The song of the ‘yaksha’ (spirits): Costume and character representation in Yakshagana folk performance from Karnataka, India

Yakshagana is a traditional theatre form of Karnataka, a southern state of India. With a history of over 500 years, it incorporates creative elements of elaborate gestures, facial expressions, body movement, costume, make-up, music, dance and dialogue. Performed in open-air theatres, this form of traditional dance drama reflects the socio-economic and cultural milieu they are a part of, reinterpreting the Hindu epics through the art of storytelling adapted through improvisation, which is why each performance uniquely shapes the characters. Enacting epic stories from Ramayana, Mahabharata and Bhagavatas, the drama interconnects the religious culture through people’s daily life, social interaction, festivals and ritualistic elements, related to phenomena such as birth, death, puberty, marriage, hunting, battle and propitiation of Gods. As well as enacting stories from the scriptures, Yakshagana also includes various themes related to issues such as health, the environment, literacy, family planning, women’s empowerment, social harmony and agricultural development. This research examines the act of Yakshagana from a contemporary sociocultural perspective and the role of costume and performance in communicating the Prasanga (‘written text’). It focuses on the agency of costume, emphasizing the position of the costume design(er) and costume-based performance in producing, interpreting or performing various individual and collective identities, bodies, ecological concerns, social activism and the artist’s social status.