The audience at Town Hall here yesterday were literally mesmerised by the flawless presentation of Yakshagana by 12 Soliga children from Vivekananda Girijana Kendra, B.R. Hills, who were basically novice to the art, at a programme was orgnaised by the Dasara Cultural Sub-Committee.

The tribal children from the forest presented an episode from Shiva-Parvathi-Thandava with effortless ease under the guidance of Yakshagana Exponent Chikka Chowdanayaka from T. Narasipur who was said to have groomed the kids in Yakshagana in just two months.

The person who conceptualised the idea of tribal kids performing Yakshagana was G.N. Ananthavardhana, son of Science writer late G.T. Narayana Rao. Speaking to Star of Mysore he said that the basic Yakshagana was still prevalent in places like Talkad, Nanjangud and Nagamangala while it had taken a commercial shape in coastal region.

Chowdanayaka expressing satisfaction over the performance of the tribal kids said that his family from generations was involved in teaching Yakshagana.

The interesting point of the programme was a 70-year-old artiste Narayana Swamy from T. Narasipur playing on the Mukha Veena, an instrument going extinct in the music world.

Courtesy : Star Of Mysore