The purpose of the dissertation is not to make a historical study of the Assamese tragic dramas but to examine the way in which the tragic view finds its expression in them. There are at present three books on the dramatic literature of Assam. One is Dr. S.N. Sarmah's Asamiya Natya Sahitya. This history makes analysis of the individual dramas; but no page has been devoted exclusively to the tragic dramas. Another is Dr. H. Bhattacharya's Asamiya Natya Sahityar Jilingani which has only recorded the dramas written in different periods, and the third book Manchalekha by Atul Chandra Hazarika is a history of the development of stages in different parts of Assam. So, no attempt to deal with the tragic dramas separately and to analyse the various aspects of tragedy has been made till now. In fact, the number of books available for making a critical study of the Assamese drama is almost nil and there is enough scope for a comprehensive study of this kind. Here I have to see the tragic attitude of the dramatists through a discussion of the tragic dramas and to examine the important devices and conventions introduced in them. In doing so, I have not taken into account some of the dramas which have been recognised neither as good literary pieces nor as successful stage plays. I have also excluded the one-Act plays which require a thoroughly different approach and most of which are yet to be published. I did not like to repeat the minor details about drama which are already available in the histories mentioned above. It is very often said that in India we do not have a tragic outlook. We have a different philosophy and our attitude to life is different from that of the West. With all such differences which have been referred to in course of my discussion, I have tried to make an investigation into the remark in course of the discussion of the individual plays. I am, however, conscious of my limitations and I do not claim it to be a full investigation.
Though the history of the modern Assamese drama started from the later half of the nineteenth century, the history of the stageable plays actually starts with the growth of the stages from the beginning of the twentieth century and the production of plays continued unabated till 1940. During this period considerable number of plays were written; but no significant change in the trend of Assamese drama was noticed till then. Drama, in fact, depends upon the changing atmosphere of the society and accordingly modern drama throughout the world has undergone rapid changes during the last forty or fifty years. These changes did not have any impact on Assamese drama till the forties. The Shakespearean technique was followed by almost all the playwrights and the materials were drawn chiefly from history and mythology. Changes in the dramatic scene of Assam, have, however, been witnessed after the forties and more particularly after the attainment of Independence. Changes have occurred both in the form and content of drama and new trends have been introduced, although the production of full length plays in the new era has been very poor. The increasing popularity of one-Act and Radio plays is one of the factors which have interfered with the growth of full-length plays. Anyway, the loss has been compensated by the profuse production of one-Act plays which are beyond the scope of my work.
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