News and Pics from Hemanath Padubidri
Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (RD/CN)
Udupi, Nov 24: Yakshagana Kala Ranga conferred various awards including the Sri Vishweshateerta award and Dr B B Shetty memorial award, besides staging a Yakshagana play at Poornaprajna College auditorium, on Sunday November 23.
Sri Vishweshateerta Swamiji of Pejavar Math said that if at all cultural arts are still prevailing in the country, is because of Yakshagana. There lies a correlation between contemporary religion and cultural arts, he said. The intellectuals who criticize religion should understand and make effort to preserve the cultural arts, he added.
Kumble Sundar Rao, president, Karnataka Yakshagana Academy, was the chief guest of the occasion said that Kannada faces threat owing to the mixing of English words in Kannada conversation. However, Yakshagana contributes to preserving Kannada as the artistes speak only pure Kannada and never utter a single word of English throughout their performance on stage. Yakshagana is an enriched art that should be promoted by all Kannadigas, he urged.
Sri Vishweshateerta award was presented to ‘Yaksha Degula’ troupe from Bangalore. The Dr B B Shetty award was presented to Yakshagana artiste K Govind Bhat. Prof B V Acharya award was presented to Arate Manjunath. Bhagawat Nanappa Uppoor award was presented to Irody Rama Ganiga. Nittoor Sundar Shetty Mahesh Shetty award was presented to Gopalakrishna Kurup and Dashavatari Marvi Ramakrishna Hebbar Bhagavata Vadiraja Hebbar award was presented to Airody Govindappa. Kota Vaikuntha award was presented to Kokkada Eshwar Bhat while Airody Rama Ganiga award was presented to Harady Annappa Ganiga. Padaru Narasimha Shastry award was presented to Satya Hegde Adinabala and the H R Kedlaya award was presented to Udyavar Sanjeev Chowta.
The programme was presided over by MLA Raghupathy Bhat. Sudhir Ghate, chairman, Magnum Intergrafiks, Purushottam Shetty, proprietor, Manipal Ujwal Developers, and Vijaykumar Shetty, convener, Mumbai Kala Jagattu, were present on the dais.
Tallur Shivaram Shetty, president, Yakshagana Kala Ranga, welcomed the gathering. Secretary Murali Kadekar compered the programme. Earlier, ‘Kurukshetrakke Ondu Ayoga’, an experimental Yakshaganga play was staged by Samskara Bharati troupe, Mangalore, directed by Kadri Navaneet Shetty.