Media Release

Feb 22: As a child I had attended many Yakshagana performances at crowded auditoriums at Mumbai, but it was only after staying in Mangalore, that I understood and experienced the true joy of watching all night Yakshagana performances in an open field, under the full moon light, along with local villagers.

We were fortunate to be invited by our friend B S Shetty to his place at Bondala to witness the 'Krishna Krishna Shri Krishna" Yagshagana performance organised by Kateel Durga Pareshwari Yakshagana Mandala.

It all started with a Pooja ceremony where elaborate crowns were placed in the shrine and worshipped as representations of God's with an abundance of flower offerings.

Everyone in the vicinity was invited to have the traditional meals on banana leaves and I realized that the local villagers may have to walk back in darkness when I saw a torch in one of their pockets!

I watched in amazement how all the male artists did their own elaborate make up, whether in male or female role and was shocked at their final transporting into their grand characters with grand costumes and head gear.

I spoke to Dinakar Gokhale who said they have around 60 people in their Team including the manager, singers called bhagavats, performers and helpers.

Around 8.30 pm a Preface performance was held called Kattu vesha. This usually happens to build up the tempo towards the actual story delivery and also gives interns and new learners an opportunity to practice and learn on stage the fine nuances of this unique folk art called yakshagana which is a unique combination of grand costumes, song, music, dance, and dialogue delivery with messages from mythological representations.

We first saw two artists enacting on stage wearing male costumes called Gandu vesha, followed by two in Ladies costumes called Mahilye vesha.This was follwed by Peeteeke shri vesha, where two people were dressed in ladies yet performed aggressively in gents style

After 2 hours the actual story unfolded called Prasanga.

It started with Vasudev and Devaki praying to Lord Vishnu, regarding Sri Krishnas birth. Then it depicted Krishnas life in Gokul performing all his Leelas

We saw Krishnna defeating Kaliya the poisonous snake and asuras like Trinavarta the whirlwind form asura, Dhenuka the calf form asura, Baka the crane form asura, and Shakata, the cart form asura.

The humor especially between Krishna and his cowherd friend was really engaging especially when they ran in between the spectators. I enjoyed watching the expressions of the crowds, their laughs at the witty dialogues, their simplicity and devotion for keenly attending this local folk art performance.

We did not realize that the time was 1 am, and the crowd had reduced. It was thrilling to enjoy the Midnight snacks of goli bhaje and tea.

We eagerly waited for the next session of Krishna"s fight with his uncle Kamsa. However there was another hour of sleepy waiting as we watched Krishnas interaction with Kamsa's envoy Akrura and with a washerman.

At 2.15 am, we finally saw Kamsas entry, (surprisingly without any grand firework show) but were too sleepy to continue further as we had an hour long drive back to Mangalore.

It seemed like a night of magic under the starts as if the Lord himself had descended onto mother earth. And am so grateful that these age old rich traditions are still being kept alive by the participation of so many youngsters both in the audience and also on stage.

Do watch a local Yakshagana performance and smile at its memories for ever.

Shobha Rao Smilemaker has a vision of living in a world where people use their ability to find and make smiles in any situation. She is a lawyer by qualification, a soft skills trainer by passion, a motivational speaker, a freelance journalist, a bestselling author, an avid traveler and founder of 'Smilemakers Trainings'. She can be contacted at www.shobhasmilemaker.com.