centuries. The modern form of the art, however, was largely moulded by the brothers Laxman, Narasimha, and Manjappa Kamath; who hailed from Uppinakudru village, Kundapur taluk. Devanna Padmanabha Kamath, the grandson of Laxman Kamath infused new life into the art and performed shows all over India. Later, Kogga Devanna Kamath improved this subgenre even further, being recognised with the Tulsi Samman and Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards. His son, Bhaskar Kogga Kamath, is currently performing shows while training others in the art of Yakshagana puppetry. K. V. Ramesh is a leading puppeteer from Kasaragod. He leads the Yakshagana puppet troupe Shri Gopalakrishna Yakshagana Gombeyata Sangha. Ballet variant The second half of the 20th century saw experiments and adoptions of this art into other venues. One notable effort was that of Shivarama Karantha, who produced and exhibited Yakshagana ballet, using and training local artists. Some of the changes brought about by Karanth, however, attracted criticism. One legal decision even banned any public performance of his experimental ballets being billed as "Yakshagana." Important components The artists pray to lord Ganesha before their performance. Yakshagana also ends with a prayer to Ganesha Raga Yakshagana Rāga refers to melodic framework used in Yakshagana. It is based on pre-classical melodic forms that comprise a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is founded. Ragas in Yakshagana are closely associated with a set of melodic forms called mattu. In the Yakshagana tradition, rāgas are associated with different times of the night throughout which the Yakshagana is performed. Tala Yakshagana Tala (Sanskrit tāla) are frameworks for rhythms in Yakshagana that are determined by a poetry style called Yakshagana Padya. Tala also decide how a composition is to be enacted by the dancers. It is similar to tala in other forms of Indian music, but differs from them structurally. Each composition is set to one or more talas, rendered by the himmela percussion artists play. Prasanga and literature Yakshagana poetry (Yakshagana Padya or Yakshagana Prasanga) is a collection of poems written to form a music drama. The poems are composed in well known Kannada metres, using a frame work of ragas and talas. Yakshagana also has its own metre (or prosody). The collection of Yakshagana poems forming a musical drama is called a Prasanga. The oldest surviving parasanga books are believed to have been composed in the 15th century. But many compositions have been lost