Shankardeva

Sankaradeva (Sankardeva, Shankar Dev, Mahapurusa Srimanta Sankaradeva), is one of the leading saint-reformers of India. He was the founder as well as foremost exponent of the Neo-Vaisnavite Movement (NVM) in the eastern part of this country, more precisely, in the region now known as Āssām, in the 15 ^th - 16^th centuries of the Current Era. Historically, he was one of the earliest leaders of the NVM, a senior contemporary of Guru Nānak of the Punjab and Sri Caitanya of Bengal. Sankaradeva is a colossal figure in the cultural and religious history of Assam: Mahapurusha Srimanta Sankaradeva [1449-1568], saint-scholar, playwright, social-religious reformer, is a colossal figure in the cultural and religious history of Assam, India. He is credited with providing a thread of unity to Assam straddling two major kingdoms (Ahom and Koch kingdoms), building on past literary activities to provide the bedrock of Assamese culture, and creating a religion that gave shape to a set of new values and social synthesis.