ABSTRACT
Bharatanatyam was a dance form practised mostly by the devadasis and was known by names such as sadir, nauch , and so on, until the 1930s, when efforts were made to ‘revive’ and ‘purify’ the form by ‘enlightened’ persons like Rukmini Devi Arundale and institutions like the Music Academy of Madras. The performing arts cannot be studied in isolation, separated from their performative contexts. Yaksagana in Karnataka is a dance-drama performing art with a history of over 400 years. During the 1950s an important change came about in the organisational structure of yaksagana troupes. Commercialisation has no doubt been responsible for many of the ills that the people witness in yaksagana today. Yaksagana, as is evidenced by its great popularity, continues to be a potent form of cultural expression. The changes taking place now have made it a vehicle for the expression of meanings and voices for which it was never meant originally.
