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Assam has proposed the Assam Land and Revenue Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2026 to protect centuries-old Vaishnavite satras.
It provides for a five-kilometre protected zone around select heritage institutions such as Barpeta, Batadrava and Majuli.
Within these zones, land transactions would be allowed only for local residents, and encroachments could be evicted.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the safeguards apply only to religious institutions more than 250 years old.
Satras are Vaishnavite monasteries founded in the 15th-16th centuries as part of the Ekasarana Dharma (Neo-Vaishnavite) movement led by the saint-reformer Srimanta Sankardeva. They are centres of Assamese religion, art, dance (Sattriya) and culture. Majuli, the river island on the Brahmaputra, is famous for its cluster of satras.
Simple Analogy: Think of satras as living cultural and spiritual campuses that have shaped Assamese identity for over 500 years.
GS Paper I > Art & Culture; GS Paper II > Polity (State legislation)
General Awareness > Art & Culture
The Neo-Vaishnavite monotheistic movement founded by Srimanta Sankardeva in Assam