Yakshagana Bombeyatta (puppetry) is a popular art form of the State
of Karnataka and Kasaragod, the northernmost district of Kerala. The
puppet show is a parallel tradition of Yakshagana, the classical dance-drama
prevalent in these regions. The puppets, usually made of wood resemble
the Yakshagana performers in costumes and ornamentation. The most
well known exponent of this art in Kerala is the Sri. Gopalakrishna
Yakshagana Bombeyatta Sangha (troupe).
Yakshagana performers wear huge headgears, elaborate facial make-up,
colourful costumes and ornaments which together give a superhuman
appearance to the character presented. The themes of the plays are
taken from the epics, Ramayana and Mahabharatha.
The play "Kharasura vadham", an episode in the epic Ramayana.
It is the story of slaying ( vadham) of the demon Kharasura by Lord
Sree Rama, hero of the epic Ramayana. Lakshmana, Lord Sree Rama's
brother insults Kharasura's sister Soorpanakha. Thus Kharasura challenges
Lord Sree Rama to a duel and is slain during the fight.
The language used is Kannada, though the troupe performs in Malayalam
as well as Tulu (local dialect of south Karnataka). The puppetry is
accompanied by the singing of verses and snatches of dialogues. The
orchestra includes percussion instruments like chenda, maddalam, jagatta
or chengila (cymbols) and chakratala or elathalam (small cymbols).
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