The politics of displacement of Bhaona from the precincts of Namghars to commercial performative spaces in Assam calls our attention to the tectonic changes in the technologies of emotion. Asking how performance reflects on the contested relationships between public art, emotion and its use, we can say that through Bhaona popular desires are literally incorporated and made manifest. The transition of Bhaona from a sacred tool of mass education, its locus being the Satras and Namghars in India’s North East, to a marketable item in the popular visual culture of Assam cuts across shifting emotions, materialities, cultural geographies and consumerist spectacles. Historically, as a dramatic performance, Bhaona used the visual medium for propagation of Sankardev's message in Assam. However, this particular performance form for its rich repertoire dug into the popular imagination of even those outside the Sankari fold. What followed, as in case of other dramatic forms across India, is that Bhaona performances become commercialized. This shift did not change the deep devotion of Sankardevs followers, but it served the larger public who enjoyed the performance as an enactment of a play. Of course, there are modifications to the performance repertoire and ritualized norms followed at the Namghars and Satras to make it more attractive and innovative making it commercially viable. The present study will explore (1) the emotive dimension of the Bhaona performance and its shift from the sacred confines to its secularization; (2) the role emotion plays in engaging with Bhaona's sacred intent and secular attraction; (3) the commercialization of the emotional potential in Bhaona as a challenge to a normative code of performance; (4) further politicization of a sacred performance form as a popular form and the place of emotion herein; (5) the de-institutionalization and commercialization of such forms across South Asia.
