Sylhet Utsav-2010

Sreehatta Sammilani, a forum of Sylhetis in India to maintain their relations and acquaintances and to preserve rich cultural heritage, recently organized ‘Sylhet Utsav-2010’ in Mumbai.

The program was opened by inaugurating an exhibition on Revolution ‘Glimpses of 1857’ the Surma & Barak valley episodes followed by lighting the lamp at the auditorium by Chairperson Smt. Bithika Deb (Silchar MLA) All India Federation of Sreehatta Association and the Chief guest Shri Gautam Roy (Cabinet Minister in the Government of Assam).

In its plenary session on literature, Dr. Usha Ranjan Bhattacharjee, professor and Former HOD, Bengali, Former Dean, Faculty of Arts, Gauhati University gave a vivid lecture on Sylhetis where he mentioned about Bishnupriya Manipuris of Sylhet district and also mentioned Kabi Guru Rabindranath Tagore`s visit to Sylhet, where he appreciated the Manipuri Nritya in a function at Mashimpur in the year 1919, even he later included this dance form in Vishwa Bharati, Shantiniketan way back.

In his invited talk, Dr.Subir Kar, Former Prof. of Assam University, Silchar and Shri Nitish Kumar Bhattacharjee, Hailakandi mentioned about Bishnupriya Manipuris who supported 1961 Bhasha Andolan. Even Shri Nitish Bhattachrjee mentioned about Shahid Sudeshna Sinha and Late Nanda Kishore Sinha, who once was the district president of Congress; but later he was not given a congress ticket, then the Sylhetis of Silchar backed him to win the election in 1962 as an independent candidate.

Rebati Mohan Sinha in his article in the Souvenir published on the occasion mentioned that Bishnupriya Manipuris do not have caste system as in Hinduism; but they follow a system consisting of Brahmin and others. The Bishnupriya Manipuris are proud of their culture vis-a-vis in their clothing, even today they wear their self-woven patterned clothing and the factor that unites the community is their religion which is called a sect of Hinduism, a cult of Vishnu. They believe that the name Bishnupriya Manipuri comes from God Vishnu although they worship the deity Radha-Krishna. They are proud of performing and promoting songs and dances related to this deity as their heritage as cultural wealth.

In a Cultural Session on 25th April ‘Shribhumi’ of South Kolkata-Sylhet Association presented a variety program in which there was a Raas-Leela item. Mrs. Soma Dutta from Agartala, performed a Krishna dance in this occasion and was well appreciated by the audience.

Sreehatta Sammilani Mumbai(SSM) has been conceptualized by a group of dedicated people in the year 2002 as a socio-cultural organization and in course of time it has enrolled about 250 life members not only in Mumbai; but also from Silchar, Karimganj, Hailakandi, Tripura, Kolkata, Delhi and Pune. The socio-cultural organisation is involved in many humane activities. It has been rendering genuine help to the cancer patients coming to Tata Memorial Hospital, India`s best known address for cancer treatment.