Alupa glory at Mysore Dasara

One can come across innumerable kingdoms and monarchies in the country that lasted for many years and ruined leaving the footprints of the bequest. Alupa dynasty is one among them. Alupa rulers descend from the Pandya rulers.

“Alupa Rajya Vaibhava mathu Mekkikattu Oorugalu,” presented by Udupi Zilla Panchayath in the form of tableau bagged applauds and first prize in the world famous Dasara festival of Mysore. It narrated the saga of Alupa kings.

The tableau was designed by Nirmiti Kendra of the district. The entire set up was built at the cost of Rs 6 lakhs. About 15 days of committed hard work gave shape to stupendous masterpiece. The tableau gives a brief description of Alupa Kingdom that stands as testimony for the cultural ethnicity of the era. The construction of the tableau was the result of hard work, meditation, determination coupled with intellectual idea. It is the project conceptualized by a horde of historians, artists, and government officials.

Speaking to City Herald, ZP CEO N Rajashekhar informed that the plan of the ZP was to just make an eco-friendly tableau based on some historical saga. The expert panel that was set up for the purpose discussed the issue and as a result the ideas were concretised. The idea was to be conceptualiszed in the way so that the tableau would reveal the saga of entire civilisation. The civilisation is said to be as old as Indus valley civilisation. The beautiful tableau explores indepth ingenious narration in its simulation of the ancient civilisation. The puppets carved out of wood depict the picturesque saga of the royal entities. Rajashekhar informed the tableau will be displayed in Koti Chennayya
Theme Park in Karkala. This tableau is constructed for life time and will not be dismantled.

Normally, the tableau paraded in Jambu Savari procession of Mysore Dasara will be dismantled immediately after the competition. This tableau will be displayed during Rajyothsava celebrations and later will be shifted to Koti Chennayya Theme park. “We are planning to enrich the park with more and more artifacts associated with historical glory,” he said. The available literatures and manuscripts on Alupa rulers and Mekkikattu Oorugalu were visualised and were moulded into artifacts.

Nirmiti Kendra Project Director Arun Kumar informed City Herald that the tableau exhibits a “Guttina Mane,” a manor house. A king sits on the throne right in front of this mansion and a mahout on the elephant before the king. The podium of the tableau is designed with colorful pictures displaying the culture of Tulunadu. The traditions of ‘Naga Mandala’ and ‘Bhootharadane’ were painted at the bottom stratum of tableau, he said.

Artist Purushotham Adve informed that the entire tableau has as many as 12 wooden sculptures built with 230 cubic feet of wood. The puppets comprises of Mekkikattu images like ‘Ballala on Nandi,’ ‘Ballala on horse,’ ‘Nandikeshwara,’ ‘Umalthi,’ ‘Gommatta Mallas,’ ‘Samsara Brahma,’ ‘Veerabhadhra’ are among others.

Historians T Murugesh and B Jagadeesh Shetty, Artists Purushotham Adve and Raghavendra Ameen, Regional Resource Center for Folk Performing Arts, Chief Researcher S A Krishnayya were all part of the devoted fabulous endeavor that made Udupi district pride of the world legendary Dasara festival.