REAL ART YAKSHAGANA -S.V.SHETTY

Yakshagana can refer to a style of writing, as well as the written material itself. There are questions on whether this writing system originated in Telugu literature. It was probably used for poems enacted in bayalaata (or open theater drama), such as the ballads of Koti and Chennayya." Yakshagana in its present form is believed to have been strongly influenced by the Vaishnava Bhakti movement.

The first written evidence regarding Yakshagana is found on an inscription at the Lakshminarayana Temple in Kurugodu, Somasamudra,Bellary District, and dated 1556 CE, a copy of which is available at the University of Madras.^[7] The inscription mentions a land donated to the performers of the art, so as to enable people to enjoy tala maddale programs at the temple. Another important piece of evidence is available in the form of a poem authored by Ajapura Vishnu, the Virata Parva, inscribed on a palm-leaf found at Ajapura (present day Brahmavara).^[7]Another historic palm-leaf manuscript, dated 1621 CE, describes Sabhalakshana.^[7]

Yakshagana bears some resemblance to other members of the 'traditional theater family:' Ankhia Nata (found in Assam); Jathra (in Bengal);Chau (Bihar, Bengal); Prahlada Nata (Orissa); Veedhinatakam & Chindu (Andhra); Terukoothu Bhagawathamela (Tamil Nadu), andKathakkali (Kerala). However, some researchers have argued that Yakshagana is markedly different from this group.^{[citation needed]}

Experts have placed the origin of Yakshagana somewhere in the period of the 11th to 16th centuries CE.^[8] Yakshagana was an established performance art form by the time of the noted Yakshagana poet, Parthi Subba (c. 1600).^[4] His father, Venkata, is attributed by some to be the author of the great Hindu epic, Ramayana, although historian Shivarama Karantha counters these claims (made most notably by historians Muliya Thimmappa and Govinda Pai)^[9] and argues that it is Subba, who was in fact its author.^[4] Venkata is the probable founder of the tenkuthittu (southern) style of the art.^{[citation needed]}

Troupe centers, such as Koodlu and Kumbala in the Kasaragod District, and Amritheshwari, Kota near Kundapura, claim to have had troupes three to four centuries ago, indicating that the art form almost certainly had begun to take shape by circa 1500.

The Yakshagana form of today is the result of a slow evolution, drawing its elements from ritual theater, temple arts, secular arts (such asBahurupi), royal courts of the past, and the artists' imaginations—all interwoven over a period of several hundred years.^[8]