Satra (Ekasarana Dharma)

Satras (Assamese:সত্ৰ) are institutional centers that are unique and special to the Ekasarana tradition. Numbering in the hundreds, these centers are generally independent of each other and under the control of individual adhikaras (or satradhikars), though they can be grouped into four different Sanghatis (orders). These centers, in the minimum, maintain a prayer house (Namghar), initiate lay people into the Ekasarana tradition and include them as disciples of the Satra from whom taxes and other religious duties are extracted. The mushrooming of Satras in the 17th century and patronage extended to them by first the Koch kingdom and later the Ahom kingdom was crucial in the spread the Ekasarana religion. Many of the larger Satras house hundreds of celibate and non-celibate bhakats (monks), hold vast lands and are repositories of religious and cultural relics and artifacts. The Satras extend control over their lay disciples via village Namghars.