‘Kireeta Prashasti’ for Udupi Yakshagana Kendra

Udupi Yakshagana Kendra, well known for its quality education, was felicitated with ‘Kireeta Prashasti’ by a Bengaluru based cultural organisation – Karaavaligaru.

The Kendra principal Guru Bannanje Sanjeeva Suvarna received the award on behalf of Yakshagana Kendra recently. The artistes of Yakshagana Kendra presented two Yakshagana performances ‘Vaali Moksha’ and Panchavati.’

The Yakshagana Kendra, managed by Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), has been giving free Yakshagana training in Gurukula system since 1971, with the support of the Central government, state government, swamijis of Udupi and other donors.

Annual festival

The 48th Annual Day of Yakshagana Kendra, Udupi, was celebrated recently with the staging of unique productions.

The enthusiastic students of the Kendra, women and senior artistes presented traditional prasangas like ‘Vali Vadhe’, ‘Sharasetu Bandhana’, ‘Vrishasena’, ‘Gadaa Yuddha’, ‘Abhimanyu’, ‘Veeramani Kalaga’, ‘Jambavati Kalyana’ and ‘Karnarjuna Kalaga’ among others.

Guru Bannanje Sanjeeva Suvarna had directed all these traditional performances with an experimental approach.

Among the eight performances, four were by presented by women artistes of the Kendra.

Inaugurating the festival, MAHE pro chancellor Dr H S Ballal complimented the efforts of the teachers and promised all support from MAHE, like upgrading it to MAHE education curriculum.