Acknowledgements

Assam is endowed with various Folk Dramas.Puppetry,Kamrupia Dhulia, Khulia Bhaona, Kushan gan are such Folk dramas. Among these folk dramas, Puppetry has some unique features. However, with the ravages of time, these folk dramas have lost their previous glory. Advent of new forms of media of entertainment is one of the most important reasons of it.Folk dramas help in social integrity and reveals the cultural identity of a society. The manner of presentation, costume, lighting all are very interesting as they are different from modern forms of drama. Folk dramas have immense influence over our society. Therefore, it is our duty to forward our effort for revival of these Folk dramas. My research work intended to find out the problems faced by puppeteer as well as performers of other Folk dramas of Assam.

I am deeply indebted to my supervisor Dr. Basanta Kr. Bhattacharya for his guide in the whole course of my Ph D. Without his guidance, completing this research work would not have been possible.

I am grateful to Dr. Kishor Kumar Bhattacharya sir, Dr. Anil Bodo sir, Dr. Prabin Das sir, Dr. Dilip Kalita, Kumud Ranjan Das sir for their valuable suggestions during my research.

I express my sincere thanks to the puppeteers and performers of other of folk dramas, involved in the promotion of folk art by overcoming various obstacles.

My heartiest thanks go to my parents shri Jatindra Nath Saikia and Nirada Bez Saikia. My brothers Prasanta and Debasish helped me in different sphere of the research. I went many places for data collection with them. Thank you brothers.

My husband Sanjib Lochan Tamuli's support was great strength for me in the whole course of the research. Despite his busy work scheldule, he went to different places with me for data collection. After my parents, he was constant moral and economic supporter for me. He tried to collect and provide me particular books, photo or other relevant documents whenever I was need of them. My Father in -law Lakhiram Tamuli and mother in law-Putali Tamuli were very helpful during my research. I want to offer my heartfelt thanks to them.

I offer my sincere thanks to Pawan Sarma and Raj Lochan Boro for helping me in the computer works. I am very thankful to Saurobh jyoti Bora, who beautifully draw the map for my thesis.

I beg apology for any unwanted mistake I committed in the thesis.

Gitali Saikia
Folklore Research Department
Gauhati University.