Bhaona is an Assamese traditional form of entertainment. It is the creation of saint-reformer Srimanta Sankardeva, a Vaishnava saint born in 1449 AD in Nagaon district of Assam. He started the neo-Vaishnavite movement. It is a mythology-based theatrical performance with religious messages. Which shows victory of truth over falsehood, generally depicted by mythological kings, queens, demons, Gods, soldiers, etc. In order to connect with Assamese masses, Sankardeva wrote Bhaonas in Brajavali, a literary language created by Sankardeva which is limited to theatrical usage. These plays are popularly known as Ankiya Nats meaning ‘one act play’. He wrote seven dramas for performance in Bhaona. Later many of his followers wrote numerous dramas for Bhaona and most of them are available in hand-written form. It involves dialogues, songs and dances by performers in traditional costumes and ornaments. It usually involves 40-50 people, including those playing instruments like Khol, Taal, Doba and Nagra, which are heavy drums and cymbals created by Sankardeva. There are some special characteristics of Bhaona, like the plays, dialogues, costumes, ornaments, entry and foot-steps of the characters, which differentiate Bhaona from other plays. The three types of Bhaonas are: Baresahariya Bhaona, Mukha Bhaona and Boka Bhaona. The actors who perform it are called Bhaoriya.
Bhaona is generally staged at Namghars (prayer houses) in Assam. In November 2019, three siblings from Sonitpur district in Assam directed and performed two English Bhaonas (Keli Gopala meaning Playful Krishna and Ravana Badha meaning Slaying Ravana) in Abu Dhabi to connect with a global audience who are not conversant with Assamese.