In Indian mythology it is said that when Bharata Muni was launching his first theatrical show ever, after learning the Natya Shastra from Sage Tandu, the asuric negative forces disturbed the show and tried to prevent it from being a success.
At this point of time Bharta Muni prayed to Lord Brahma who assigned the job of guarding the Rangasthala (stage) from all the eight directions to the eight devatas. These devatas came to be called as Ashtadikpalakas. They are Indra (East),Yama (South),Varuna (West), Kubera (North ), Agni (South East), Nirrti (South West), Vayu (North West) and Ishana (North East).
These dieties are traditionally represented on the walls and ceilings of temples where theatre art (dance, music and drama) has flourished for thousands of years. In our everyday experience we see them being worshiped during Gruhapravesha of a newly built home.
These forms are rarely seen along with their respective weapons and vahanas (vehicles). Dhaatu has taken the initiative to get this done in the traditional Kinhal form of wooden sculpting through a traditional sculptor of that region, Ekappa Chitragaara. It is hoped that this will be a small step that will help revive many lost forms of traditional mythology.
Ekappa Chitragaara is a master craftsman from Kinhal who has been working with this form of doll making for thirty five years. He says it is the first time in the past two generations that they have done the Ashtadikpalakas.
Remembering the times of his father,when they used to make Yakshagana masks, Ekappa feels delighted that he is able to bring this unique set out. Ekappa and his three sons have worked on this project over the past few months.
It is indeed a treat to any connoisseur of traditional art to see this.
Speaking on why he didn’t do this much earlier Ekappa says that while they are skillful masters in art of creating the objects, they do not posses the knowledge of the details of many traditional forms. The basic picture for this set of Dikpallakas came from the painting on the ceiling of the Virupaksha Temple at Hampi.
But parts were faded and the details about Vahanas and Ayudhas were not clear for some.
After discussions with Ekappa at Kinhal, Anupama Hoskere, director Dhaatu spent a couple of months procuring the workable details.
The drawings given by artist Susheela of Basavangudi proved extremely helpful.
Ekappa has this message to the people that there are many like him in our state. It is left to the people to make use of them.
Those who would like to view these are welcome to visit the annual Dussera  festival held at Dhaatu (65683396), where the Ashtadikpalakas will be displayed .