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Abstract
Sankaradeva first composed Assamese drama in the fifteenth century, taking elements from Indian Natyashastra, erstwhile Indian folk-dramas and local folk resources of Assam. Sankaradeva wrote plays to teach people and provide beauty. The play created by Sankaradeva is called Ankiya Naat and the performance of Ankiya Naat is called Bhaona. By producing Assamese drama, Sanskaradeva showed the drama to Assamese people of the 15th-16th century, who at that time had to be satisfied only by hearing about Sanskrit drama. The influence of society is an important feature in Ankiya Bhaona. While propagating Vaishnava religion, Sankaradeva was greatly influenced by contemporary society. The impact of various phenomena of society is quite natural in Bhaona while it was an attempt to transmit in a useful way for all people. At that time, various elements of social, religious traditions, caste, culture, etc. were seen in Ankiya Bhaona. According to the pace of society, Bhaona's changes started to increase. At first, the Ankiya Naat was created to propagate Vaishnavism, but later it was converted into a medium of entertainment. When Bhaona received the royal sponsorship, the spirituality of Bhaona was reduced and began to appear new elements in the performance. This paper is a humble attempt to test the impact of society in Bhaona performance.