Ankiya Naat
Also called: Bhaona · Topic: Bhakti and Sufi Traditions · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Ankiya Naat are one-act devotional plays started by Shankaradeva, the great Vaishnava saint of Assam (late 15th century). He wrote them mainly in Brajavali, a literary language that mixed Assamese with Maithili. The plays tell stories of Krishna and Rama with song, dance, masks and a narrator called the sutradhar. Their performance is called Bhaona. The plays helped carry his message of complete surrender to Vishnu to ordinary villagers.
Example
Shankaradeva's Rukmini Harana is a well-known Ankiya Naat. Plays like it are still staged as Bhaona in the satras (monasteries) and naam ghars (prayer halls) of Assam, especially on Majuli island.
Don't confuse with
- Kirtana-ghosha: This is Shankaradeva's major book of devotional verses for singing, not a play.