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Yakshagana is another famous folk art of
south India. It began as a ballad singing art form in the olden days, but
later on it was transformed into a dance drama form. The mention of
Yahshagana is found in Bheemakhanda, a 15th century literary work by
Srinadha.
It
was popularly known as Bahunatakas and later assumed a definite form of
Yakshagana. It got its name after the "Yakshas" or "Jakkulas"
who practised singing and dance. Initially a single dancer performed this
dance, but gradually it evolved into a complete dramatic form with many
characters by the 17-18th century.
The structure of the Yakshagana form underwent a lot of changes with the
passage of time. It had different themes from mythological, historical to
secular. The classical Kuchipudi dance adopted some of these literary
productions into their repertoire. Seasoned artists with an aim to save
this dance form from extinction decided to give a new life and introduced
new themes and a strong story line that would make this form more
alluring.
As the name itself suggests, the heart of Yakshagana is 'Gaana'. In many
cases, the scripts of Yakshagana plays are written first for their musical
value and only then for their literary worth. The music style is a blend
of folk and Carnatic, but more influenced by Carnatic devoid of its
familiar frills and trills.
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