Yakshagana: Origin And Growth

By S. RAMAKRISHNA SASTRY, M. A., B. O. L.
(Lecturer, University of Madras)

At present Yakshaganas are found in the Telugu, Tamil and Kannada languages of South India. But the art should have had its origin in only one of these languages, and the others may have borrowed it. By knowing the early beginnings of these plays in each of these languages, one can easily trace its origin and find out who the leader was and who it was that borrowed.

Dr. V. Raghavan, in his essay on ‘Yakshagana’ in Triveni for September-October 1934 (Vol. VII, No.2) says, “To the vast indigenous theatre of India, the contribution of South Canara is the Yakshagana.” He repeats this at the beginning of the second section of the same essay: “The Yakshagana belongs to South Canara in the Kannada area. For it is the Karnataka country that has named our South Indian music and dance as ‘Karnatic’. In South Canara, the Yakshagana is one of the two most wide-spread popular dramatic entertainments...The vernacular name of Yakshagana is ‘Bayal Attam’ i.e., open-air play, a name which corresponds to the Tamil ‘Terukoothu’ and the Telugu ‘Veethi Nataka’ both of which mean ‘street-play’.”

Let us see how the Kannada people meet this problem. It is the custom among their ‘Yakshagana-melas’ or acting troupes, specially in South Canara, to give the first performance on can b the ‘Dipavali’ day in the temple to which they are attached. Sri Muliya Thimmappaya in his ‘Parthi Subha’, states that ‘Dipavali’ was called ‘Yaksha-ratri’, and that Kubera, the King of the Yakshas, got all his wealth from Bali on the’Dipavali’ day. Hence the Yakshas sing and dance in joy expressing their pleasure. In token of this, it is said that the Kannada Yakshagana troupes give their first performance on the Dipavali day in their own temple. As such this drama is called ‘Yakshagana Ata.’ The day previous to ‘Dipavali’ day is called ‘Naraka Chaturdasi,’ because the demon Naraka was killed on that day by Sri Krishna and Satyabhama for his atrocities. To celebrate this incident, it is said that ‘Dipavali’ was performed the next day. This is mentioned in Bhagavata and Vishnu Purana. That Bali returned the wealth of Kubera on the same day is not mentioned in the Puranas. For argument’s sake let us take this for granted. Let us examine when the Yakshagana troupes began to give these performances. Sri M. Govinda Rao, in his article on ‘Karnataka Yakshagana’, states that he could not find any Kannada Yakshagana earlier than the end of the 17th century A. D., while E. P. Rice in his ‘History of Kanarese Literature’ writes that this new literary form ‘Yakshagana’ sprang up in the 18th century. The word ‘Yakshagana’, does not appear in Kannada literature earlier than the 17th century.

There is a second view, which is also traditional. In the court of Indra, the Gandharvas used to sing and dance, and the Yakshas had to serve them as menials. Being tired of this, the Yakshas went to Sukracharya, the guru of the demons, and learnt this kind of music and drama, and hence came the name Yakshagana. This view, like the previous one, is not supported by reference to any text in any epic. Further, Sukracharya was never noted for his talents in music and drama as Bharatha, Narada or Nandikeswara. Next, how could the Yakshas go to the guru of their enemies, and how could he oblige his opponents? Further, the literary form would have been called ‘Sukragana,’ like ‘Sukraniti’, after Sukra, but not ‘Yakshagana.’ It is clear that these stories were invented subsequently to support an ancient and
celestial origin.

Dr. V. Raghavan, in his article mentioned above, admits that “The Tamil Natya literature, having numberless odd names, does not mention the word Yakshagana.” He also says in the same article: “In Madras and Tanjore Manuscript Libraries, there are many Tamil and Telugu Yakshaganas, though none of them can be dated beyond the 18th century.” From these statements, it can be safely admitted that there were no Yakshaganas in Tamil before the 18th century. But his statement about Telugu is not correct, as ‘Sugriva Vijaya’ of Rudrakavi belongs to 1550 A. D., and there are several Yakshaganas subsequently. So there is no use of relying on Tamil for the origin and derivation of Yakshagana. I think the Kuravanjis in Tamil may be more in number and earlier than their Yakshaganas by two centuries i.e., 16th century A.D., though they too are not earlier than the Telugu Yakshaganas of the 14th century.

Now let us also see whether the Malayalam language will throw any light on the subject. Dr. V. Raghavan writes in the very beginning of his article: “To the vast indigenous theatre of India, the contribution of South Kanara is the ‘Yakshagana,” the Kannada cognate of the ‘Kathakali’ of Malabar, the ‘Yakshagana,’ the street-play, and the ‘Bhagavataemelanatakas’ of Tamilnad and Andhra.” And he begins the next para: “The Yakshagana can be taken to be the common name of an old type of traditional, popular vernacular drama of South India, a name common to the three linguistic areas of Tamil, Telugu and Kannada, and absent only in Malayalam.” Are not these two statements, “Yakshagana, the Kannada cognate of Kathakali” and “the Yakshagana absent only in Malayalam” inconsistent with each other? The actors in Yakshagana both sing and dance, while the actors in Kathakali never move their lips, as Dr. Raghavan himself admits in para 9 of his article. Kathakali, as the Malayalees say, is the worship of Mother Kali, and it came into existence only in the latter part of the 17th century A. D. and was never heard of before. He continues: “In subsequent times the Yakshagana gave place to the two names ‘Nataka’ and ‘Vilasa’ in Tamilnad and Andhra, but it continued in South Canara.” As far as Andhra is concerned, it was subsequently never called ‘Vilasa’ either as a cognate or a substitute. The word ‘Vilasa’ might have been added to the titles of the works, when the characteristics fitted, whether it was Yakshagana or otherwise. The name ‘Nataka’ as I already mentioned above, was added to Yakshagana as Yakshagana-nataka; but was never used simply as a cognate or substitute, since, perhaps, it was restricted to stage drama.

Now let us turn to Andhra, and see whether it can throw any fresh light on the subject. Dr. Raghavan writes in the same article, that he was informed by the late Sri V. Prabhakara Sastry that Yakshagana was called after the name of a community in the Guntur District by name Zakkulu–the derivative form of Yakshas–talented in music and dance. He also learnt from the same scholar that Yakshagana might have developed from folk-songs like ‘Ela,’ ‘Jhola’ etc., which might have been utilised for the Yakshagana. At this stage Dr. Raghavan takes a wrong step and feels these ‘Ela,’ ‘Jhola’ songs of Ragadametre, to be similar to the songs mentioned in some Sanskrit treatises on music, like the Sangita Ratnakara of Sarangadeva of A. D. 1210–1247, and concludes that these Yakshaganas came to birth under the influence of Sanskrit and Prakrit plays. He supports his view with a reference to the fourth act of Vikramorvaseeyam of Kalidasa and some uparupakas, and some other Prakrit plays in Mithila as Parijatapaharanaof Umapati (1304–’24). Taking this as an authority Dr. N. Venkataramanayya, in his article on Yakshagana in Te1ugu Bharati, states that Yakshagana was the outcome of Sanskrit and Prakrit dramas in South India. He argues that the Dvipada metre, which was profusely used in the Telugu Yakshagana was derived from the Sanskrit or Prakrit metre, called Dwipadika mentioned in Vikramorvaseeyam. His second argument is that the music and dance used in Yakshagana, are none else than those mentioned by Bharata in his Natyasastra. Finally he argues that, as Yakshas were among the ‘devatas’ or gods, who dance and sing in heaven and their King was Kubera, there must be some relation between them and the Yakshagana. As Yakshas are mentioned in Buddhist literature, he continues to argue, they cannot be considered as pure myths, and their music must be the original source of the Yakshagana.

It is true that it gives scope for probability about the relationship between the Yakshas and the Yakshagana. But nobody is able to explain satisfactorily what bearing the celestial Yakshas had on Yakshagana, a literary and musical composition in the Dravidian languages since 700 years. Dr. Venkataramanayya’s arguments are in no way better than the conventional and legendary stories of our Kannada friends, which I discussed above. Simply because some parts of names appear to be similar, one need not identify them both, without knowing the characteristics of the music and the dances of the celestial beings in heaven and those of the earthly beings. Every nation in the world has its own folk-songs, music and dances in its own language, independent of the classical arts and languages. They are called desimusic and desidance, whereas the classical arts and languages are called Margi. Hence we cannot ignore this element, and attribute every thing to Margi or classical. It has to be admitted that the music and dance contained in the Yakshagana are of the Desi nature and not of Bharata’s Natya-Sastra. That is why the terms of songs as Daruvu etc. and metres as ‘Ela,’ ‘Jhola’ etc. are not traceable in Bharata’s Natyasastra, or in any Sanskrit work on music, dance or drama as stated previously. Though the words Yaksha and Gana are Sanskrit words familiar to Sanskrit literature and language, the compound word Yakshagana, is not found in Sanskrit language, for it was not any ‘older type of music’ as Dr. Raghavan was informed. If it had been any older type of music, it would have been certainly recorded in books on music or dance. Unless the origin of Yakshagana is understood properly, the term ‘Yakshagana’ cannot be appreciated. We already noticed that the term Yakshagana was not heard of in Sanskrit, Kannada, Malayalam, and Tamil literatures, and in works on drama, music or dance before the 17th century.

From the modern condition of performing a Yakshagana either in music or dance, we cannot justify and infer its initial position and nature. It underwent several changes both in writing and acting, since the time of its origin, Nowadays, in Telugu, the term ‘Yakshagana’ is used for the script or the writing aspect of the work, but not applied to its performance as used in Kannada as ‘Yakshagana Ata’, The correct word that it used for the performance in Telugu in modern times is ‘Veethi Bhagavatam’ or ‘Veethi Natakam’ as more loosely used. Even these two are used in slightly different senses. The Yakshaganas were performed by two kinds of people, one the Brahmins and the other, the Yanadis, Gollas (cowherds) etc. The performance of the Brahmins is called ‘Veethi Bhagavatam’ and that of the Yanadis etc., is called ‘Veethi Natakam.’ As a matter of fact, the non-Brahmin Yanadis were said to be the pioneers in the field. The Brahmins entered the field only later. In the performances of the Brahmins alone, the Bharata Natya has been introduced. In the performances of the non-Brahmin Yanadis desinatya is performed but not regular Bharata Natya. These people never use ‘hastas’ and’ mudras’ as embodied in the Natya Sastra. Similarly there is difference in the music and songs of the two. It is due to this Bharata Natya or dance that the performance takes longer time, the whole night, from 10 P. M. to 5 or 6 A. M. But for this, it would not have taken such a long time, as the script is a short one fit for about two to three hours. The introduction of Bharata natya into Yakshagana is a later improvement. Hence it can be inferred that dance or Nritya and Abhinaya, was not so prominent previously; but Gana or music was more pre-dominant in it. That was why people having talent in music only were selected for this purpose. Naturally, women are gifted with this talent. Specially, women of Zakkula caste among the Telugus, have got this natural gift to the highest degree. They were always selected for the purpose of singing the story, It was rather monopolised by this community at the beginning. Hence the performance was called after the community, ‘Zakkula Pata’, which was sanskritised as ‘Yakshagana’. But it was never a kind of music. The music adopted in it is desiGana. This Zakkula caste is no other than Devadasis or dancing girls, among the non-Brahmins. Singing and dancing were reserved to them as a profession and they were asked to give performances in public on festival days. Such is the history of the term ‘Yakshagana’. As stated previously, Yakshagana at this stage was sung by only one woman of musical talent from the beginning to the end, to the accompaniment of some musical instrument. Later on more people used to take part, to play the role of different characters. In early Yakshaganas while the songs consisting of ‘Ela’, ‘Jhola’ etc., were being sung by the woman, the short prose passages of connecting links that were introduced Subsequently into it were uttered by the Sutradhara who assisted her. She danced a little, keeping time to the song with her anklet-bells.

Yakshagana is called in Tamil as ‘Issakki Kuttu’, a simple derivative of the Sanskrit Word. But the term has no significance or history as in Telugu. Now it is clear that Yakshagana had its place much earlier in Telugu than in Tamil or Kannada, even by the 13th century, with a special significance. It started with the Telugus with more of musical songs and less of dance, and it was named after the Zakkula caste among the Andhras. It continued to grow with uncultured non-Brahmins for some time, till the Kuchipudi artists improved it by introducing Bharata Natya into it. ‘Daruvu’ or ‘Daru’ mentioned in Yakshagana is nothing but songs sung in accordance to drumming. ‘Daru’ or ‘Daruvu’ originally meant in Telugu, drumming. Gradually the word has come to mean the song sung in accordance to drumming.

Now the question arises as to how the Yakshagana could prevail in the Tamil and Kannada areas. In the reign of Sri Krishnadeva Raya of Vijayanagara during the beginning of the 16th century A. D., the Tamils and the Kannadigas came together with the Telugus under the patronage of the King. Further Krishnadeva Raya conquered Tanjore and Madura and appointed Telugu Nayaks as rulers there. They patronised the fine arts and encouraged Telugu poets, musicians, and dancers who went to Madura and Tanjore from the Telugu country. At that time the Telugu people took their Yakshaganas and performed them there. The Tanjore kings encouraged the Yakshagana to such an extent that the rulers also took part in it personally. Hence it because so popular that Telugu Yakshaganas were being performed in the Temples of Tanjore by Bhagavata-melas since the 16th and 17th centuries. Raghunatha Nayaka and his son Vijayaraghava Nayaka of Tanjore during the 17th century wrote several Yakshaganas in Telugu. The Maharatta rulers of Tanjore, who succeeded the Telugu Nayaks, also learnt Telugu and wrote Yakshaganas in Telugu. This clearly shows how popular Telugu Yakshagana was in Tanjore since the 16th century. The Tamil people of the place could not keep quiet and imitated the Telugus in writing the Yakshaganas in Tamil. It attracted the neighbouring Kannada people also who had already come in contact with the Vijayanagara Empire. They too began to write Yakshaganas from 17th century. In the Telugu Yakshagana of Mannarudasa Vilasa written by the poetess Rangajamma in the court of Vijayaraghava Nayak, different characters speaking Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam were introduced. These incidents prove that other South Indian languages imitated the Telugu Yakshagana. Hence they have Yakshaganas only from the 17th century and not earlier than that. Govinda Dikshita of Tanjore, a court Pandit of Vijayaraghava Nayak, mentioned this Yakshagana in his Sanskrit work on music ‘Sangita Sudha’. Before this, it is not found in Sanskrit literature.

Till the 15th century non-Brahmin women were giving the Yakshagana performances as stated in the Telugu ‘Kridabhiramam.’ From the beginning of the 16th century Kuchipudi Brahmins took up the profession in troupes and toured all over South India giving the Yakshagana performances. In these troupes men took up the roles of women and acted the drama. In the hands of Kuchipudi Brahmins, the Yakshagana performance reached its zenith. It is these people that introduced Bharata Natya into the Yakshagana performances. There is recorded evidence to show that Kuchipudi Bhagavatars or actors visited all parts of South India and received honours for their performance during the 16th and 17th centuries. At Tanjore, during the rule of Raghunatha Nayak and Vijayaraghava Nayak, the Kuchipudi actors were encouraged and honoured. Some families of Kuchipudi troupes settled at Tanjore. Melattur Venkataramana Sastry, who wrote several Telugu Yakshaganas for the Tanjore temples, belonged to the Kuchipudi troupes. There is also good proof to show that the Kuchipudi troupes went to Malabar to give performances and had some clash with some of the charmers there. All these go to prove that the Andhras were the pioneers in the field of Yakshagana and with their influence only, Yakshagana developed in Tamil and Kannada areas. The Telugu Yakshagana might be responsible to some extent for the development of Kathakali in Malabar. Learning the art of Yakshagana performance, different peoples might have developed it making slight deviations. Kathakali might have been one such. They might have felt it difficult and inconvenient on the part of the actors both to sing and dance at the same time and hence reserved simple acting to the actors and supplemented singing by accompanists.

The Kannadigas might not have liked this mute dances Kathakali of Malabar, and followed with appreciation the Telugu Yakshagana by both singing and dancing simultaneously. As the Andhras and the Malayalees are on the borders of the Kannadigas, they could not but have their influence on them. While they preferred the singing and dancing of the Andhras in their Yakshaganas the Kannadigas adopted the cast, make-up and musical instruments of the Kathakali of Malabar. Their themes also are much nearer to Kathakali than to the Andhra Yakshagana. Kathakali and the Kannada Yakshagana make use of ‘Chendai,’ the drum, but the Andhras never use it. They both have wild fight-dances whereas the Andhras do not have them. The Andhras adopted sword-play instead. In the matter of singing and dancing in the Yakshaganas, the Andhras and the Kannadigas vary at some places. In the Kanaada Yakshagana performances “When the actors stop the speech, the musical theme is sung.” It has also been noticed that the substance of the speeches is already sung in a succinct manner in the song by the musician, and that the actors then deliver the speeches. This custom does not prevail in the Andhra Yakshaganas. Both singing and dancing are done at the same time, and the substance of the song is never repeated in prose speeches. The Kannada people might have adopted their system from the Kathakali. So we find in Kannada Yakshagana some aspects similar to the Andhra Yakshagana and the Kathakali of Malabar.

As for the composition of the Telugu Yakshaganas, it started by the 13th century as mentioned previously. They were the early forms of the Yakshagana. The later and developed forms are seen from the beginning of the 16th century. Yakshagana was defined and recorded in the work on Poetics by Chitrakavi Peddana by 1550 in his ‘Sarva Lakshana Sangraha.’ Not less than five hundred Yakshaganas are seen in Telugu that are written since the 16th century. It has been so popular throughout South India, its performance in the hands of the Kuchipudi actors was so well appreciated and enjoyed, that people never thought of taking up the stage dramas of Kalidasa or Shakespeare till 1880, when a new situation arose in South India from the Maharashtra Stage or Dharwar Natakas.

To conclude: Yakshagana in its early stages was only a song as denoted by the term, without any prominence to dance. It does not mean that it is a certain kind of music or song. It was called after the caste of the people who sung in the beginning in the Andhradesa. It is purely a desi art without the influence of Bharatanatya sastra. Kuchipudi actors developed it into a drama and introduced Bharata Natya into it. They made it popular in South India, by touring over all the parts of Deccan even by the 16th century. The Tamils and the Kannadigas followed them and the people of Malabar adapted it to suit their convenience in their Kathakali and developed it. It is not good logic to argue that Yakshagana started in Kannada on the ground that South Indian music and dance were called after Karnataka.