What is Yakshagana?
Yakshagana combines two words in the Kannada language: ‘Yaksha,’ which can represent celestial musicians and dancers, and ‘Gana,’ meaning music. This art form, primarily practised in the coastal regions of Karnataka, is known for its uniqueness as a traditional theatre art, making it one of the symbols of Karnataka due to its popularity in India and the Global world. This dance-drama art form with around 800 years record of history is mostly practised in open-air spaces in villages and towns, such as temple complexes or common grounds, for the entire night. This art form uses peculiar music that is not similar to India’s dominant schools of music. Yakshagana is performed with dance, drama and music because traditionally their audiences were illiterate and often the epics like Ramayana, Mahabharata and various mythologies in Kannada language where the artists portrayed various characters like Rama, Ravana, etc. Traditionally, most performances are done by troupes who often move to different regions to play and are traditionally performed during the non-agricultural 6 months of the year.
Costumes Used in Yakshagana
The costume is an essential aspect in Yakshagana and primarily the costumes are used as a representation of the characters portrayed. These costumes are not simple as they don’t have human characters in their performances only divine figures hence the costumes are rich and elaborate including ornaments and makeup. The design of these costumes is based on the ancient Indian treatise on drama and dance art form known as ‘Natyashastra’ and for the characters from the myth and epics like kings, celestial beings, and demons as male and female. The costumes primarily consist of headgear, ornaments made out of carved wood with gold foil, beard, hair, cotton jackets, and dhoti (waist cloth) and these costumes are created by one artist or groups of artists who are traditionally trained and belong to the class of sculptor, painter and craftsmen in the region. The use of costumes is dependent on the style of Yakshagana performed and regions have a significant amount of influence on the costumes used. The hair is tied to a bun called mudi to create a base for the headgear using clothes and covered with clothes based on the characters performed.
Headgear is a significant part of the costume in Yakshagana as it provides the audiences with an idea of the character portrayed by the artists as each headgear is made based on the status of the characters therefore unique from each other. The headgear is divided into two parts known as mundasu and kiritha. Mundasu or Turban is a large headpiece made using different types of coils known as ‘atte’ and the cloth is stuffed with dried rice grass these are made in different styles based on the characters portrayed like the kedage mundale with five or six coils for characters like young warriors and princes and the larger version of this is worn by adult characters like chiefs, celestial nymphs and adult warriors. The paku yelavastra worn by the character Karna and his son and the kore mundasu (slanted turban) and jodu kore mundasu(double slanted turban) worn by kiritans. Another type of headgear is kiritha which means crown made out of paper and covered with gold paper and pieces of glass and further divided based on position like raja kiritha for kings, hanuman kiritha for monkeys (celestial or royal) and bannada kiritha worn by rakshasa or demons.
Ornaments play an important role in the Yakshagana costume and these are made by carving wood and covered with gold or silver paper or pieces of grass or colours to represent the characters performed based on the iconography of Indian deities. To represent the personality of the characters various colours of jackets (dagale) based on the type of headdress worn by them. The pattern of the dhoti and jackets like green and red, red and black. The length of the sleeves represents the age of the characters where young characters wear shorter sleeves and old characters have longer sleeves. Other elements are hair and beard for male and female characters where black hair represents young and white old, and beards are used to show the maturity of the character. Protection and coverage for the legs are followed by gejje (anklets) and kadu kadege. Kase sire, a tape in the lower half of the body. Decorative strings around the neck region, a string of red and yellow ribbons around the headpiece, paper flowers and decorative elements are used to complete the costume of the character.
Ornaments used in Yakshagana
Gejje(anklets)
Historic Development
Written records of the art form can be traced from 12th-century literature and the art form was growing till the 16th century where one can obtain records of the performances conducted. With colonialism and other shifts from an agricultural society to an industrial society and other job opportunities, the performances nearly reached a halt but were kept alive due to some enthusiasts. After Independence, the art form gained a revival and became one of the symbols of Karnataka and was compared to other art forms within the country and various parts of the world. With the revival, there was an increase in the number of people actively participating in the art form but there was a decrease in the traditional contributors to the art and commercialism led to the readymade costumes.
Details about the Motifs used
Costumes played a huge role in the motifs as they were the non-realistic and the soul of the Yakshgana. The motifs used in the costumes can be traced from the Hindu iconography and Natyashastra as the majority of the characters performed are divine or non-human characters. Some common elements are the use of lotus which is considered the symbol of the divine and the ornaments and clothes of bright colours indicate both divinity and royalty and are also further illustrated through the kind of makeup used for characters like kings, divine beings who have an elaborate face makeup with the symbol of gods like three-finger in the forehead which allows the audience to guess the status of the character. The kirithas or crowns used in Yakshgana are mostly shaped as leaves and this can be a decorative motif. Traditionally, the theme of Yakshagana is based on epics like Puranas, Ramayana and Mahabharata are depicted with the help of music, dance, costume and makeup and major events of these epics like Kurukshetra war, Sita Swayamara, Ravana Mardana which has been performed often based on the records available on the art form focusing on the artist’s costumes. Historical events are also used as themes of performances mostly the royal characters and their stories are used. Local folklore is used as the theme in Yakshagana and this depends on the region performed and popularity of the folklore.
References to Pop Culture
Due to the popularity of Yakshagana and its history, it has been used in popular commercial films like Veera Chandrahasa and its release in 2025 where the art form has a central theme and Kantara which was one of the popular movies in India in 2022. The songs during the performances are popular as they are important parts of Kannada folk music. Media and the government of Karnataka have also played a dominant role in the promotion of this art form to people by encouraging and supporting the people related to the art form. Yakshagana performances are often performed for Kannada Rajyotsava, being a part of the Republic Day parade and other events conducted in private and public cultural spaces.
Conclusion
Yakshagana today is performed in closed and comfortable spaces when compared to the traditional open floor, some of the artists have professionally dedicated their lives to the art form and an increased number of research regarding Yaskhagana has been conducted by academics. There is an increase in women participating for female characters and the government also provides huge support for the promotion of Yakshgana. Some claim due to its popularity now, Yaskhagana is commercialised which creates non-traditional practices in the art form like music from films being used, and no proper performances of the art which affects the sanctity of the traditional art form.