Yakshagana Kalaranga awards to 17 achievers

Yakshagana Kalaranga awards were conferred on 17 Yakshagana achievers, at a programme organised by Udupi Yakshagana Kalaranga, Udupi Sri Krishna Mutt, Paryaya Palimaru Mutt and Kannada and Culture Deparment, in Udupi on Sunday.

Speaking on the occasion, Pejawar seer Sri Vishweshatheertha Swami said that Yakshagana art form is thriving in recent years.

“I do not belive in the arguments by a few that Yakshagana art is losing its charm. It is growing continously,” he said.

Releasing Kalantaranga souvenir, Bannanje Govindacharya said, “Adamaru Mutt seer Naraharitheertha had promoted Yakshagana. In fact, Yakshagana is the basic for Kuchipudi. The creativity involved in Yakshagana is not found in any other art form. There is originality in the dance, tala-mela in Yakshagana.”

Sri Vishweshatheertha Award was conferred on Kateel Sri Durga Makkala Mela. Mela president Harinarayana Asranna received the award. Yakshachethana Award was conferred on Prof Narayana M Hege.

The artistes who receive the awards are Pattalagutthu Mahabala Shetty (Dr B B Shetty Award), Jayanth Naik (Prof B V Acharya Memorial Award), Subraya Patali (Nittur Sunder Shetty-Mahesh D Shetty Award), Rajaratnam Devadiga (B Jagjeevandas Shetty Award), Seetharam Hegde Ulavi (K Vishwajna Shetty B Memorial Award), Ubaradka Umesh Shetty (Kutpadi Anand Ganiga Memorial Award), H Sridhar Hande (Bagavatha Naranappa Uppuru Memorial Award), Naradi Bhojaraja Shetty (Dashavatari Marvi Ramakrishna Hebbar-Bagavata Vadiraj Hebbar Memorial Award), Putthige Raghuram Holla (Malpe Narayana Samaga Memorial Award), Kokkudthi Krishamurthy (Shiriyara Manjunath Naik Memorial Award), Bhaskar Joshi Shiralagi (Kota Vaikunta Memorial Award), Balehadda Krishna Bhagavatha (Irodi Rama Ganiga Memorial Award), Bantwal Jayaram Acharya (Padaru Narasimha Shastri Memorial Award), D Santhosh Kumar (Kadiyali Subbraya Acharya Award), Haluvalli Ganesh Bhat (Kolyuru Ramachandra Rao Memorial Award) and Sri Rama Devadiga Kocchadi (Prabhavati Shenoy-U Vishwanath Shenoy Memorial Award).