Medieval European Dramas and Ankiya Nats (One-Act play) of Srimanta Sankardeva in Assamese Literature: A Comparative Study

Abstract

Theatrical practice in England in the medieval period was intimately connected to the life style and social condition of the people. The main form of the medieval drama was religious and they were popularly known as the mysterious plays, miracle plays and morality plays – mostly portrayed biblical story or account of the life of a saint or the dramatization of the abstract states. During the later part of the same medieval period, Sankardeva – the great preacher of Vaisnavism in Assam – had composed religious and moral plays known as Ankiya Nat (one-act play) based on the epics or the Puranas. The main purpose of these plays was to instil into the hearts of the audience the message of ‘bhakti’ (loving devotion to God). The present paper is an attempt to explore the similarities of the Ankiya Nats with that of the medieval European dramas. The study shows that the Ankiya plays of Assam and the medieval plays of the West reveal some identical features despite the immense difference of space.