Curtains down for Edaneeru Yakshagana Mela

Edaneeru Gopalakrishna Yakshagana Kala Mandali will no longer hold its annual ‘Thirugata’ (seasonal tour) performance from the coming Yakshagana season. The last Yakshagana performance of the mela will be held at Edaneeru Kshethra in June.

Edaneeru Mutt Seer Keshavananda Bharathi Swami said, “The difficulty faced in managing the finances, maintenance of artistes and other issues has forced us to stop the performance after 15 years of forming the troupe.”

The seer said, “Mutt did not want to commercialise its Yakshagana. We want to continue our spiritual and religious programmes.”

The Edaneeru Mela had been performing Yakshagana based on mythological themes and the seer had strictly directed the artistes not to bring political issues and poor humour while delivering the dialogues in Yakshagana.

Infact, the Yakshagana performance by the Edaneeru Mela had a huge followers. The conditions laid down for the artistes did not go down well with a few artistes, said Yakshagana lover Suresh Ganjimutt.

Well-known Bhagavatha— Padyana Ganapathi Bhat, Dinesh Ammannaya and Narayana Shabaraya had worked for the mela for the last 15 years.

Veteran artistes like Aruva Koragappa Shetty, Shivaram Jogi, Delanthamajalu Subrahmanya Bhat, Padyana Shankar Bhat and others were part of the mela.

Presently, mela has 35 artistes, including 25 Himmela and Mummela artistes. The fee for Yakshagana performance at the mutt is fixed at Rs 30,000 while for other performances is fixed at Rs 45,000, said Mela General Secretary Jayaram Edaneeru.

He said “Edaneeru Mutt will not lose its connection with Yakshagana. The mela will only stop its Thirugata.”