When Yakshaganam came home

For most teams, it was nothing short of a proud moment

The roaring laughter of Ravana and the proud war cry of Arjuna reverberated through the College of Agriculture at Padannakkad on Friday. Teams from all the fourteen districts dazzled the spectators with their agile moves and turns besides fluent rendition of the Kannada dialogues, in the Yakshaganam (HS) competition on Day Two of the State School Arts Festival.

The competition held special significance in that the festival was being held in Kasaragod, the home turf of Yakshaganam.

“It is a privilege for us to perform Yakshaganam before people who really understand it,” said T. Babitha, a teacher from Thrissur district, who had accompanied the team from Bethany St. John’s School, Kunnamkulam.

Most of the teams had the experience of performing at the State level already. For others, it was a gruelling task learning a new language. “We had brought trainers from Kasaragod to teach our students Yakshaganam. They managed to learn the dialogues despite the initial struggle. But the accent is still a problem,” said Ms. Babitha.

Language barrier

However, art forms of Karnataka did not have the expected viewership despite being held in the neighbouring region. But it was not surprising, a viewer said. “Kannada is spoken only in the northern part of Kasaragod, north of the Chandragiri river. Here most people do not even understand the language,” explained Venugopal, a Milma employee.

Some commented that the distance of the venue from the heart of Kanhangad town could be another reason.