BENGALURU: This city is embracing the coast of Karnataka. Not just in terms of its climate where certain recently deluged areas in Bengaluru needed boats for commuting, but also in its art. Yakshagaana, a traditional Karnataka performance art form, which used to be predominantly performed in the coastal areas of the state, has started to find relevance in the city as well. More and more performances of Yakshagaana are being done, and the urban crowd are all for it.
However, this development of this artform hasn’t just been geographic but also in the demographic of the performing artists. Over the past decade, there has been a surge in the participation of women artists in this traditionally male-dominated art form, where even the women characters used to be donned by men.
“While the cast of Yakshagaana used to be largely dominated by men, now there are quite a few troupes of only female artists. The situation is getting more liberal, and all sorts of people are coming together purely for the love of the art form,” says Shubha Bhat, a Yakshagaana artiste.
As a recent example of the nature of this artform getting more progressive, the Bangalore International Centre (BIC) will be hosting an all-women Yakshagaana performance on September 14, 2022, at 6:30 pm. This is the first time BIC will be organising a Yakshagaana with an all-woman cast, and Bhat is one of the artists performing.
While the city of Bengaluru is late to the party when it comes to appreciating Yakshagaana performances, artiste Sowmya Pradeep Hebbar feels the city crowd has warmed up to them quite well. “This city has people from not just different parts of Karnataka but of the country as well. Before the crowd that migrated to the city from the coastal regions were more passionate about the artform, we have noticed that nowadays, Bengalureans are also readily attending such events. We have received stellar responses,” says Hebbar.
A majority of Yakshagaana artistes naturally come from the coastal regions of the state due to the artform’s heightened popularity over there. So for an artiste like Yuktha Joshi, who hails from Udupi, there is a lot of nostalgia attached to Yakshagaana.
“During summer vacations, we used to visit our native town a lot. There, Yakshagaana is hugely popular. So, my cousins and I used to frequent a lot of late-night Yakshagaana performances, which used to happen from 10 pm to 6 am. I have a lot of childhood memories from those days. I remember, as kids, we used to get so scared at the entry of the rakshasa characters in those acts,” shares Joshi.
Since Yakshagaana stories are largely influenced by mythologies like the Mahabharata or the Ramayana, Bhat feels there is an added element of spirituality during the performance. “It is an artform based on the worshipping of gods. We start with a puja, then we perform the play, and again, end with a puja. So there definitely exists an element of spiritual awakening and devotion in Yakshagaana,” says Bhat.
Even though the upcoming performance on September 14 with an all-woman cast is a relatively rare event, the artistes don’t feel there is any added pressure to do well. “Once the stage is set, and the audience is watching, all pressure goes away,” reiterates Hebbar. The artistes also cite veterans like Padmi Shri-awardee Chittani Ramachandra Hegde, Nidle Govinda Bhat, Kumble Shridhara Rao and Kumble Sundara Rao as key influences.