GUWAHATI, April 18 � Phatik Chandra Dev, the Sattradhikar who fought relentlessly for the past several decades to preserve the Sankara heritage in the Madhupur Sattra of Cooch Behar, is no more. The Sattradhikar breathed his last around 11-30 am today at the Madhupur Sattra premises. He was terminally ill for the past about two years. He was 85.
The Sattradhikar, who remained a bachelor to uphold the sattriya tradition of niskam dharma, was hospitalized as an indoor patient in the Guwahati Medical College Hospital about one and half a month back. But considering his condition, doctors attending on him released him after a week. For the past about one week, the Sattradhikar was not in a position to take any food, said Jiban Saikia, member of the Madhupur Sattra Trust.
A bachelor, Phatik Chandra served the Madhupur Sattra, where Srimanta Sankaradeva the founder of Assamese Neo-Vaishnavism and his principal disciple Madhavadeva embraced death, for the past about 55 years.
Madhupur Sattra Trust member Jiban Saikia, who is also an ex-Secretary to the Governor of Assam, told this newspaper that the late Sattradhikar died with the unfulfilled dream of setting up a Sankaradeva Bhawan on the Madhupur Sattra campus.
The Sattradhikar fought for the restoration of the old glory of the Madhupur Sattra. Around 635 bighas, of the total 700 bighas, of land belonging to this sattra are under encroachment and the West Bengal Government has not taken any step to free this vast area of the sattra land from encroachers. The Sattradhikar had been fighting for the past several decades against this injustice meted out to the Madhupur Sattra.
Governor J B Patnaik condoled the death of the Sattradhikar. Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi also mourned the death of the Sattradhikar and described it as a great loss for the State�s society. The Chief Minister prayed for the eternal peace of the departed soul of the Sattradhikar and sympathised with his grief-stricken followers, said an official press release here.
Former president of the Assam Sattra Mahasabha Bhadrakrishna Goswami also mourned the death of Phatik Chandra Dev.
