Loengusarja "Maailm ja rahvad" sügishooaja esimeses loengus kõnelevad Tartu Ülikooli külalisdoktorandid Abha Bharali ja Haripriya Sarma (Gauhati Ülikool, India) teemal "Assami kultuur - mitmekülgsuses leitud ühtsus".
 
Assami kultuur on lahutamatu osa India kultuurist ning on niisamuti rajatud ühtsusele ja harmooniale. Assami kultuuris on unikaalsel viisil põimitud religioossed ja ühiskondlikud institutsioonid, keel ja kirjandus, tantsud ja laulud, kombed ja rituaalid ning selles Kirde-India piirkonnas elavate hõimurahvaste uskumused.
 
Loeng on inglise keeles. Osalemine tasuta.
 
Loengu kaaskorraldaja on TÜ eesti ja võrdleva rahvaluule osakond.
 
/Inglise keeles/
 
Lecture on Assamese Culture at the Estonian National Museum
 
Guest PhD Students Abha Bharali and Haripriya Sarma (Gauhati University, India) will give the first lecture of this season in series "World and Peoples" to be held at the Estonian National Museum. Their lecture is titled "Introducing Assam: India's Showcase of Unity in Diversity" and will take place on September 11, at 18.00, in World Film Hall of the Museum (Muuseumi tee 2, Tartu, A-Entrance).
 
Assamese culture is an indivisible part of the greater Indian culture. Just like the Indian culture, the Assamese culture is one which has established itself through the virtues of unity and harmony. The unique life-stream created out of a blend of the religion, society, language and literature, dance forms and songs, musical instruments, customs and rituals, and folk-beliefs of the various tribes and communities residing in the Northeastern region of India represents Assamese culture. The Assamese community has been formed as a result of the convergence of the Mongoloid, the Australoid, the Aryan and the Dravidian groups of people. The Assamese culture is a compound-culture developed out of the sweet union of the Aryans and non-Aryans. Assamese culture is the momentum of the local life of the Assamese community. Chaolung Sukaphaa has been credited in the 13th century with the establishment of the state of Assam in the Brahmaputra Valley; and the culture of Assam thus obtained the name ‘Assamese culture’. The seeds of the assimilated form of Assamese culture that emerged in the Ahom Era, had been sown thousands of years earlier.
 
In the integration within the Assamese culture, the influence of the union of various tribes and communities is quite evident. The fact that a large number of the residents of Assam are cultivators justifies that the Assamese culture is enriched by the distinctive features of folklore. Again, the impact of indigenous cultures on Assamese culture is apparent. Festivals and rituals, songs and music, sculpture and folk-art have their own particular significance in Assamese culture. The bihu (spring festival in Assam) culture glorifies Assamese culture. The Sankari tradition had set the Assamese culture into motion. The history of Assamese culture may be discussed under four heads: pre-historic, ancient, medieval and modern.
 
The lecture is co-organized by the Department of Estonian and Comparative Folklore, University of Tartu.