Brindabani Bastra Making Unsurfaced But Mystery Unsolved

Centuries before when Brindabani Bastra idea was first conceived by the revered Scholar and Reformer of Assam Sri Srimanta Sankardeva in 15th Century its existence was rediscovered at the Blythe House of British Museum, following unearth of multiple fraction of similar resemblance cloth pieces in numerous museums.

Disappearing act of Brindabani Bastra was estimated due to British intervention in Assam rule. The then ruling Koch tribe King Narnarayan of Assam was literally under the pressure of British and Moghul invaders. In order to overcome financial crunch King Narnarayan had sold Brindabani Bastra the priceless piece of Assam to the Britishers. The Koch King was unable to bear the expenses for the preservation of Brindabani Bastra as it demanded lot of wealth input.

But as the history states, it was due to King Narnarayan's brother named as Prince Chilarai this unique Brindabani Bastra project was financed for to support Sri Sankaradeva's exclusive approach to revive Hindu's spiritual context in fabric presentation with colorful and artistic display.

As history states this gigantic fabric piece Brindabani Bastra was completed through tapestry weaving technique for which Sankardeva had to hire expert weavers of Tantikuchi, today's Barpeta district of Assam. Brindabani Bastra was last used to ornament the holy Thapana  (wooden carved triangular shaped four cornered throne with a Mukut or crown shaped small box where 'Namghokha' or Bible of Hindu scripture is rested with cover of Gamusa cloth piece) of Madhupur Sattra in Koch Behar.

This gigantic 120 cubits long Brindabani Bastra is a joint production of various silk fabric fragments that depicts different stories of 'Krishna Leela'. The stages of Lord Krishna's birth till Kamsa Bodh (annihilation of evil Uncle King Kamsa) are woven in different rare silk fabric  pieces before joining in one large piece. The handwoven stories are depicted in intrinsic nature inspired motifs or pattern.

There are reputed multiple global museums which have fragment of Brinda Bani Bastra samples that dilutes perseverance of the original piece of Sankardeva. Though museums like  Newark Museum (New Jersey), AEDTA Collection (Paris), Calico Museum of Textiles (Ahmedabad), Victoria & Albert Museum,  Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (Richmond), Centro Internazionale delle Arti e del Costume (Venice), Chepstow Museum (Wales), Museum of Mankind (London) and Museum of Art (Philadelphia) but still the mystery of the original version of Brindabani Bastra remains . Pattern of Brindabani Bastra is known as ‘Vaisnavite’ as its motifs relates to the characters and symbols of ‘Vaisnavite scripture,’ interestingly all the fabric fragments of Brindabani Bastra found in the museums worldwide bears similar code with little variation. Making it difficult for expert to dismiss any of it currently and still keeping the investigation on to dissolve the mystery of Brindabani Bastra.

It is still on assumption and not yet certified about Brindabani Bastra as experts from Assam and worldwide have not been able to detect the ownership of genuine fabric piece. It is assumed from the length and hand woven artistic creation of the Brindabani Bastra located in British Museum to be the original piece as it bears higher percentage of resemblance to what was depicted in scriptures.

Tales of derive of Brindabani Bastra fabric segments are many. But what was found in 1904 at Tibetan monastery by correspondent from The Times named as Perceval Landon during Francis Younghusband Exepedition is prsently believed to be the original piece . According to British Musuem official, Landon was sent to Lhasa, Tibet in 1903–1904 where he got attracted to this 9 meter cloth piece Brindabani Bastra and paid a price in bargain for the holy fabric. It is analyzed to be the original fabric piece according to curators of British Museum after a close examination with many other. In 1905 Landon donated the tapestry to the British Museum.

But some claim it was the Indian base British army official, Francis who in his Tibet venture was attracted to a huge figured silk textile apart from other artifacts before donating to British Museum in 1905. Since this elongated fabric piece was recovered from Tibet base it was titled as 'Tibetan Silk Lampas' for 85 years.

Fortunately, as prescribed in the holy text of Assam, Guru Sankardeva was inspired by Lampa hand-loom technique and implemented the style to produce Brindabani Bastra. It was in 1992 when a British scholar identified the " Tibetan Silk Lampas " as Vrindavani Vastras . Another story that weaves around original Brindabani Bastra is Krishna Roy's donated collection of artifacts to Paris Museum as it consisted of a fabric piece with similar Assamese Vaisnaite pattern codes. This Dhaka origin lady Krishna Roy who was fond of picking up exclusive artifacts including oriental textiles was shifted from Bangladesh to foreign base, Paris after marriage to Jean Ribond a French aristocrat.

Among 16000 Indian textile samples derived from Krishna by Paris Museum are from various regions of India dating back to 15th century in which Brindabani Bastra resemblance fabric piece was included. Interestingly this fabric piece donated to Paris' Musee Guimet depicts Hindu lord Vishnu and his reincarnation Krishna's activities in silk but not in similar context to what is displayed in British Museum.

'Museum of Mankind' and 'Victoria & Albert Museum' both located in London consist of tapestry  technique woven  'Tibetan Silk Lampas' that signifies Sankaradeva's unique creation the Brindabani Bastra presented to Assam King Chilarai in breach of 1567 to 68. The 'Silk-Lampa Fabric’ of V&A, London consists a caption below each fragment depicting stories in art plus loom embroidered scripture letters derived from Bhagavata Purana of Hindu scriptures.

This 9 metres length, Assamese textile is regarded as the biggest ever existent ancient hand woven fabric piece, consisting of 12 jointed strips depicting visual stories from the Bhagavata Purana of Hindu scriptures. Since this tapestry was derived from Tibet, it also included in the nation’s history apart from Assam.  Tapestry technique was applied by people globally but its originality not affirmed. People use this hand woven fabric piece not only for space decoration but for insulation of the area during winter. Tapestry rolled out a British Museum has similar quality which varies from other Brindabani Bastra fragments displayed in other museums. Mystery of Brindabani Bastra how it traveled to so many places globally out of Assam's Koch King's closet and where its originality hooked out of multiple similar fabric fragments traced in varied museums still unsolved. Most importantly, why Brindabani Bastra concept design fabric attracted to people globally out of remote region of India, Assam?