Ankiya Nat at its best

In order to keep the rich traditions alive and to honour the religious beliefs of the Assamese, Sattriya Kendra, Guwahati-a part of Sangeet Natak Akademi will be organising ‘Ankiya Bhaona Samaroh’-a festival of ritual plays of Assam from March 21-24 at Rabindra Bhawan lawns in the national Capital. ‘

Ankiya nat, which is a form of religious theatre which traces back its origin from the state of Assam, honours Vishnu’s manifestation as Krishna. ‘Ankiya Bhaona Samaroh’, which falls in its eighth year this year, is held in order to promote the rich culture and heritage of Assam, specifically the concept of ritual plays. The event will have various programmes being held on different days of the event. Theatre performances will start from March 21 whereas seminar cum lecture demonstrations will commence on March 22 and the sessions will be held at 11 am in the morning daily at Meghdoot Theatre- III.

The first day of the event will see Dulal Roy’s directorial venture ‘Shri Ram Bijay’ being staged at the venue. The play is a presentation of Sattriya Kendar from Guwahati. The second day will have Uttar Kamlabari Sattra from Majuli staging their presentation- ‘Keli Gopal’ directed by Bhaben Barbayan at Rabindra Bahawan; followed by a keynote address by Pradip Jyoti Mahanta and a lecture series titled ‘Ankiya Nat: Dimensions in performance’ at Meghdoot Theatre.

There will be other plays staged on the last two days of the event namely ‘Parijat Haran’ directed by Pabitra Pran Bora and performed by Kola Krishti Bikash Kendra from Darrang; Rukmini Haran directed by Haricharan Bhuyan Barbayn and Pabitra Chetia and performed by Pathar from Duliajan. Apart from this, two seminar cum lecture demonstrations- ‘Ankiya Nat: Text and Structure’ by Pona Mahanta from Guwahati and ‘An Analytical Study of Ankiya Nat’s music’ by Babul Das from Barpeta will be held on March 23 whereas ‘Aharya of Ankiya Nat’ by Sanjib Barkakoty from Nagaon and ‘Bhakti Rasa as depicted in Ankiya Nataka’ by Malini Goswami from Guwahati will be held on the last day of the event.