The river of stories flows on...

It was somewhere in the 16th century the great sage of Assam Srimant Shankerdev and his disciple Sri Madhavdev nourished an idea and called it Ankia-Bhaona with the sole purpose of unifying the different casts and creeds of Assam into the fold of communal harmony and peace.

In the 16th century, the Vaishnav cult preacher Srimant Shankerdev developed the  satra tradition.

The idea behind the satra or the monastery appears to be inspired by the Ashrams of ancient sages in Northern Indian which comprised of residential schools spread over a large area.  The guru or the head preacher was the chief and apart from education, taught how to lead a better human existence.

In a similar way a satra was conceived by the head known as Satradhikaar. The Ankia-Bhaona emerging from these satras is a form of traditional dance-drama that primarily not just preaches the victory of good over evil, but also propagates the message of oneness.

Full report here Deccan Herald