The Veeragase ‘Veera’ of Mysuru

Wearing headgear, metal ornaments all over the bright costume and a sword in the right hand, a 53-year-old man does an energy-sapping dance along with his team praising the Hindu god Veerabhadra during a village fair. And there is awe at his powerhouse performance. Meet Kiral Mahesh, a senior folk artiste from Mysuru, who has dedicated his entire life to perform, strengthen and preserve ‘Veeragase’-- a highly intense folk dance form of Karnataka.

Be it a village fair or a car festival, a marriage or a naming ceremony, a procession or a large-scale event like ‘Dasara’, Kiral Mahesh and his team will be there to mark the beginning of the event. By performing Veeragase at thousands of events and mentoring hundreds in the last three decades, Kiral Mahesh has emerged as one of the senior folk artistes who have been contributing immensely for preserving and promoting this folk dance form.

Two decades back, he set up Abhinava Veerabhadreshwara Nruthya Kala Tanda which has produced numerous young Veeragase artistes. Born to Nagappa and Chennamma at a village called Kiral in Varuna hobli, Mysuru, Mahesh and his brother Swamy learnt Veeragase. “Veeragase or Veerabhadra Kunitha has come to us down generations. I can recall three to four generations in my family who performed this dance. My father taught me this dance form. I used to join him whenever he went for a performance and began to grasp the best.

As days passed, I learnt and improved observing other artistes who accompanied my father,” says Kiral Mahesh. Over the past three and half decades, Mahesh has performed not only in Karnataka but also across the country and even abroad. “Veeragase is very popular in the old Mysuru region including Tumakuru and Chamarajanagar. The colourful attire, makeup, fast-paced dance sequences have ensured the popularity of this dance form.

Shravana, Dasara and Karthika are the peak seasons. We get around 10 invitations to perform during the peak season which fetches a good amount of money for the artistes. When we first started giving performances, we were getting paid Rs 5 for a show but now we are paid in thousands depending on the event,” says Mahesh. Though he admits that there have been minor changes in the outfit of a Veeragase artiste, he says there has been no change in the dancing style.

Mahesh’s children Bhaskar, a B.com graduate, and daughter Deepika have also learnt this folk art. Karthik, a student of Mahesh, says, “I have learnt many things from him and he is a great inspiration to many budding artistes.” “Veeragase is a very dynamic and powerful dance form. One needs to be very dedicated, devoted and disciplined while practising and performing the art. Also if one needs to make a career out of it, they must invest at least Rs 1 lakh to purchase the costume, sword, headgear and other essentials required to perform,” says Mahesh.“Many senior artistes have contributed enormously to the folk arts The government needs to recognise and honour them. This will encourage even the coming generations to continue the legacy. I appeal to the government to provide pension to the folk artistes,” he says. Considering his achieve - ments, many organisations have conferred various awards and titles on him.

STORY OF VEERAGASE

Dakshabrahma decides to conduct yajna in his palace without inviting his daughter Daakshayini and son-inlaw Lord Shiva. But Daakshayini goes uninvited against Lord’ Shiva’s wishes and is insulted by her father. Hurt and humiliated, she jumps into the holy fire. Lord Shiva who comes to know of it performs  Rudra Tandava and from his perspiration emerges Veerabhadra. On the instruction of Lord Shiva, Veerabhadra destroys the Yagashala. The dance performed by a furious Veerabhadra is called Veeragase.