From ‘Parijat Haran’
Ankia Bhaona, a theatre form that blends classical and folk idioms, presents a unique dimension of Assamese culture
“Go to Guwahati for the Ankia Bhaona Samaroh. You will have a rare experience and a new vision of Assamese culture,” Raju Das, an officer of the Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi, who hails from Assam, had told me.
I arrived in Guwahati as an “outsider-observer” of Assam’s 500-year-old unique Ankia Bhaona theatre tradition, my knowledge limited to a few articles I had read about it. ‘Rukmini Nagar Bihu Field, Rangamancha Path, Guwahati’ the address of the festival venue aroused instant excitement Rukmini is a popular character in this art form and the road leading to the venue was named