A week of mythological dialogues in Bangalore

Earlier this month Yakshagana fans in Bangalore were treated to a week-long Taalamaddale programme, Yakshagana sans costume and dance. Many wellknown young and old artistes gathered at Basavanagudi to recreate a world of mythology just by their spoken word.

Taalammaddale has been rare in Bangalore although the number of Yakshagana shows has been on the increase of late. A week-long programme seems to be the first of its kind. The organisers, Durgamba Kalasangama, deserve appreciation.

Reports have it that 2000-odd audience included locals in addition to the coastal diaspora. Taalamaddale should be popularised in Bangalore because it, in addition to its artistic and literary merits, gives a rare opportunity to listen to 'unadulterated' Kannada. Perhaps it is the only platform where the language is spoken naturally in its purest possible version, at a time when an average Kannadiga cannot speak a sentence without a borrowed word, mostly from English.

Journalist Sudhanwa Deraje, who incidentally was one of the artistes who took part in the programme, has written an excellent curtain raiser and a review in his popular blog Champakavathi..

Photo: From champakavathi

Sunnambala's Vidura

Yakshagana enthusiast Raj Kumar has uploaded on Youtube an excellent 10-minute video clip of a Talamaddale programme in which noted artiste Sunnambala Vishweshwara Bhat plays the role of Vidura in Krishna Sandhana. Interpreting the song:

Nodidanu kan daniye chinmayana murthiyam
maadidanu bahala samstutigalam
maatadisidam, bekaada varagalam bedidam
Manasinolaananda saagaradol olaadidam
Tanage lakshmeeramana dayavaadanenutaalaa....

Sunnambala's extempore exposition of self-effacing, pious and valorous Vidura's character is brilliant. He brings out the essence of Vidura's life philosophy as he praises Krishna in simple but powerful words, remaining well within the framework of the song

PaGo: The man who took Yakshagana to Dasara

Has there been a Yakshagana show as part of the ongoing Mysore Dasara festivities? Going by the cultural programmes listed in the official website of Dasara, two shows were staged. One for one hour and another for a shorter duration. I could not find more details.

Although essentially a token representation, I think, Yakshagana has been part of Dasara festivities beginning 1955. That year for the first time after Independence select artistes of Dharmasthala troupe staged a two-hour show, followed the next day by a Talamaddale programme of which the inaugural was presided over by famous Kannada poet Gopalakrishna Adiga.

The man who took the coastal Yakshagana to Mysore Dasara was the Late Padyana Gopalakrishna (PaGo), a mercuric multi-faceted personality from Mangalore who later became the Times of India's Mangalore Correspondent. PaGo convinced the then Dharmadhikari, troupe manager Kuriya Vittala Shastry and a few well-known artistes for this off-season performance. The programme impressed the elite audience paving the way for a series of Yakshagana shows in Bangalore and New Delhi.

Peruvodi Narayana Hasyagara who was part of PaGo's team has recollected his experience in an article in a book on PaGo's life and achievements. Read it here.

However, according to historical records, Yakshagana was performed in the Mysore palace for the first time as early as 200 years before this event...