Madhavadeva is the most trusted and devoted lieutenant of Sankaradeva. He was the great Assamese neo-Vaishnava saint-dramatist. Madhavadeva was his guru`s chosen heir in various fields. The fields can be mentioned as spiritual, administrative, socio-cultural, and artistic. He played the most vital role in consolidating and augmenting Sankaradeva`s multidimensional movement, and was almost equally endowed with extraordinary and multifaceted creative talent as a gifted poet.

He was an uncommon singer and composer, an innovative choreographer, as well as an actor and writer-producer of Vaishnava mythological drama. Arjuna-bhanjana i.e. `Uprooting the arjuna Trees`, Chordbam i.e. `Thief-catching`, Pimpara-guchuwa i.e. `Removing the Ants`, Bhushana-herowa i.e. `Losing the Ornaments`, and Bhumi-letowa i.e. `Besmearing Mud` are the plays written by him. A few others ascribed to him are of doubtful authorship. Only one, Arjuna-bhanjana, is in the full-fledged Ankiya Nat format. The rest belong to a less elaborate sub-genre called Jhumura. Some hagiographic biographies describe Madhavadeva`s staging of a few other plays, the texts of which are not available. Nrisimha-yatra or `NrisirnhaYatra`, Govardbana-yatra or `Govardhana Yatra`, and Rama-bhaona i.e. `Enacting Rama` are some of them. In Nrisimba-yatra, for example, Madhavadeva himself took the role of Nrisimha, the Man-lion, and a turban dyed with puroi. Basella rubrri seeds were hidden under the jacket worn by the actor playing Hiranyakasipu. When Nrisimha pinned Hiranyakasipu down and took the red-dyed cloth out of his belly, people were shocked thinking that the Guru had killed the other man.

The model of the performance hall of the namghar type developed out of the rangiyal ghar i.e. ranga-griha or `theatre-house` or natuwa-ghar or `players` room`. This was first built by Madhavadeva after Sankaradeva`s death. The pillars, lintels, and walls were decorated with carvings and other embellishments, features found in many a namghar even today. Madhavadeva died in 1596.