Paper: 2 Relationship Of Dance And Theatre, Study Of Rupaka And Uparupaka, Traditional Theatres Of India Module 15 YAKSHAGANA – 1 INTRODUCTION: Today the finest traditions of Yakshagana continue to survive with all their rich variety only in the coastal and the hill-tracts of Karnataka, in the two districts of South and North Kanara. It is in this area that the largest numbers of “Prasanga-s / प्रसंग” (written texts) have been discovered and it is this area that can offer us today the largest number of temple troupes and performers. Some of these temple troupes have had a continuous existence of one or two centuries or more. During a season, (November till the start of the monsoon around May), each troupe generally performs about 150 shows, almost one performance every day. These Yakshagana also go by the name Dasavatara Ata / दशावतार अट or Bhagavata Ata / भागवत अट. Ata in Kannada means ‘play’. YAKSHAGANA TEXT / PLAY – PRASANGA: Lord Vishnu, one of the three legendary gods of the Hindus, is called Bhagavan. His exploits are detailed in the Bhagavata. The person conducting the Yakshagana concerned with Bhagavan is called the Bhagavata. To him the performance is an act of devotion to Bhagavan. The reason why the name Bhagavatara Ata stuck to this type of Yakshagana is perhaps that its earliest themes were taken 1 from the Bhagavata. This ancient work is in Sanskrit, but its Kannada rendering, composed during A.D. 1530, is equally well known. Almost all the early prasangas drew their material from various Kannada versions of our ancient epics and mythologies such as the Puranas. These versions were well known at the time. Among them were: Gadugina Bharata by Kumara Vyasa Torave Ramayana by Kumara Valmiki Ramayana (Kausika) by Battalesvara Bhagavata by Chatu Vitthalanatha Jaimini Bharata by Laksmisa. A few hundred Yakshagana prasangas are available in Kannada, and most of them have been written during the last few centuries. Over a hundred of them have been printed; the rest are still in manuscript form. Of this rich store, probably not more than fifty or so have been staged, and gained popularity. Though in recent decades, new authors have composed and produced a dozen or more new prasangas, the old ones have not lost either their appeal or popularity. That is because their themes were drawn from our ancient epics and mythologies which our people still cherish with religious zeal. Going through the texts of old prasangas, we discover that each consists of a large number of songs and verses, but very little of prose. Songs dominate the plays, as their patterns are excellently suited for dance rendering. A play may consist of anything between 300 to 600 stanzas. A full-fledged play may take seven to eight hours for its performance, and shorter ones may require half that time. 2 Here are the names of a few of such source materials available to the Kannada writers for composing their plays. During this period some of these playwrights often incorporated a good number of verses from such writings, often along with their own songs. Mahabharata by Kumara Vyasa of Gadag Ramayana, Torave Ramayana by Battalesvara (Kausika) Vashistha Ramayana Uttara Ramayana (Tirumalesvara) Ramayana, Venkamatya Jaimini Bharata Bhagavata Bharata—Pauloma Parva and Svargarohaa Parva Airavata tale Rukmini Svayamvara tale Prahlada Bharata Devi Mahatme Krisnarjuna Kalaga Many of such works are to be found in the Malnad / मा쥍नद homes of Karnataka, as well as in its hinterland, in the form of handwritten palm-leaf scripts. The intrinsic beauty and merit of a prasanga would mainly rest on the song patterns used and their ragas and talas. Verse forms are secondary. They are mostly used as narrative links, the dialogues being covered by songs sung in duets. Quite a number of authors have clearly distinguished the third-person narrative from the first and second person duet, because everything has to be sung or narrated by the Bhagavata. 3 The nature of the verses that form an essential part of these plays, are composed in metrical forms familiar to readers of Kannada literature. They consist of pure Kannada meters like dvipadi / 饍ववपदी (couplet), chaupadi / चौपदी (four-footed verse), sangatya / संगा配य (another four-footed type) and three or four types of six-footed meters called Papadi-s / पपड़ी. These have grown and evolved with the language, and are quite easy-flowing, flexible and excellently suited for singing. Their lines are composed of short and long syllables, often repetitive, and so lend themselves easily to tala beats and hence to dance rhythms. The language spoken is rather florid and pedantic, but befitting the dignity of such roles. Ordinary characters like servants, Brahmins, guards, and Hanumanayaka / हनुमानयक use simple language, often the folk dialect of the region. It is only Hanumanayaka who exceeds the bounds of the background songs. He is there to cut jokes, cause mirth and entertain the audience in season and out of season. Sensitive artists, who have had a good knowledge of the ancient Indian epics and Puranas as well as the gift of the gab, conduct the Talamaddale / ताऱमद्दऱे performances. These are popular during the rainy season when open-air costumed plays cannot be staged. In the hands of sensible artists such plays could be lively, witty as well as entertaining. Talamaddale itself is to this day a popular form of Yakshagana staged indoors by artists sitting around a Bhagavata. There are no costumes and no dances, and the dialogues are spoken extempore. The term gana/गान signifies music and as such Yakshagana means a particular style of music with characteristics of its own, distinct from 4 the two other systems of Indian music, Hindustani and Carnatic. In course of time, plays written in this style of music came to be known as Yakshagana Prasangas. Prasanga here means a theme, or a story. Though from earlier works we can gather an impressive list of over 150 ragas, today many of them remain only in name. The charm of the song patterns owes as much to the ragas as to the tala, the song’s rhythmic structures. They were sure of this tala structure, as the dance footwork is thoroughly dependent on the rhythmic time-cycles. The Bhagavata plies a pair of tiny cymbals while singing, and a maddale usually accompanies him. In battle scenes and on joyous occasions another high-pitched drum called chande is added. The Bhagavata may be supported by a junior called sangitagara / संगीतगार, who often lends his voice to his senior’s alaap-s / आऱाप, takes them up and continues them, in order to give him some respite. The Bhagavata has to sing all through the night, which may mean singing of four to five hundred stanzas in various ragas and talas. Nowadays the gourd pipe, sruti / श्रुतत or pungi / पुंगी as it is called, has been replaced by a small box with bellows and a few metallic reeds that produce the necessary note. The singing is done mostly at a high pitch. The lower octave is completely left out. As most of the songs are accompanied by dance, the tala element becomes a very important part of the performance. The Bhagavata’s playing of the tiny cymbals and his recitation of the elaborate maddale syllables dictate the entire gamut of footwork. To lend variety and charm to the songs, tala structures of different stanzas of a particular song may vary; the tempo of the singing too may vary according to the need of the dance. 5 Some of the ehe ragas whose names we get from ancient prasanga scripts are as follows: Nati, Kaphi, Mohana, Khamacu, Kambodhi, Dhanyasi, Yerakalakambodhi, Dhanasri, Kanada, Todi, Saurastra, Suruti, Vasanta Nilambari and many more. Unearthing the nature of a number of these ragas is a very difficult task, for many of them have been forgotten long ago. But since a number of them are still found in Carnatic or Hindustani style of music, it may not be so difficult to render them in Yakshagana style; only the modulations would be different. In the case of combined ragas, i.e. combinations of ragas like Mecu Gaula / मेचु गौऱ , Todi Gaula / तोड़ी गौऱ, Punnaga Todi / पुꅍनग तोड़ी, if both the components are known, then some attempt can be made to resurrect them. For example, in Mecu Gaula, Mecu has yet to be discovered, whereas Gaula is in vogue in Carnatic. In case of such ragas like Mecu, Kore / कोरे, Koravi / कोरावव, Mecali / मेचऱी, Gopanite / गोपतनते and Pancagati / पंचगतत, the names sound native to this style. Names like Huvu and Kannada are native to the Kannada language itself and it is doubtful if old musical works would be of help in ascertaining their nature. But if such ragas occur quite often in prasangas it is quite possible that we may still discover them. Old Bhagavatas, who know such old prasangas by heart, would be able to sing them as they were taught by their gurus. Someone among them might still sing it in the correct manner, without being conscious of the name of the raga he may be singing. 6 Whenever the names of Yakshagana ragas correspond to those of common Carnatic ragas like Bilahari, Kambhoji, Kedaragaula and Athana, the former are almost similar to the Carnatic ragas. But it need not always be so. Some Yakshagana ragas have a greater resemblance to like named ragas of the Hindustani style. Raga Pahadi is akin to the Pahadi of Hindustani. Raga Dvijavanti is akin to the Jayajayavanti of Hindustani.