Yakshagaana

Today, I have written many articles for my blog. I was not glued to the TV today....let me write one last for the day....hmmmm....what to write. Well let me share some info on one of our cultural dance/drama forms. Any guesses? Well India is so rich in culture that it would be tough to guess...well let me take one of the art forms of Karnataka...Karnataka itself has many art forms...Baratnatyam / Huli Vesha (Tiger Dance) / Kola / Yakshagana...and many more..

Yes, it is Yakshagana, one of best art forms from South Canara, Karnataka. Let me write some articles on others forms in next few days and share my experiences there as well. I am keen in writing this first as I played a small role in one of the acts. In-fact even my sister and mother were in the act. My mom did a lot of act when she was working. She was part of the Syndicate bank Yakshagana club. Surprisingly, the troop consisted women's only. All were bank employees and kids of these employees too participated in some small part. It was just their interest that motivated them to do post work. Let me share a picture now...I played the role of a monkey in this called "Lanka Dahana". An story taken from Ramayana. 

Can you recognize me....the one in the right side...to your left is my sister and Jambav is my dear mom. The only thing we had to do was jump around, eat all the fruits in Ashoka Vana (fruit garden) and destroy the Vana (garden). The garden was created in the stage (Rangasthala) and all sorts of fruits were kept in the artificial trees. What a role to play..to display our true behavior....ha ha...My mom mostly did the comedian part......she made the crowd laugh aloud and go crazy...In few cases would have her own dialogs created instantly. It was a treat to watch.

Well let me take you into some history....(collated by doing some googling)

Yakshagana also called as Aataa in Tulu and Kannada, is a dance drama popular in coastal and Malenadu regions of Karnataka, India. Yaksha-gana literally means the song (gana) of a Yaksha. Yakshas were an exotic tribe mentioned in the Sanskrit literature of ancient India. It has drawn comparisons to the Western tradition of opera.   

Actors wear costumes and enact various roles. The costumes worn by them are classy that it takes you back to the krishna and rama yuga.

Yakshagana consists of a Himmela (background musicians) and a Mummela (dance and dialog group) which together perform a Yakshaga Prasanga. Himmela consisting of Bhagawata who is also the facilitator (singer), Maddale, Harmonium for drone (Pungi was used earlier) and Chande (loud drums).

                                 

The music is based on pre-Karnataka Sangeetha Ragas characterised by melodic patterns called Mattu and Yakshagana Tala. Yakshagana Talas are believed to be based on the groves which later have evolved into Karnataka Sangeetha Talas. Both Yakshagana Raga and Yakshagana Tala have some folk influence. 

The actors wear resplendent costumes, head-dresses, and face paints which they paint themselves. A performance usually depicts a story from the Hindu epics and puranas. It consists of a narrator (Baghawatha) who either narrates the story by singing or sings precomposed dialogs of a character, backed by musicians playing on traditional musical instruments as the actors dance to the music, with actions that portray the story as it is being narrated. 

According to noted theater artist and writer B.V Karanth, classical dance forms like Barathanatya originated from Yakshagana. Yakshagana, like many other forms, defies neat classification into categories like folk, classical, rural. 

Experts have placed the origin of Yakshagana from the 11th century to the 16th century. Earliest limit is fixed by a finding by Vidwan Bannanje Govindacharya who says a legend goes to show that Sage Narahari Thirtha (c, 1300) started a Dasavathara Ata performance and a troupe in Udupi and later this spread to other places and grew into what we call Yakshagana today

Variations

Badagutittu

The Badagutittu style, as its name indicates, is prevalent in Northern parts of South Canara.

Tenkutittu

The second variation, the Tenkutittu style, is prevalent in Southern areas of South Canara

Some common Prasanga's are 

• Gadhayuddha
• Krishna sandhana
• Basmasura Mohini
• Ratnavati Kalyana
• Bhishma Vijaya
• Chandrahasa Charitre
• Abhimanyu Kalaya
• Sudhanva Kalaga
• Sugreeva Vijayam
• Devi Mahatme (This generally is done all through the night...It is believed that god comes in the body of person who enacts it)

Generally these plays are played for an hour to entire night. In summer vacation, when I was a kid we (cousins) used to go the fields and watch the Aataa at grandpa's village . A huge crowd gathered and watched sitting on the field. We used to buy groundnuts when watching the play. I used to feel damn afraid when the Rakshasas (the villain or demons) used to come in the play and would get relieved when only when the Gods killed them.

I really miss those previous moments..recently there was an aataa organized at my cousins reception in Bangalore. the idea was to promote our culture..it was nice....

Wish i get another opportunity to play the monkey role and eat some nice fruits.