Yugadrashta

Plot

The film begins with the return by boat of Goswami and his secretary-biographer, Gangadhar Hazarika, to his home in Majuli from EID Majlis in 1956. He was the only Satra leader to attend. They discuss the 1914 ordination ceremony of Pitambardev as Sattradhikar of the Garmur Satra, the monastery of a celibate order in Majuli. The ceremony and the heritage of the Satra tradition appear in flashback. They agree that society's rules are not ordained by God, and a person's worth should be judged by their sense of justice.

Goswami, who reformed his order's celibacy, is portrayed as a man fighting with himself. His most active period was during the 1920s, when he introduced several reforms and opposed the British colonial tax structure. Goswami's disagreement with H. W. Phriel, deputy commissioner of Sivsagar District, at a meeting where he appealed to the public not to pay taxes ended with the commissioner laying his gun at Goswami's feet as a gesture of respect. His attention to the Mishing people is interspersed with his intolerance of racial discrimination. Although Goswami heads a conservative institution, he is undeterred by social castigation as a result of his views on the emancipation of women through education and widow remarriage. His activity in the Quit India Movement drives Harold Dennehy, Chief Secretary of Assam in 1943, ordering his arrest and detention outside the state.

The film flashes back to Goswami opening schools in the Mikir Hills of Karbi Anglong district, despite failing health, and his introduction of women’s theatre and dance. It ends at daybreak, when Goswami spells out his dream of an Assam in which the Bodo, the Mishing and the Muslims live in harmony.

Cast

Awards