Bhaona Of Assam: Performers Retell Mythological Stories Wearing Masks In This Folk Theatre
The victory of evil over good is a moral oft repeated in stories told over generations, whether in epics like the Ramayana or folk stories.?
The inevitable triumph of good is also depicted in the Assamese bhaona, which is a traditional form of drama, mostly with religious messages.
The bhaona shows victory of truth in the climax, using fictitious or mythological kings, queens, demons, Gods etc.?
The Mahapurush?
Bhaonas are inextricably linked with the plays written by revered Assamese saint Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardeva in the early 16th century.
These plays are popularly known as Ankiya Nats. (pronounced Onkiya Naat.) and the staging of these plays is known as bhaona, which is a performative art form.?
Sankardeva himself wrote six plays to be used as an instrument to establish a new religious denomination, the Ek Sarana Nama Dharma, against the rigid and exclusionary Brahminical Hinduism.?
A musical drama?
Ankiya means one act, and Nat means drama, so Ankiya Nat simply means one-act play.?
In these plays, one would see the orchestra - gaayan (singers), baayan (instrumentalists), and actors.?
The Sutradhar narrates the story, with the orchestra chiming in between. Actors would often wear masks to accentuate particular characters.
One is treated to a musical drama of sorts, where traditional instruments like Khol, Taal, Doba and Nagara are used.?
Different types of bhaona?
The Bhaonas based on the plays written by Sankardeva and his disciple Madhabdeva are known as Ankiya Bhaona, while the plays penned by the Vaishnava monastic heads after the two gurus are simply known as Bhaonas.?
The language used in the former was exclusively in Brajawali, as a counter to Sanskrit used in Hindu religious texts.?The latter could be in Brajawali, too, but the subsequent ones are mainly in Assamese.?
Bhaonas usually take place in a naam-ghar (a prayer house of the Assamese community, also a creation of Sankardeva.)?
Bhaona of today?
The bhaona has undergone a process of evolution and expansion from its original form and is a fusion of sorts today.?
But, the heart of Bhaona is still the same - involving a retelling of mythological stories from the Hindu epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata and infused with the spiritual essence of Vaishnavism.?
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