On Janmastami day, 1913, Guwahati witnessed a large religious congregation at Panbazar. Ladies were blowing conch shells. They were joined by hundreds of town’s citizens in offering prayers to the Almighty. The event marked the opening of Sanatan Dharma Sabha — popularly known as Harisabha in Guwahati.

Established on a plot of land donated by Sri Rajanikanta Chowdhury of Sarbhog, to which two more adjacent plots were also added later, the complex of Harisabha was built within a record time of six months. It included a temple, an Assam-type natmancha and a building for religious discourse.

Taking two members each from the Assamese and Bengali communities and one from the Marwari community, the Harisabha Trust was created with Rai Bahadur Bhutan Ram Das, Rai Saheb Chidananda Chowdhury, Rai Bahadur Kali Charan Sengupta, Kunja Behari Banerjee and Moti Chand Agarwal as its members. Kali Charan Sen was appointed the first secretary who rendered yeoman’s service to build this institution, which was destined to be a true representative institution of all sections of society in Guwahati believing in Sanatan Dharma.

Leading citizens and philanthropists of Assam were associated with the Harisabha in different stages. They included, besides the trustees, Tirthanath Phukan, Kaliram Barman, Harmohan Das, Kamala Kanta Das, Jogesh Chandra Sengupta, Ramesh Chandra Sengupta, Jay Chandra Chowdhury, Prasanna Narayan Chowdhury, Padmaram Bharali, Samudra Pathak, Kamal Narayan Chowdhury, Atul Chandra Banerjee, Tripura Kamal Pandit, Ramani Mohan Sarma, Sishu Ram Saikia, Sasiram Sarmah, Haricharan Das, Yadav Das, Monoranjan Banerjee, Hiteshwar Sarma, Asish Sengupta, Gopen Chowdhury and many others.

Initially, six pujas — Jagadhatri, Annapurna, Rathayatra, Dol, Janmastami and Ras — were performed by the Harisabha Trust. Later, Saraswati Puja, Durga Puja, Kali Puja and Lakshmi Puja were also introduced. However, these pujas were not performed by the Trust, but by the Balak Samiti and the Assam Yatiya Utsab Samiti, which were formed by the well-wishers and members of the Harisabha. Right from the very beginning, the Harisabha played a very important role not only in the field of religion, but in the socio-cultural arena as well. The first girls’ school of the town started on the Guwahati Harisabha premises when the Kumari Vidyalaya was established at the initiative of Prof. Lakshmi Narayan Chatterjee where the girls were taught upto Class VI. Within the premises of the Harisabha started the “Balya Ashram”, which were regular Sunday afternoon classes where boys were taught the ethical values of Vedanta, Upanishads and lessons from Indian history.

During the 1940s, the Harisabha members played their roles in the national movement. It is interesting to note that regular training was imparted to both boys and girls on the art of handling the sword and the stick for self-defence during the Swadeshi and the Swaraj movements on its premises.

Police records (home political files and reports of 1930s and 1940s) reveal that training was imparted by one Khudu Mohanta, who was the disciple of the legendary Swadeshi activist, Pulin Das of Dhaka. Octogenarian Umesh Sengupta, who participated in such camps at Harisabha in his late teens, recollects how the police secretly warned them on several occasions for their “anti-British activities”, but never raided the Harisabha premises.

Harisabha premises was also used for some meetings of the Congress, which was later banned by the government. Records reveal that the Harisabha or its unit, the Assam Jatiya Utsab Samiti, donated money for the establishment of the TB Hospital, flood relief, chief minister’s relief fund and also on occasions to Asom Sahitya Sabha.

The Durga Puja of Harisabha had its great grandeur and splendour in which the jatras of Calcutta and the bhaonas of Assam were regularly performed. Artistes like Hemanta Mukherjee and Manabendra Mukherjee performed at the Harisabha on different occasions. Till the 1960s, regular religious discourses were organised in which many Satradhikars and Sankaracharyas also delivered speeches.

The Harisabha stands on its old premises till today. However, in 1996, a new temple was constructed. Today, the Guwahati Harisabha stands as a symbol of unity among all communities of Assam — Assamese, Bengali, Marwari, Nepali and others.

Dipankar Banerjee