Abstract

The Theatre of India tracks back to the ancient Vedic period. In the Rigveda, there were some references to acting. Bharat Muni’s Natyashastra was strong evidence of the powerful legacy of Performing arts. In Assam, some evidences of theatrical performances are found in the villages as the different folk performances like Ojapali, Kushan Gaan, etc. In the 16th century, a great pioneer of Assamese culture and literature, Mahapurusha Srimanta Sankaradeva, was born, and he renovated and established the Assamese theatre properly. Sankaradeva, with the influence of various folk forms of Assam, i.e., Ojapali, Putala Nach, and Sanskrit theatre, created a new performing art form ‘Ankia Nat’. He, with his keen observation of the local performing arts and Sanskrit theatre, created a highly stylized, vibrant dramatic form. In Ankia Nat, Sankaradeva merged dance, music, drama, poetry, stylized dress and makeup, a kind of Natyadharmi (theatrical) acting, and its total presentation style in a unique way. In Ankia Nat, the Natyashastric influence also occurred in acting or presentation style. This paper an attempt to underline the acting and musical perspective of Ankiya Nat with its analysis. Descriptive and Analytical methods are used to writer this paper.