Guwahati: In a remarkable cultural event, around 7,000 women gathered in Assam’s Barpeta district on Sunday to perform ‘Thiyanam’, a Vaishnavite devotional recital, aiming to set a new record for the largest such congregation.
The recital, organised at Howly by the Howly Raas Celebration Committee, took place on the eve of the tirobhav tithi—the death anniversary—of Srimanta Sankardeva, the revered saint-scholar whose compositions form the basis of ‘Thiyanam’.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma lauded the initiative in a post on X, saying, “On the eve of the auspicious Tirobhav Tithi of Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardev, 7,000 mothers in Howly performed the ‘Thiyanam’, a powerful reflection of the Sankari-Sattriya culture.”
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Women from several districts, including Guwahati, Darrang, Udalguri, Nalbari, Bongaigaon, Goalpara, Kokrajhar, Rowta, and Mazbat, participated in the event. Officials said the organisers aim to register the performance in record books, including the Assam Book of Records, as the largest collective recital of its kind.
‘Thiyanam’, also known as ‘Thiyonam’, is a devotional practice traditionally based on the works of Vaishnavite saints Srimanta Sankardeva and Madhabdeva, integral to Assam’s neo-Vaishnavite culture.
