer course is to print the text with a note that the source is the committee's collection. I would avoid adding raga or tala labels that nobody in the room can verify, because a wrong label in a reference booklet is worse than no label.
The reasoning is that a souvenir can be modest and still be accurate. The editor's duty is not to produce a critical edition in a week; it is to avoid presenting unverified claims as settled. If a committee member objects that 'attributed to' looks weak, the reply is that it is the normal scholarly formula and protects the Sattra from later correction.