Borgeet

Borgeet is form of devotional songs immortalized by Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardev and  Srimanta Madhabdev. Those songs are written in 15th and 16th centuries and used as prayers in Satras and Namgharas. Borgeet is the integral part of Eksaran Bhagabati dharma and its practice throughout the Vaishnab Satras in Assam.

The first Borgeet mana meri rama-caranahi lagu was composed by Srimanta Sankardeva during his first pilgrimage at Badrikashram in c1488. The borgeets are written in the pada form of verse. The first pada, marked as dhrung, works as a refrain and is repeated over the course of singing of the succeeding verses. In the last couplet, the name of the poet is generally mentioned. The structure of borgeets is said to model the songs of 8-10th century Charyapada.

The language Sankardev used for all his borgeets is Brajavali, an artificial Maithili-Assamese mix, though Madhavdeb used Brajavali very sparingly.

The specialty of the lyrics of Borgeet is in the reticence. The principles of Vashnavism and also life of Lord Shree Krishna, Rama are depicted in a very simple manner in these Borgeets. The lyrics don't have an insight to the love-romance activities of Bhagwan(God) Shree Krishna. Instead the songs are fully devoted to the religious and spiritual aspects of God's life.

Apart from the simple spiritual lyrics, the Borgeet are bound to very melodious classical music. These are close to Hindustani Classical music, but has it's own signature. Borgeet(Bargeet) follows various Ragas like any other Hindu classical music. Tala(beats) are mentioned of some of the Borgeet(Bargit), but for the rest there is no mention by the two Mahapurusha. 

Number of Borgeet by Sankardev is 34. It is said that this number is around 200 but unfortunately most of them were burnt in a wildfire. Madhabdev wrote around 157 Borgeet.