Brojaweli

I’ve always been aware that my knowledge of Assamese is truly abysmal but recently, I’ve been hearing people speak in what they tell me is Assamese without understanding a word of what they’re saying, and I’ve begun to think that small though the state is, its language, like Marathi, could be different not only in different parts of the state but also among different classes of people. To me, as far as Marathi was concerned, the text which I read in legal documents was very different from the lingua franca at the law firm I spent time at, and neither one bore any great resemblance to the language which domestic help used. The words were different, for one thing. For example, at work, I never once heard anyone use ‘tu’ for ‘you’; it was always ‘tumhi’. Outside, I never heard ‘tumhi’ being used anywhere.
Initially, I thought that ‘tu’ and ‘tumhi’ corresponded to the French ‘tu’ and ‘vous’ but while that’s probably true, it clearly isn’t the whole story if one class of people opts to use only one form and a second class opts to use primarily the other form of the word.
Coming back to Assamese though, the other day, I watched a play heavily influenced by Ankia Naat Bhaona: an Assamese form of drama first created by Sankardev in Assam in the 15th century. It has since gone on to become a distinct form of art which comprised elements of Sanskrit drama as well as other traditional art forms along with Sankardev’s own innovations. Before the Bhaona itself begins, a lamp made of bamboo with nine flames is lit up to symbolise nine kinds of devotion.
There is a narrator called a Sutradhar who not only introduces characters and tells the tale but also keeps reminding the audience of the importance of devotion to God by repeatedly saying: “Nirantare Hari Bol, Hari Bol.”
I hadn’t expected to understand too much of the play but what surprised me when I watched it was that the language used in Ankia Naat is not Assamese at all. It’s a language called Brojaweli that’s used: a mixture of Assamese, Hindi, Oriya and Maitheli. Two of the four languages, I had absolutely no knowledge of.
Thankfully, the programme included a copy of the story of the drama in English.