Yakshagana Bayalata (Open-air Field Drama) “Mahishasura Mardhini” – A true physical sensation!!
First ever Yakshagana Bayalata in USA enthralls audience
Yakshagana Performance in its original form is truly a mesmerising experience. Through the night air there come the tense high-pitched drumming beats of the chande, mellower rhythm of the maddale and the tinkling brass peal of the tala accompanying the melodious singing of the story-teller the “Bagawatha”. Yakshagana is a rare and unique traditional theatre of Coastal region of Karnataka state in India and has a recorded history of more than five centuries. It is a rich artistic blend of loud music, forceful dance, extempore speech and gorgeous costumes, this art combines the features of opera as well as drama, the characteristics of moral education and mass entertainment.
Vasu Aithala and a team of Yakshagana enthusiast from Houston brought this unique mind blowing experience to Houstonians on Saturday, July 28th. Under the auspices of Shri Krishna Vrundavana and Houston Kannada Vrinda, for the first time in USA, Yakshagana Bayalata (Open-air Field Drama) was presented in the parking ground in front of Krishna Vrundavana, Sugar Land, Texas by professional artists from “Sri Yakshadeva Mithra Kalamandali, Belvai, India touring US.
The Episode (Referred to as “Prasanga”) presented was “Mahisha Mardhini” from “Sri Devi Mahatme of Sri Durga Saptashati of Markandeya Purana. The everlasting conflict between good and evil, the fight between Gods and demons, depicting the supremacy of Mother Goddess Durga.
Beautifully set up open air stage imitating the traditional look referred to as “Rangasthala”, casual seating of the young audience on the floor fully captivated with the show, Vibrant entry of Demon Mahishasura (buffalo headed demon) playing with fire from the crackle and flash of resin powder thrown into fiery torches, grand entry of Goddess Durga with 8 arms, excitement of a tiger walking on to the stage from the audience as vehicle for Goddess Durga, fierce battle between Mahishasura and Goddess Durga ending with killing of Mahisha, celebrated with magnificent fireworks made this entire performance into a spectacular show. The excitement became the true physical sensation.
More than 500 people both Kannada speaking and non-Kannada speaking including a significant number of children enjoyed the performance. Keeping up with the tradition hot snacks were distributed to the audience during the show. Depicting the street stalls, ladies prepared churmuri -chilli puffed rice.
Well known Bagavatha Patla Sathish Shetty was accompanied on Maddale by Padmanabha Upadhya and on Chende by the team leader Devananda Bhat. Prof. M.L.Samaga as Lord Vishnu, Chandrashekara Dharmasthala as Shurpashaka and Devendra, Prashant Nelyadi as Malini and Devi, Mohana Bellippady as Mahishusara and Mahesh Maniyani as Dootha were aptly supported by local artists Meena Aithala as AadiMaye, Sharath Akirekadu as Lord Brahma and Suhas Aithal as Lord Maheshwara.
In their own words:
Satish Rao of Udipi Café said “What a fantastic weekend! felt like I was back home in Hiriyadaka, Coastal town of Karnataka watching Yakshagana bayalata. One of a kind event to remember for a long time to come, it was an awesome show!!
Dinesh Pejavar said “Having it out door was a brilliant idea and brought back fond memories of the bayalata performance in Pejaver some 60+ years ago!
Tara Narasimhan said “It was like watching in the paddy fields of India as the weather too was just about the same...The fireworks in between – was added bonus to the Superb group of dancer’s musician and dramatists combined- a tiger walked on to the stage from the audience as vehicle for Mahishasuramardhini- spectacular...and Mahisha’s atrocious behavior was simply outstanding”
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Govt loses Rs 1,757 cr as BSNL fails to bill RJio for sharing infra: CAG
New Delhi: The government suffered a loss of Rs 1,757.56 crore as state-owned telecom firm BSNL failed to bill Reliance Jio for 10 years since May 2014 as per their agreement on passive infrastructure sharing, Comptroller and Auditor General of India said on Tuesday.
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) in a statement said that BSNL incurred a loss of Rs 38.36 crore as it failed to deduct the share of licence fee from the revenue share paid to the Telecom Infrastructure Providers (TIPs).
"BSNL failed to enforce the Master Service Agreement (MSA) with M/s. Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (RJIL) and did not bill for the additional technology used on BSNL's shared passive infrastructure, resulting in loss of Rs 1,757.76 crore and penal interest thereon, between May 2014 to March 2024 to the government exchequer," CAG said.
CAG also noted that there was a short billing of passive infrastructure sharing charge by BSNL.
"Non-adherence to the terms and conditions laid down in the MSA with RJIL by BSNL and non-application of the escalation clause resulted in a loss of revenue of Rs 29 crore (including GST) towards infrastructure sharing charges," the statement said.
