GI tag for Majuli masks of Assam

Last Updated14/03/2024

Adding to their growing national and international recognition, the traditional Majuli masks in Assam were given a Geographical Indication (GI) tag by the Centre
Majuli manuscript painting also got the GI label.

A GI tag is conferred upon products originating from a specific geographical region, signifying unique characteristics and qualities.
Essentially, it serves as a trademark in the international market.
Majuli, the largest river island in the world and the seat of Assam’s neo-Vaishnavite tradition, has been home to the art of mask-making since the 16th century.

The handmade masks are traditionally used to depict characters in bhaonas, or theatrical performances with devotional messages under the neo-Vaishnavite tradition, introduced by the 15th-16th century reformer saint Srimanta Sankardeva.
The masks can depict gods, goddesses, demons, animals and birds — Ravana, Garuda, Narasimha, Hanuman, Varaha Surpanakha all feature among the masks.
They can range in size from those covering just the face (mukh mukha), which take around five days to make
- To those covering the whole head and body of the performer (cho mukha), which can take up to one-and-a-half months to make.
According to the application made for the patent, the masks are made of bamboo, clay, dung, cloth, cotton, wood and other materials available in the riverine surroundings of their makers.

Sattras are monastic institutions established by Srimanta Sankardev and his disciples as centres of religious, social and cultural reform.
Majuli has 22 sattras, and the patent application states that the mask-making tradition is by and large concentrated in four of them
- Samaguri Sattra, Natun Samaguri Sattra, Bihimpur Sattra and Alengi Narasimha Sattra.

Hemchandra Goswami is the sattradhikar or the administrative head of the Samaguri Sattra, and a well-known practitioner of the traditional mask-making art.
According to him, masks had historically been made in all sattras, but the practice gradually died out over time.
Majuli masks The masks are made of bamboo, clay, dung, cloth, cotton, wood and other materials available in the riverine surroundings of their makers.
He said that the Samaguri Sattra had been practising mask-making since its establishment in 1663.