The Sattriya dance form was introduced in the 15^th century AD by the great Vaishnava saint and reformer of Assam, ________.

The correct answer is Mahapurusha Sankaradeva

Key Points:

• The great Assamese reformer and Vaishnava saint Mahapurusha Sankaradeva established the Sattriya dancing style in the 15th century A.D. as a potent means of spreading the Vaishnava religion.
• Later, the dancing style developed and broadened as a distinct dance genre.
• The Sattras, which are Vaishnava mathematics or monasteries, have dedicatedly nourished and protected this neo-Vaishnava treasure of Assamese dance and drama for generations.
• This dance form has been appropriately dubbed Sattriya due to its religious nature and connection to the Sattras.

Important Points:

• Sankaradeva invented this dance style by fusing components from many treatises, regional folk dances, and his singular perspective.
• Ojapali and Devadasi, two dance styles with numerous classical elements, were popular in Assam before the neo-Vaishnava movement.
• The branch of Hinduism known as Vaishnavism regards Lord Vishnu or one of his incarnations as the only true God. Vaishnavites and Vaishnavas are terms for followers of Vaishnavism.

Additional Information: Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was a native of Bengal.

• Chaitanya was a 15th-century Indian saint.
• He was born in Nabadwip in the Nadia district of West Bengal.
• His entire family lived in present-day Sylhet, Bangladesh.
• He has popularized the 'Maha Mantra' or 'Hare Krishna Mantra'.
• He also composed a prayer of eight verses known as 'Siksastakam' in Sanskrit.
• He founded the Gaudiya Movement or Chaitanya Movement that promotes Vaishnavism.

​Vallabhacharya (1479–1531 CE):

• ​Vallabhacharya (1479–1531 CE), also known as Vallabha, was an Indian philosopher who founded the Krishna-centered PushtiMarg sect of Vaishnavism in the Braj region of India, and the philosophy of Shuddha Advaita. Hence the correct answer is Suddhadvaita.
• Vallabha was born in a Telugu Tailang Brahmin family that had been living in Varanasi, who escaped to Champaran of Chhattisgarh state while expecting Vallabha, expecting a Muslim invasion, which ultimately didn't happen, during the late 15th century.
• Vallabhacharya represented the culmination of philosophical thought during the Bhakti Movement in the Middle Ages.
• The sect established by him is unique in its facets of devotion to Krishna, especially his child manifestation, and is enriched with the use of traditions, music and festivals.
• Vallabha studied the Vedas and the Upanishads as a child, then travelled throughout the Indian subcontinent for over 20 years.
• He became one of the important leaders of the devotional Bhakti movement.
• Vallabhacharya was a devotional philosopher, who founded the Pushti sect in India. He won the title of acharya by travelling and debating Advaita scholars from a young age.

Sant Namdev:

• Shri Sant Namdev Maharaj also transliterated as Nam Dayv, Namdeo, or Namadeva,was a Marathi Vaishnav saint from Narsi, Hingoli, Maharashtra, India within the Varkari tradition of Hinduism. 
• He was born into what is generally recognised as a Shudra caste, variously recorded as shimpi (tailor) in the Marathi language and as Chhipa, Chhimpa, Chhimba, chimpi (calico-printer) in northern India.
• Namdev was influenced by Vaishnavism and became widely known in India for his devotional songs set to music (bhajan-kirtans).
• His philosophy contains both nirguna brahman and saguna brahman elements, with monistic themes.
• Namdev's legacy is remembered in modern times in the Varkari tradition, along with those of other gurus, with masses of people walking together in biannual pilgrimages to Pandharpur in Maharashtra.
• He is also recognised in the North Indian traditions of the Dadu Panthis, Kabir Panthis and Sikhs.

• Some hymns of Shri Sant Namdev are included in the Guru Granth Sahib.

Thus, Sant Namdev was a tailor by profession.