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| Yakshagana (Narashimha) |
Yaksha Gaana has been a term which is in vogue for nearly 550 years. This term has been used if I may say so ‘loosely’ by various writers, literary historians and critics. The Kuchipudi dance dramas were known as Yaksha Gaanas by the authors and lakshanakaras, similarly the dance dramas of Bhagavata Mela were also termed Yaksha Gaanas. Even the three operas of Thyagaraja Swamy, the Prahalada Bhakti Vijayam, Nauka Charitram and Sree SitaRama Vijayam were termed by many scholars as Yaksha Gaanas. The period of Nayak rulers of Tanjore was the high point when Yaksha Gaanas were written in hundreds by the kings themselves and their court poets and poetesses. The Harikathas authored by Harikatha Pitamaha in Andhra, Srimad Ajjada Adibhatla Narayana Das were entitled YakshaGaanas by himself. Do all these various works deserve this term? Let us see actually what the etymology of the word is, its origin, evolution, and how the term has become expanded in one way and contracted in another way.
