Yakshagana (''lit.'' "Songs of the demi-gods") is a composite folk-dance-drama or folk theater of

southern India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territ ...

which combines literature, music, dance and painting. The best-known forms of this art, written in the

Kannada language Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native ...

, are from the Dakshina Kannada,

Udupi district Udupi district (also Udipi or Odipu in Tulu language) is an administrative subdivision in the Karnataka state of India, with the district headquarters in the city of Udupi. It is situated in the Canara coastal region, there are seven talu ...

Uttara Kannada Uttara Kannada is a district in the Indian state of Karnataka. Uttara Kannada District is a major coastal district of Karnataka, and currently holding the title of the largest district in Karnataka. It is bordered by the state of Goa and Bel ...

and to some extent from the

Shimoga district Shimoga district, officially known as Shivamogga district, is a district in the Karnataka state of India. A major part of Shimoga district lies in the Malnad region or the Sahyadri. Shimoga city is its administrative centre. Jog Falls view ...

of modern Karnataka.Sahitya Akademi (1992), p. 4621Ashton (2003), p. 17–18, p. 27Brandon and Banham (1993), p. 115 According to the Kannada playwright and Yakshagana researcher

Shivarama Karanth Kota Shivaram Karanth (10 October 1902 – 9 December 1997), also abbreviated as K. Shivaram Karanth, was an Indian polymath, who was a novelist in Kannada language, playwright and an ecological conservationist. Ramachandra Guha called him ...

, there are over one hundred such plays written in Kannada in the past few centuries though not more than fifty have been staged and gained popularity.Karantha (1997), p.68 The metrical forms used to compose these plays are usually native Kannada forms such as ''dvipadi'' (couplet, 2-line verse), ''caupadi'' (4-line verse), ''sangatya'' (also 4-line) and three or four types of ''

shatpadi Shatpadi ( ) is a native meter in Kannada prosody that has been used extensively in Kannada poetry. It meter can usually have six padas of syllables, divided into groups of various fixed number of matra (beats) in each line. It was most efficien ...

'' (6-line verse). Some Sanskritic metrical forms, such as the ''vrattas'' (4 line verse) and ''kandas'' (chapter) were also used for composition. The composed lines lend themselves to ''tala'' (beats) and are hence suitable for dance-dramas.Karantha (1997), p.69 There are a variety of dance-dramas collectively termed as Yakshagana. The ''Yakshagana Tenkutittu'' (''lit.'' "Yakshagana of the southern style") is popular primarily in the

Mangalore Mangalore (), officially known as Mangaluru, is a major port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bangalore, the state capital, 20 km north of Karnataka–Ke ...

region and the ''Yakshagana Badagatittu Bayalaata'' (''lit.'' "Yakshagana of northern style performed outdoors") is popular in

Udupi Udupi (alternate spelling Udipi; also known as Odipu) is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka. Udupi is situated about north of the educational, commercial and industrial hub of Mangalore and about west of state capital Bangalore by road. ...

and surrounding regions.Ashton (2003), p. 17 Other art forms also grouped under Yakshagana are the ''Nagamandalam'', a dance meant to appease the deity

Naga Naga or NAGA may refer to: Mythology * Nāga, a serpentine deity or race in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain traditions * Naga Kingdom, in the epic ''Mahabharata'' * Phaya Naga, mythical creatures believed to live in the Laotian stretch of the Mekong Riv ...

, and a variety of ''bhuta'' (spirit) dances. The "Yakshagana Tenkutittu" is more akin to the classical Kathakali of

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

. According to Karanth, the region between Udupi and

Ikkeri Ikkeri is a hamlet situated in Sagara taluk (township) about 6 km to the south of the town centre in Sagara, it's known for the Aghoreshvara Temple, dedicated to an avatar of Shiva. The word ''Ikkeri'' in Kannada means "two streets". Naya ...

could be where the Yakshagana of the northern style originated.Karantha in Ashton (2003), pp. 21–22 Based on internal evidence, Karanth dates these plays to about a 100 years prior to their earliest available copy.Karantha (1997), p.151 This list is not exhaustive. Many plays never reached the stage and among those that did, several plays may not have gained popularity or may longer be popular. Aliya Lingaraja, a member of the Mysore royal family and a writer in the Mysore court wrote more than forty plays which are not in this list.Karantha (1997), p.173 From about the 1960s, the Kannada Yakshaganas of the ''Tenkutittu'' style (southern style) have been replaced almost entirely by the Tulu language. According to Muthukumaraswamy and Kaushal this appears to be a form of "protest" against playing the traditional themes in Kannada taken from classical sources and a preference for local folk themes in Tulu language.Muthukumaraswamy, Kaushal (2014), p.174

The list

Notes

References

* * * * * {{Karnataka topics Kannada literature Indian literature Literature of Karnataka