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TheSymbolic Significance of Yaksagana GURURAOBAPAT Yak~agiina is the traditional dance-dramaformofKamataka,andhasahis. tory ofmore than400 years. Its area of popularity isconfined tothe two coastal districts of Karnataka and the adjoining regions. It is the major formofculturalexpressionofthisregionandisextremelypopularevennow.The themes of Yaksagana are taken from the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and the Puranas,In thepast. Yaksagana wasalwaysperfonned intheopen,withtheentire village witnessing the performance,thoughnowcommerciallyorganizedtroupes have also come into existence. Among the traditional performing arts of India, Yaksagana is among the few that have continuedtobeliving,vibrantfonnseven now. Even modem means of entertainment like cinema and television have not affecteditspopularity. At presenttherearemorethantwentyprofessionaltroupes giving one performance each every night, rightthrough the year(exceptduring therainy season), operating in a relativelysmallpartofKarnataka. Why is Yaksagana so popular? What messagesdoes it transmit? Whatcultur al,psychological, social needs has it fulfilled? This paper is an attemptto find answers to these questions and understand the significanceof Yaksaganatothe community where it has survived. CulturalFormsasSymbolicSystems . . The study of any form ofculturalexpressionhas totacklethecrucialquestion of what the fonn means to the performers and panicipants. In the study of Yak~agiina too, we will have to tackle thisquestion:WhatdoesYaksaganamean totheperformers and the spectators?At the apparentlevel,therearefactorslike aestheticpleasure,ritualisticappeal,etc.,whichdrawthespectatorstotheperfor mance. But apart from, or, to be more precise,along withthese reasons,.aform expr~sSlon like Yaksagana, which has survived as a major fonn of cultural for severalcenturies musthave certaindeeper layersofmeaningwherebyrtreflects , . . W·th t h andcomments On the various tensionsand/orparadoxesIII society. I au sue an immanent significance directly related to the life of the people, no cultural fonn can survive for long.These meaningsare oftennotapparent-they arenot onthe surface. This is especially true of forms and practices that have evolved SIlngeerNatalNos. t21-122 July-December1996 4 Gt:RURAOBAPAT over hundreds of years. These embedded meanings can be understood onlyby viewingthe form as a symbolic system. Our attemptatunderstandingthesedeeplyconnotativeandsymbolicmeanings necessarilyinvolves thetaskofinterpretation,For this, the culturalformhastobe viewedasatextor anassemblageoftexts. Thetask ofinterpretationofthesetexts cannot be a closed exercise, where the meanings can be found within the texts themselves; they have to be studied in relation to the "social semantics", inthe words of the anthropologist Clifford Geertz.' Folklorists, especially in the last few decades, have been concentrating more and more on analysing cultural systems in terms oftheir symbolic significance. Clifford Geertz's analysis ofthe BalinesecockfightorJames Peacock's studyof Javanese drama may be mentioned as examples of such an interpreutive approach. Victor Turner's studies of African folk rituals and practices also emphasizethe symbolicnature ofthese systems.The growinginterestinthestudy of symbolism is related to developments in other fields of knowledge such as semiotics, psychoanalysis, communication studies, etc., which have been focus ing on the symbolic process ofhuman expression. Raymond Firth, commenting on the growing interest in symbolism, says that it is "in keeping with thegenetal temperofour time tobe attractedto studiesthat concernthemselveswith theless rational aspects of humanbehaviour, which tend to reject or criticise apositivist approach, which makeplay with ideas ofambiguity, uncertaintyand mystery".' Interpretationofa symbolicsystemdoes not mean imposing a meaningonthe culturalform. The task ofinterpretation isin factto makeexplicithow themean ings are related to the symbols. The relationship between the signified meaning and the symbol should be established with a certain degree of reliability. The interpretative mechanism is most often contained in the cultural text itself. As Clifford Geertz says, "Societies, like lives,contain theirown interpretation.One has only to learn how to gain access to them." This is because symbols donot existin avaccum,Symbolsare part ofarepresentational process, wheremeaning emerges, and is dependent upon a culturally defined social setting. That is why symbols cannotbe interpreted withoutreference to the social context. Yaksagana and itsSymbolic Significance Yaksagana, like all otherforms oftraditional culturalexpression, functionsas ?sym~lic system.ThesymbolicsignificanceofYaksaganahastobe understood m.relalJo~to the social semanticsofthe societyofthe coastal and Malenod(,,:e~ rainy)regions ofKarnataka,where Yaksaganahas flourished.Thissociety, being apartofthelargersouthlndiansociety,sharesitssocialstructureand cultwalpat- cVoisbtuhmisheaanand(tlhefet)wfaiigshttoinrngaLmaevnat.m. Lava-KushaPrasanga,Udupi, 6 GURURAOBAPAT terns with the entire region,as well aswith the Indian subcontinent. Atthe same time,there arecertain featuresinthissocietythatareunique to theparticular area. The common and the individual features of the society are equally importantin interpreting the symbolicsignificanceof aform like Yaksagana, In analysing the symbolic significance of Yaksagana, a distinction between two typesof Yaksagana hastobe made.Thisdistinctionrelates both toorganiza tional set-up and period. The first type is the Yaksagiina ofthe open-air troupes thatperformharakeala(vow-performance).Suchperformances areusuallyspon sored by a person who has taken a vowthat he would sponsora Yaksaganaper formance ifhis wishis fulfilled.The performance, though sponsored by oneper son, isopen to everyone.There isalso a strong ritualistic element here as spon soring a performance is thought of as a religious activity. This is the wayall Yaksagana performances were organized till about forty years ago, when some troupes began to be organized on a commercial basis. The commercially orga nized troupes are referred to as 'tent-troupes' as the performances take placein temporarilyerected tentswith admission being charged.Both types oftroupeare inexistence today. Theneedtomakeadistinctionbetween thesetwotypesofYaksaganainunder standing the symbolic significance of the art arises because the difference betweenthe twodoesnotlie merely in organizational details.The immanentdis course itself has undergone a change and so the symbolic significance hasnot remained the same either.This change relates to factors like cbanges in theeco nomicstructureofthesociety, thechanging political equations,etc. Thesametra ditional form is now being used as a vehicle for a distinctly different message. This is perhaps a fine example of the faci that symbolic systems do nOI remain static,bUIoften undergochanges to express new (oftenopposed) meanings. Thisdoes notmean that there has been a sudden and complete break between thetwotypes mentioned above(exceptperhaps,inanextremeexample, likeTu!u yak~agana)" One has clearly grown out oftheother, and many ofthe meanings oftheopen-airperformancesthat are going tobe analysedlater arepresentinthe commercialized forms as well(perhapsin asubdued form).At the same time,the open-air performances of the present day show a clear influence of the tent troupesandtheirperformance (perhapsbecauseofthepopularityandprestigethat the tent-troupesenjoy today).As both these formsco-exist, this influence isonly natural. This paper studies the symbolic significance ofthe open-air performances of yak~ag:ma. The analysis will concentrate on what Yaksagana has meant at the symbohc level to thecommunity these pastcenturies. SYMBOUCSIG~lF1CANCEOFYAK~AGANA 7 ThePerformative Context Theopen-air performances.aswehavealreadyobserved.aresponsoredbyone person(or agroup ofpersons). Inthepast,theperfonnative contextandthespon sorship ofperformances themselves conveyed powerful messages regarding the social structure and the position ofdifferent groupsinthatstructure.' Inorder10 understand this symbolic significance properly. wehavetounderstandthesocial andeconomic structure of the society in which these performancestook place. Yaksagana never had royal patronage;ithassurvivedlargelybythesupportithas received from landlords and rich people in the villages. AsMarthaAshtonand Bruce Christie say•.'The patron is most often a wealthy landlordor a prominenl businessman who for various reasonscommissionsaperformance...Anyoneis welcome to attend these patronised perfonnances and they are free to all." Normally the entire village came 10 witness theperformance,butthepatron was almost always the landlord or a rich person. or a religiousinstitution.This was becausesponsorship involved agood deal ofmoneyandmostpeopleinavillage didnot have the means to sponsor a performance. Boththepointsmentionedin theabove quotation-thatthe performancesweresponsoredbyafewpeopleand that they were witnessed by all-become very important in understanding the social message that this system ofsponsorship conveyed.Inorder10understand this significance properly. it is necessary to know the social structure of the coastalregionsof Karnataka, Theeconomyofthe villages wastotallyagriculture-oriented.Theownershipof landwas always in the hands ofthe landlords andfeudalpotentates.Greatpres tigewasattached to theownershipoflandandusuallysocialandpoliticalpowers wereassociatedwith it.The other peopleinthevillageconsistedoftenantsofthe landor landless labourers (other than a few artisanslike carpenters. ironsmiths, thei~ etc.).These people were entirely dependent on the landlord for livelihood. The total economic control exercised by the landowners over the villagersalso extended to the social, political, and even the cultural sphere.This feudalstruc turewas clearly unequaland exploitative. ThePOsition of theSponsor . The sponsorship of a Yaksagana performance brought to.tJ:1e patro?prestlge and recognition. First of all. it was considered a sacred re!lglo.us aCIJ\1ty. The patron was the host who affordedthe opportunity totheentire villagetopartake intheritualisticperformance.The recognitiongiventothepatron.wasmadeovert ~artlcularpr~~ga inthe performance itself. Hehad theauthoritytochoose the (episode)tobeperformed.Inthepast,therewasalsothe?raclJceofthemu.s,c,ans singing a few songs eitherin the houseofthepatronor10 thetempleof hisfam- 8 GURURAOBAPAT ilydeity afew hours before the performance. At the end ofthe performance,the sponsor would come on the stage and his name would be mentioned alongwith thenameofthepresiding deityofthetroupe.Lookatthe following descriptionof it byShivarama Karanth: ThesponsorthenofferstheBhagavata the specifiedremunerationalongwithbetelnutandbetel leavesonaplate. Asheacceptsit,thefollowing wordsarespoken Bhagavata:Ahhoho Suivisa:Ahhoho Bhagavata(mentionsthenameofthetroupeandthepresidingdeityandadds):Fromtheholypres enceof...Strivisa:...thisSrimudiGandhaPrasada(holyoffering]offeredbysoandso[thename ofthesponsor]intheholypresenceofsuchandsuchadeitypresidingoversuchandsuchatroupe iswelcome.' The above quotation shows how the sponsorgothis recognition as part ofthe performance itself.Inthe seating arrangementalso, thepositionand powerofthe patronwerehighlighted. A similar example of how the performance elevatesthe positionof the patron can be found in Ramlila of Ramnagar. Richard Schechner inhisanalysis ofthisformexplains how the performance also works to highlight the power and position of the king of Benareswho is the patron of these perfor mances,even ata time when his kingdom islost' Theperformance wasthusanassertionofthepositionofthe patroninthesoci ety.Aswehavealreadyobserved, thepatron wasalmostalways thelandlord him self. Yaksagana thus provided him a sanction, as it were, for his position and power.The themesofYaksaganawerealwaysaboutdivinepersonagesandsothe sponsorshipofthe performance provided, symbolically, a divine sanctionforthe landlord/rich person tocontinue hisexercise ofauthority over the rest ofthevil lagers.The rest ofthe audience, having witnessed the performance by thecour tesy of the landlord, would unconsciously imbibe the message regarding the power and positionof thepatron. The divisionof the village into alandowning classand landless labourers and tenants was not merely a division of class. It also related to the caste hirearchy. The landowners usuallybelonged tothe higher castes.The social structureofthe village can be properly understood only in the context ofthis twin hierarchy.In the Indian context itis impossibletounderstand the socialhierarchy withoutref erence to caste. Coming to the coastal region, the landowning class (and so,the patrons of Yaksagana) mostly belonged to the Bunt, Jain or Brahmin castes, which occupied the upper rungs of the caste hierarchy. The sponsorship of Yak~agiina also acted as an assertion of the superiorstatus ofthese castes inthe caste hierarchy.The twinhierarchiesofcasteandclasswere nodoubtrelatedand SYMBOUCSIGNIACANCEOFYAK$AGANA 9 both were highlighted in the act of sponsorship. This assertion wasnotmerely restrietedtotheperformativecontext.It gotexpressedinthediscourseoftheper. formanceitself. The valuesystem and world-viewpresentedinYaksaganaalsoprojectedand upheldtheunequaldivisionofsociety.ThethemesofYaksagana,drawnfromthe epicsandPuranas, highlightedthestratifiedhierarchicalsocialstructureinwhich eachpersonandhiscaste wasgivenadefiniteplaceinthehierarchy. Inthishier archy,theBrahmins andthe Kshatriyasoccupiedthetoprung. (The social struc turewasoneof ,'aT1Jaratherthanja/i.)Theothercommunitiesarerarelypresent edinYaksaganaexcept ascastestereotypesorasservants,gatekeepers,soldiers, etc., whosecastes arenever mentioned.(Theonlyexception tothisruleseemsto hethecharacterofKiriita,thehunter).Thefunctionoftheseothergroupsappears asonlysecondaryand complementary-to servethetwocommunitiesatthetop of the hierarchy. When this grid of theprojected socialstructurewasapplied to thegroundsituation of the village, wheretheperformancestookplace,itinvari ably had theeffect of asserting andstrengthening thesocial structure-s-thelocal landlordreplacing the king in theshiftofframefromtheepicworld tothereal world of village life. Along with it, all the other values associated with this unequalsocial structurewere alsohighlighted. Anyattempttobreakthishierar chywas shown as having disastrous consequences.Thecaseof Kamaisa fine example. Kama Parva dealing withthelastmomentsof Kama's lifeisalsoone ofthemostpopularYaksaganaprasangas,Theclassesandcasteslowerdownthe hierarchywere thus taught to have unquestioned obedience andrespect forthe uppercastes/classes. Yaksaganahas also been asymbolforthestabilityofthesocialstructure asit upholds thestatusquo.The worldpresentedinYaksagana, aswehaveobsc~'ed, wasessentiallyan unequal socialset-upwithhierarchical divisions".Th~ SOCIety was (andlargely is,even now)hierarchicallydivided,withgreatsocialinequali ties.But,atthesametime,insuchasocialsystem,eachcastehaditsownassured un~u.al) place in the hierarchy, andso thesystemled a stable(though social (0 a~peal, Structure.ByemphasizingthestatusquoYaksagana,throughusritualistic providedwhat Clifford Geertzin hisstudyofBalireligion calls"thesanctifica tionofsocialinequality".' Officialand Unofficial/dealagits • . Yak~gana Itis not to be assumed thatthesymbolic significanceof functions ~f ~rfonnance. onlyin highlighting the position of thepatron the Acomplex medium such as Yaksagana does nothavea unidirectional message. In such a medium, several messages functionsimultaneously. Sometimes, a second meso 10 GURURAOBAPAT sagesubvertingthefirstmessagemay alsobecommunicatedat the sametime.Ian Karp,elaborating on MikhailBakhtin'sconcept of ploysemy ofvoices says,".. . utterancescan simultaneouslyconvey whathe[Bakhtin] called 'officialandunof ficial' ideologies". He explains how, in a single cultural text, complex and often conflicting messages manifestthemselves.Applyingthisconceptto performance, hesays,"Performance canbe usedtoassertdifferingmessagesofauthenticityand inauthenticity either in different phases of the same performance or even in per formancesthat refer toone another ... It isalso possible, however, that theelab oration ofunadorned meaning may assertcontradictory messages simultaneous ly:'" Inany Yaksagana performance, the message described earlier,ofassertingthe socialhierarchy andtheassociated value system,maybe termedthe 'official' dis course.This is the ideology that provides the prestige and approval ofsocietyto the performance, especially from the powers of the authority. At the same time other messages, sometimes contradictory to the official ideology, are also con veyed.Such messages are symbolically transmitted along withthe officialonein the course ofthe same performance. As an example, we can take the question of the status of the artists. The Yaksaganaartists are from differentcastes, manybelonging to the lowerrungsof the hierarchy. Till recently, to be a Yaksagana performer was not considered respectable. But the performance provided the artists what Victor Turner (after Van Gennep) calls liminality," whereby they became 'superior' to everyoneelse during the performance.These artists enact the roles ofthe gods, goddesses and superhumanbeingsofthe epicsand Puranas, whoare held in very high esteemby theentirepopulace. By 'becoming' thesecharactersintheperformance,theartists gainapositionand prestigegreaterthan the patronsand the landlordsthemselves. The entire audience, including the upper and dominant castes, pay obeisance to these artists representingthegods and goddesses.Thus, evenwhileprojectingthe official ideology, the performance at another level, through another voice, sub verts the message by making the upper castes pay their respectsto artists belong ing to the lowercastesand treating them assuperior." A similar example can again be found in the Ramlila of Ramnagar. When Rama returns triumphantly from Lanka to Ayodhya, he is honoured by the Maharaja ofBenares himself. Richard Schechnerdescribes the scene thus: An~finally.he[Rama] IswelcomedbytheMaharajaattheFort:onekingreceivinganother.There. assistedbytheroyalfamily, Ramaandhisfamilyhavetheirfeetwashed,aregarlandedandfedI sump!uousmeal...I musedthat!.heboyswhowereswarupas[thoseenactingtherol~o~JWn.a 3.n~ hISb~th~rsetc.]forthelasttimeduringlhisscenewereprolongingit.anddeeplyenJoylP~the umque sttuanon where they were being honoured. worshipped and fed by the Maharaja of Benares"," svsraoucSIGNIFICANCEOFYAK.\AGANA II This shows how performance can invest the artist with a status and position which he would never have got otherwise. This position and recognition is no doubtshortlived,but during the performanceheattainsasuperiorstatusandwhat VictorTurnercalls liminality. Another instance ofthe subversionofthe officialideologycanbefoundinthe waythe Brahmins are depicted inYaksagana,Brahmincharactersrepresentedin Yaksagana can be divided into two clearly defined classes-i-nns and ordinary Brahmins.Risis like Vasistha or Durvasa are played byactorsplaying themajor roles.Thesecharactersarerepresentedashighlyrespectablefigures.Ontheother hand, the characters ofordinary Brahmins are played bythehiisyagiira (clown). Thesecharactersare almostalways thebuttofridiculeandlaughter.Theyarcpre sentedaseverhungry,greedyandready tobreakanymoralcodeforpersonalben efit.The Brahmincharacters inprasangaslikeBhisma Vijaya, Bhasmiisura, etc., may be taken as examples ofthis type. In this picturization, we can see how double-faceted thepictureofa Brahmin becomes in Yaksagana. The risis are presented as honourable personages. So Brahminism,the abstractconcept, gets recognitionandrespect Atthesametime, theBrahmins in the village come to resemble theordinaryBrahminsrepresented by the hiisyagiira rather than the risis. So they are almost always the bull of ridicule.This was perhapsone wayofreleasingthetensionandgellingevenwith the Brahmin, who stood highestinthesocial hierarchy. The above examplesindicatehowdifferent,oftenopposed.messagesaretrans milled inacomplex mediumlike Yaksagana,Infact, Yek~aganafunctionsatsev erallevels and so the symbolic meanings are also multiple.Two suchmeanings, of the official and unofficial ideologies, have already been recognized. In yaksagana, various other layers of meanings are alsoembedded.Someof these are studied below. AsanInstitution ofEducation . . yaksagana, like many otherdance-drama formsofIndia,hasoverthecentunes acted as a powerful instrument ofeducation. Inthiscontext,it shoul~berem~m· bered that women and non-Brahmins were debarred from Sanskritic education perfo.rmance~themsel~es according10tradition.Forallofthem, Yaksagana acted as a means ofeducation. The spectators becameacquaintedWIth thephilosophi cal issues and ethical values that were represented in the performances. In Yak~gana, form~ we find artists who are uneducated (in the sense).capable of ~ndlan speaking on complex issues concerning various fields of ancient knowl Yak~agana bee~ edge intheirimprovised dialogue.Fortheperformersalso, has a h . Yak - h acted as a powerful educating sc,001. Thus, over the centunes. sagana as IZ GURURAOBAPAT force, notonlyabouttheepicsand Puranasbutgenerally about the Indianwayof life. Bypresenting storiesfrom theepicsand Puranas, Yaksaganahasalso actedas a strong force in shaping the moral concepts and the world-view of the people. Theright way and the wrong wayoflifeas seen inthese performances providea kind of object-lesson to the spectators.The stories provide examples of various situationsin family life, political life,etc.. and show the 'right' way for the pe0 ple to follO'w. Linguisticand Cultural Hegemony The themesof Yaksagana,as we haveobserved, havealways been taken from the epics and Puranas. Another important feature that we notice is that until recently,Yaksaganahasalwaysbeen performed inKannada,even inTu!u-speak· ingareas.Tulu is one of the Dravidian languages spoken by most people inthe Dakshina Kannada district of Kamataka and in the extreme northern part of Kerala.Tu]uhasarichoralliteraturethoughitdid nothave awrittenliteraturetill recently. Tu]u culture shows certain marked differences from the rest of Kamataka.Forcenturies,Yaksaganahasbeenperformed only inKannadainspite ofthe fact that most Tu]uspeakers (especially in the villages) do not understand Kannada. The question that naturally confronts us'is how a popular medium of culturalexpressionlikeYaksaganacould survive for centuries in alanguagethat is(partly atleast) alien to thepeople?" Theanswer tothisliesinthelinguistichegemony of Kannada overTu]u.This dominance was not merely one of language but also of culture and the religious model that the language represented. In order to understand this phenomenon properly, we have to view it from the perspective ofthe Bhakti movement and what it meantto Yaksagana. Ample work has already been done on the influence of the Bhakti movement ontraditionaltheatreformslike Yaksagana.Oneofthefundamentalcanonsofthe Bhakti movement was to spread the religious message through the spoken lan guage of the people (like Kannada, Marathi, Bengali, Hindi, etc.), which were directlyaccessibletothepeople.Thisuseofregionallanguages wasinopposition to the use of Sanskrit, which till then was the repository of all knowledge. This knowledge in the hands of Brahmins became the source of their power (to use Foucault'sterms), which they usedin the social,economic and political spheres. The Bhaktimovementbroke thishegemony ofSanskrit,especiallyoverreligious knowledge, by using the spoken languages ofthe people for religious leachings. (II is thus not surprising that in most parts of India, the Bhakti movement also became a powerful movementof socialchange.)