Assam’s 500-year-old theatre tradition

Ankia Bhaona, a theatre form that blends classical and folk idioms, presents a unique dimension of Assamese culture

“Go to Guwahati for the Ankia Bhaona Samaroh. You will have a rare experience and a new vision of Assamese culture,” Raju Das, an officer of the Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi, who hails from Assam, had told me. I arrived in Guwahati as an “outsider-observer” of Assam’s 500-year-old unique Ankia Bhaona theatre tradition, my knowledge limited to a few articles I had read about it. ‘Rukmini Nagar Bihu Field, Rangamancha Path, Guwahati’ — the address of the festival venue aroused instant excitement — Rukmini is a popular character in this art form and the road leading to the venue was named rangamancha or stage! The spiritual and artistic ambience of a Namghar (prayer hall of a sattra or monastery where the ritualistic performances happen), constructed under an oval-shaped roof, was recreated at the Bihu Field in the heart of the city. A large number of spectators — men, women and children — had occupied the seats around the stage even before the play had begun. And before taking their seats, they offered prayers to the Manikut (the sanctum of the Sattra ) put up at the upper end of the stage. The surging crowd proved the incredible popularity of this ritualistic theatre tradition.