Majuli’s mask-making and manuscript painting have secured the prestigious Geographical Indication (GI) tag.
This was announced after several levels of scrutiny done by the Government of India.
Mask making or Mukha Shilpa, an indigenous craft, is deep rooted in the tradition and culture of Majuli. Assam with the beginning of the medieval ages, under the cultural and socio-religious reformations where a multifaceted figurine and reformer, Saint Sankardeva introduced the Neo-Vaisnavism in whole region and in order to propagate his ideology of devotion and social harmony he incorporated various art forms like painting, dance, music and theatrical performance embedded with a small galaxy of vivid characters of masks which represents the wide range of images and emotions.
These masks are having a unique essence of indigenous socio-religious culture, and morphologically represent the high resourcefulness of the local materials and the theme of Vaisnavism.
Mask making is an age-old art form in the island which dates back to the 16th century. Mask making is one of the most famous traditional crafts still practiced in Majuli which is situated in the upper reaches of the river Brahmaputra in upper Assam. The craft has been an integral part of the Sattriya culture of Assam. The craft has been mainly confined to the Xatras and individual craftsmen residing in the surrounding villages of the Xatras in Majuli.
On the other hand, Manuscript Paintings illustrates numerous stories and chapters taken from the great Hindu epics Ramayana, Mahabharata and above all subject from the Bhagavata Purana.
The paintings of the Bhagavata Purana mainly concentrate to depict different stories and events related to the supreme God Lord Krishna.
Gargayan script, Kaithall and Bamunia are three styles of manuscript writing which are popular in this region.
