Satras As Living Learning Institutions: An Analysis of Educational Practices, Cultural Transmission, and Community Knowledge Systems in Majuli, Assam

Majuli's Satras are regarded as Vaishnavite religious and cultural institutions, but there is importance in looking at their educational functions as well. Learning is integrated in many aspects including rituals, arts, crafts, group work, text work and daily routines. This paper takes a mixed-method framework with a quantitative (dominant) focus and analyses the Satras as living educational institutions. It refers to recent studies and provides a clear illustrative analytical data set with 200 adult respondents and considers some official cultural and policy documents. The primary field data set was not made available, and so the data for the respondents are simulated for the purpose of illustrating the method and are not claimed to be observations of the residents of Majuli. Four constructs related to education, cultural transmission, community knowledge systems, and sustainability and some of the challenges related to these constructs. The overall reliability was good (Cronbach’s alpha = .752–.796). Cultural transmission was the highest mean score (M = 4.23, SD = 0.53). Participatory frequency correlated with cultural transmission (r = .471, p < .001) and a regression with educational practices and community knowledge and participatory practices accounted for 52.3% of the variance in cultural-transmission scores (adjusted R² = .516). Age groups did not show a significant difference in perceived educational functioning, F(3,196) = 0.12, p = .950. When combined with the validated literature, this analysis supports a model of Satras as participatory knowledge ecologies while advocating for field validation, youth-oriented transmission, digital preservation and ecological protection.