More than a century-old Yakshagana troupe, Mandarthi Sri Durgaparameshwari Dashavatara Yakshagana Mela in Udupi district has resumed performing its rainy season’s daily “harake aata” or Yakshagana shows staged for the fulfilment of vows, in Mandarthi for the fourth year in a row.
The mela could not perform its rainy season’s shows, started in 2017 to reduce the number of bookings for the “harake aata”, in the Sri Durgaparameshwari temple hall at Mandarthi this year from June due to COVID-19 restrictions.
The temple broke the tradition of not performing in the monsoon in 2017 due to pressure from devotees who felt that they had to wait for years for the shows.
Temple managing committee president H. Dhananjaya Shetty told The Hindu that the mela, which has five troupes now, resumed the rainy season’s shows on September 25. About 30 artistes drawn from its two troupes now perform two shows daily from 7 p.m. to midnight. They are assisted by about 10 persons.
The temple is ensuring that not more than 25 persons from each host’s side turned up for the shows. As two different parties hosted two different shows daily, the audience will not exceed 50 persons. Thus, not more than 100 persons, including the artistes, gathered for the shows daily, he said and added that the shows are being staged as per COVID-19 guidelines with the permission of the district administration.
Mr. Shetty said that the rainy season’s shows will go on till the government gives permission to commence its annual “tirugata” (tour) from November to May.
In the rainy season, each one of the two troupes performed about 150 shows thus fulfilling the demand of about 300 devotees. It was wounding up its rainy season’s shows usually on November 1 or November 2. After some days of rest, all the five troupes were preparing for the annual tour usually from November 17 or November 18.
The five troupes with about 250 artistes staged 940 shows during their annual “tirugata”. There is no clarity whether the government will permit the annual seasonal tours of different Yakshagana melas from this November due to COVID-19, as they attracted huge crowd.
Mr. Shetty said that the “harake aatas” have been booked till 2042-43. The mela’s second troupe was formed in 1992 and the fifth troupe came into being in 2004. The troupes were increased to reduce the increasing number of bookings and thus, give a chance to the parties to host their shows as early as possible.