Chindu Yakshaganam, an ancient performing art form on its last legs, is alive today mainly because of the likes of Gaddam Sammaiah, who has stuck to it against odds. Gaddam Sammaiah has become a household name in many states with his immensely popular performances, particularly that of ‘Chindu Yellamma’.
Sammaiah started his journey in this Chindu art form at the tender age of 12 years. Over his long and illustrious career in Chindu art form, he has performed in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh, among other states. Five decades of improvisation with his vast experience and knowledge of the finer aspects of the art form got him Padma Shri award recently. Today Sammaiah can easily perform more than 40 dramas, the details of which he knows like the back of his palm.
Born into family of artistes
I was born in 1958 into a nomadic Harijan family then living on the estate of Palkurki Somanath, a famous Vaishnavite writer. My father’s name is Rama Swamy and mother’s name is Chandikamba. As nomads, we used to migrate from one area to another. Later, we shifted permanently to Appireddypally village, Devaruppala Mandal in Jangaon district (erstwhile Warangal district).
My father is my guru
I started off in Yakshaganam in 1969 after 6th standard. My father was my mentor and teacher. Usually, children learn this art form from the elders in the family. We used to perform our shows in front of Gadis, Bodrai (village Goddess), road junctions and at village centres. We used to perform, be it day or night. It was usually performed between 10:00 am and 3:00 pm and between 8 pm and 6:00 am. The idea was that the artistes could perform well and the audience would not get bored.
My father and I used to play hero and villain roles respectively always. It was a beautiful experience and the audience loved to see us like that. If my father played Bhima, I played Keechaka; if he played the role Rama, then I played that of Ravana in Ramayana. In the Krishnarjuna yuddam, my father used to play Krishna’s and I used to play Arjuna’s role.
My wife a pillar
I married my maternal uncle’s daughter. Her name is Sri Ranjini. She has always been supportive. We as families used to go for performances to other villages for months. She has not been well for a few months now. In fact, I got to know that I got Padma Shri when I was in a hospital, taking care of her.
I still can’t believe I got Padma Shri
Someone told me that I have been bestowed the Padma Shri award. I could not hold my tears of happiness. After that, I saw my profiles being run on TV channels. Great people are appreciating me and my art form, which makes me the happiest person in the world. My entire village is in joy. Appireddipally, the name of my village, is reverberating everywhere. It is a great honour, everyone, including the state government, is appreciating us.
It is our culture
Chindu Yakshaganam is an old art form, popular in Telangana. It is also called ‘Chindu Bhagavatam’ as most of the stories narrated are adapted from those in the ‘Bhagavatam’. The art is a combination of dialogue, dance, music, costume, and make-up. The word ‘Chindu’ means ‘jump’ in Telugu language. There are some idioms on the word ‘Chindu’ in rural areas.
I performed for the first time in 1969. My first role was that of Lord Krishna, who used to take away the clothes of gopikas bathing in rivers. As I grew up, the characters I play have also been changing. In my 20s, I played Arjuna and Babruvahana, Sathya Harischandra and many other characters.
I learnt Pedda Balashiksha from my father. After we shifted to Appireddypally, I moved to school and I studied from a teacher till 6th class. I learned reading and writing dialogues based on Puranas and making notes.
For every stage performance, 12 to 15 artistes perform in the art form. Sometimes, we perform dual roles, due to many characters and fewer number of artistes. If the troupe has a firm character suitable for a role, then it would be assigned to him.
Dwindling troupes
When I started off in Yakshaganam, audience used to come to the stage an hour or so before the start of the performance. At that time, there were more than 15,000 Yakshagana troupes. But now their numbers have dwindled to around 200 troupes in the state. During my father’s time, people used to come from three or four nearby villages also. With the advent of cinema and TV entertainment, our art form has been adversely affected. As audiences are not showing much interest in watching our performances, the younger generation in our communities are shifting to other livelihood options.
Dramatis personae to life
I have performed thousands of shows. I love every character which I have played in Yakshaganam, but people’s favourite characters are Ravana in Bhookailas and Keechaka in Mahabharat, Sathya Harischandra, Sri Krishna, Arjuna, Kamsa and Yama. Keechaka’s character has changed my life as an artiste as many of them are recognising me. Arjuna’s character also brought fame to me.
For the betterment of society
In 1990, we registered as a B group in Akashvani Hyderabad Centre. The Chindu Yakshagana Kalakarula Sangham was registered in 1991. After that, we have played awareness dramas about Janma Bhoomi during Chandra Babu Naidu’s rule as chief minister and to promote Indiramma houses during YS Rajashekar Reddy’s tenure as CM. Also, we played on family planning, environment, prohibition, health related, education and many other social issues. Dramas like that have also got us a lot more attention from the people and it brought us good recognition everywhere.
Night time Kings and daytime beggars
On a day-to-day basis we perform a lot of Yakshaganam shows. But we could not get enough money to meet our basic needs, even though the audiences were satisfied with our plays. In those plays, we performed as Kings at night, but in stark contrast we used to live as beggars in daytime. We always extend a helping hand to Scheduled Caste (SC) people. As nomadic people, we do not have our own house or land in our names. We are leading miserable lives.
Self-made performances
Whatever the Purana, we prepare ourselves. We carve the Poniki tree trunk to make jewelleries for Yakshaganam. We put make-up ourselves and use wooden jewels at the time of Yakshaganam. We perform for six months in a year and for the rest of the time we stay in Harijan houses. While we were not performing any art, we study Puranas and other books related to Yakshaganam.
Yakshaganam is on its last legs
My ancestors learnt Yakshaganam and lived their entire life through the art form. I learned it from my father, my father had learnt its from his father and so on. Now, the younger generations in our communities are not learning Yakshaganam. Because the popularity of our art has been dwindling drastically with the advent of TV, cinema, phone and other entertainment mediums. This art form is something which gives us our daily bread. Now, the larger question for our artistes and their families is: How can we sustain in this society with this minimal income and no wealth left for our future generations?
Government should support Yakshaganam artistes
Yakshaganam is in a fragile state now. The government should support these artistes. My request to the government is to build an Academy for Chindu Yakshaganam and a community hall for Chindus. They should offer at least 10 programmes for a month and they should provide Rs 10,000 for each programme.
Classical artistes are getting fame and money
When we have chance to give performances, we should be in a position to go to other places. If they give Rs 1,000 each, after all our expenses, finally we are left with only Rs 500 in our hands. With that money, we should save some till we have some other performance. Meanwhile, we should also help our family and kids. But classical artistes are getting more fame and money, unlike those of Yakshaganam. Every art form has a unique style and we perform it in our own way. We also perform on par with the other art forms. So, we request the government to show the same respect that is accorded to others in classical art forms.
Performed in Ayodhya
Recently we performed portions of the Ramayana in Ayodhya before I got Padma Shri. The Central government had invited us and we performed with thousands of artistes across the country. I felt honoured to play at the Ram temple in Ayodhya. We performed Sita Aranya vasam, Lava Kusa, and Sita Rama kalyanam for four days.
Awards and recognition
In 1995, I got Pratibha Puraskaram from Telugu University. Then I received awards from then chief ministers of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh Chandrababu Naidu, Y S Rajashekar Reddy, Kiran Kumar Reddy, and Telangana’s ex-CM K Chandrashekar Rao. I was also part of Sammakka Sarakka, Needhi Naadhi Oke Katha, Varsham and few other movies as well.
Rapid Fire:
Favourite place: My home in my village
Favourite pilgrim centre: Palakurthi, Vemulavada
Favourite colour: Mixed red and yellow (make-up colour)
Favourite food: Fish in non-veg; dal in veg
Moving force: Saraswathi (Goddess of education)
