He is credited with building on past cultural relics and devising new forms of music (Borgeet), theatrical performance (Ankia Naat, Bhaona), dance (Sattriya), literary language (Brajavali).

Besides, he has left a literary oeuvre of trans-created scriptures (Bhagavat of Sankardev), poetry and theological works written in Sanskrit, Assamese and Brajavali.

The Bhagavatic religious movement he started, Ekasarana Dharma and also called Neo-Vaishnavite movement,[11] influenced two medieval kingdoms – Koch and the Ahom kingdom – and the assembly of devotees he initiated evolved over time into monastic centers called Sattras, which continue to be important socio-religious institutions in Assam and to a lesser extent in North Bengal.

The religion he preached is practised by a large population, and Sattras (monasteries) that he and his followers established continue to flourish and sustain his legacy.

After the death of Sankardev, Madhavdev incorporated narrations of his life in prayer services, a practice that was followed by his apostles, and in due course of time a large body of biographical literature arose.

[16] Sankardev, then named Sankaravara,[17] was born into the Shiromani (chief) Baro-Bhuyans family at Bordowa (Alipukhuri, Tembuani) in present-day Nagaon district in c1449.

[22] Sankardev soon mastered the major scriptures and thereafter left the tol in his late teens (c1465) to attend to his responsibilities as the Shiromani Bhuyan.

[24] It is possible that the death of his wife increased his already existing spiritual inclination and he left for a twelve-year-long pilgrimage, sometime after his daughter was married to Hari, a Bhuyan scion.

He handed over the maintenance of his household to his son-in-law Hari; the Bhuyan Shiromaniship to his grand uncles Jayanta and Madhav; and began his journey in 1481.

The pilgrimage took him to Puri, Mathura, Dwaraka, Vrindavan, Gaya, Rameswaram, Ayodhya, Sitakunda and almost all the other major seats of the Vaishnavite religion in India.

[27] According to Katha Gurucharit, the first Borgeet was "Rama meri hridaya pankaje baise" and he composed it in 1481 at the very outset of the pilgrimage at a place called Rowmari.

Some of the first to be initiated into this religion was the wife of Jayanta-dalai, a leper named Hariram (later Tulasiram), Ramaram his associate and Mahendra Kandali, his tol teacher.

Ananta Kandali, a profound scholar of Sanskrit, became his disciple during this time; he translated the later part of Canto X of the Bhagavata Purana after consulting Sankardev.

The Bhuyans were settled here by the Ahoms with land and estate,[44] Hari, Sankardev's son-in-law became a Saikia, and his cousin Jagatananda, grandson of Jayanta received a title 'Ramarai'.

The acquisition of Madhavdev, with his talent in poetry, singing and dedication to his new-found religion and guru, was a significant event in the Ekasarana history.

Sankardev tried to diffuse their hostility—by meeting with them at the house of his relative Budha-Khan[47] and asking his Brahmin antagonists to install a wooden idol of Jagannath, called Madan-Mohan, at his religious seat.

(Sankardev left this idol hanging on a tree when he took flight from Dhuwahat, and it was rescued years later by Vamshigopaldev and installed at Deberapar-sattra).

[50] Though the positions of the Bhuyans in the Ahom kingdom began comfortably—with Sankardev's son-in-law, Hari, becoming a Paik officer and Ramrai, his cousin, becoming a royal official—the relationship gradually deteriorated.

Some of the people he initiated here are Chakrapani Dwija and Sarvabhaum Bhattacharya, Brahmins; Govinda, a Garo; Jayaram, a Bhutia; Madhai, a Jaintia; Jatiram, an ascetic; and Murari, a Koch.

[56] For the audience with Nara Narayan, as he moved up the steps to the court, Sankardev sang his Sanskrit totaka hymn, composed extempore, to Lord Krishna madhu daanava daarana deva varam and as he sat down, he sang a borgeet, narayana kahe bhakati karu tera, playing on the name of the king.

He made arrangements with Madhavdev and Thakur Ata and gave them various instructions at Patbausi and left the place for the last time.

(According to one of the biographers Ramcharan Thakur) A painful boil; a visha phohara – had appeared in some part of his body and this led to the passing away of the Saint.

Sankardev preached devotion (bhakti) to Krishna consisting primarily in the singing (kirtan) and listening to (sravan) of his deeds and activities.

After initiation, the devotee is expected to adhere to the religious tenets of Ekasarana consisting in worship to one God, Krishna, and offering devotion to him, forsaking all forms of Vedic rites.

It is a bhakti kayva par excellence, written in a lively and simple language, it has "stories and songs for amusement [for children], it delights the young with true poetic beauty and elderly people find here religious instruction and wisdom".

He is a musician; All his creations were orienting to the Vishanav religion and one set of them is called 'Holy Songs', which are known as 'Borgeet(Bargit or Bargeet)' till today in Assam.

Although certain devout Sankarite calls this form as Sankari dance The famous Vrindavani Vastra—the cloth of Vrindavan—a 120 x 60 cubits tapestry depicted the lilas of Lord Krishna at Vrindavan through richly woven and embroidered designs on silk.

[59] A specimen, believed to be a part of this work, is at the Association pour l'Etude et la Documentation des Textiles d'Asie collection at Paris (inv.

The vastra, commissioned by Koch king Naranarayana, was woven by 12 master weavers in Barpeta under the supervision of Sankardev over a period of six-month and completed towards the end of 1554.

[60] This textile art depicted the life and deeds of lord Krishna, who is worshipped in Eka Sarana Nama Dharma.