Genetic inheritance of Yakshagana, an exclusive art of Karnataka, using fingerprint analysis as a parameter

Prof.Dr.Geeta.Vishwanathan Pallavi.B, Ranjan.Hebbar,
St.Josephs.College Sanjay.S, Shruti.S,
36, Lalbagh road Sunil.K.
Bangalore-27

“Yakshagana” the translation of which goes "the music of celestials" is a form of a dance drama performed predominantly in south kanara, malnad region and certain parts of north kanara districts of Karnataka .It is a combination of dance, music, spoken word, costume-make up and stage technique. It is typical folk form of drama, commonly performed at night on a platform like stage in the open with themes based on Hindu epics like Ramayana, etc. Yakshagana, like many other forms, defies neat classification into categories like folk, classical and rural.

“Dermatoglyphics” comes from two Greek words as 'derma' means skin and 'glyphic' means curve, it is the dermal ridge configurations on the digits, palms and soles. They begin to develop during the thirteenth week of prenatal life as the foetal mounds on the digit, tips, interdigit, thenar and hypothenar areas of the palm and the corresponding areas of the foot. All studies of the dermal ridge arrangements including genetics, anthropology and Egyptology are classified under the term dermatoglyphics.

Dermatology helps in determining the patterns related to genetic information like hereditary, and on that basis the palm and fingerprints of yakshagana artists were analyzed. The patterns on the palm are proximal crease, distal crease and thenar crease and the patterns on fingerprints are of three basic types, the arches, loops and whorls or mixtures of them. The loops may be ulnar or radial. A tri-radius is a three-way fork, arches have no tri-radii, a loop has one and the whorl has two or more.

For the dermatoglyphic analysis, along with the questionnaire, 100 palmprints and fingerprints of Yakshagana artists were collected on A-4 sheets. Before taking prints, hands were cleaned using soap. On drying, kajal was used to take prints which is rolled over the fingers first and later on the palm. Each fingertip was analyzed for the presence of different loops, arches, whorls, tri-radius and ridge counts. After analyzing all the prints, certain similar patterns were observed in the palm and fingerprints of the Yakshagana artists.

The dermatoglyphic analysis showed some similar patterns,, that is, 89 % of them showed ulnar loops on little finger of left hand and 91% showed ulnar loop on little finger of right hand with ridge counts between 8 to 14.In both the hands,75% of them showed variation in tri-radii 'b' and 81% variation in tri-radii 'd'.Thus, 90.3 % of ulnar loops were observed in all the analysed fingers.

Yakshagana being 400-year-old tradition is interesting as well as intriguing. But in this modern civilization, due to lack of financers, supporters and entertainers, Yakshagana is losing its definite shape and configuration.As a result, the art of yakshagana can be close to extinction.Thus, with the help of dermatoglyphic analysis, we can conclude that certain patterns are specific in yakshagana artists and so these patterns can be used for genetic counselling in future to preserve this tradition and culture.