Dr Buljit Buragohain

Guwahati: As part of the international webinar series on Different facets of Sankaradeva Studies, organized by Society for Srimanta Sankaradeva, the fifth webinar was held in association with Naamghar Association of America, USA (NAAM) on 10th April, 2022. Dr Dayananda Pathak, Formerly Professor of Sankaradeva Studies in Mahapurusha Srimanta Sankaradeva Viswavidyalaya delivered lecture on the topic “Ankiya play and Western play”. It was moderated by Dr Sanjib Kumar Borkakoti, scholar of Sankari culture and literature. Dr Dayananda Pathak in his lecture said that Srimanta Sankaradeva’s Ankiya plays could be compared with some western plays. He said that Ankiya plays had all characteristics of the best form of drama. The Greek tragedies too were short plays, having the character of the Sutradhara, a character manifesting the ideals behind the authorship of the plays.

Dr Pathak said that a near replication of Sankari plays was found in the modern plays of Bertolt Brecht, a German playwright. He also alluded to the statement of Prof David Busta, who said that Srimanta Sankaradeva’s language in Ankiya plays was superb. Prof Busta mentioned Keli Gopal as a world classic. The theme of the Ankiya plays is very modern, including environmental issues. Dr Sanjib Kumar Borkakoti in his comment said that Srimanta Sankaradeva used his plays as tools for proselytizing, in which he was a pioneer. Ethics was an important component of his plays. We can compare these with the morality plays in English literature. There are however differences like personified concepts in morality plays, which is absent in Ankiya play, having mythical characters. Dr Borkakoti said that such comparative studies is very important if we have to establish the works of Srimanta Sankaradeva in global perspective. Shilpika Bordoloi, Dean of Performing Art in Parul University, Dr Binoy K Bordoloi, President of Naamghar Association of America, Dr Anwar Siddique and Seema Das participated in the discussion. Earlier Mridu Moucham Bora, secretary of Society for Srimanta Sankaradeva welcomed the resource person and the participants. He gave a brief account of the activities of the society.