Thanjavur: Come summer, it is time for ‘Bhagavata Mela’ in Thanajvur district. The ‘Bhagavata Mela Natakams’ written by Melattur Venkatrama Sastry (1743-1809) are staged at places like Melattur, Saliyamangalam and Theperumanallur near Thanjavur every year during April, May and June.
This year also the festival started at Melattur and Saliyamanalam on April 28, Saturday at the two places and is going on for a week.
At Melattur the festival started with the staging of “Prahalada Charithamu”, one of the famous ‘Bhagavata Mela Natakam (plays)’.
Organised by the ‘Bhagavata Mela Natya Natak Trust’, the drama was performed by only male artistes (unique feature of Bhagavata mela Natakams is male artistes don the role of females also) at the Nalli Kuppuswamy Chetti auditorium from 10 pm till next day morning 4 am, much to the delight and astonishment of onlookers who are all from various villages and towns around Melattur.
Dr S.Aravind who donned the role of Hiranyakasibu exhibited the terror and arrogance of the demon king and T.Ramasamy, who donned the role of Narasimha exhibited the “akrosh” (anger) of the Lord Narasimah while killing HIranyakasibu. Master N. Hariharan, who acted as Prahalad brought the breezy interludes with his devotion to Lord Narasimha and melodious songs. S. Nagarajan acted as Leelavathi and the artiste, known for his feminine mannerisms performed exceptionally well.
Besides Nalli Kuppuswamy Chettiar, who is the chairman of the trust, Dr R. Mahalingam, artiste-director of the troupe Mandali Buddaprasad, Deputy Speaker of Andhra Legislative Assembly, and Ms. Anita Ratnam, dancer graced the inauguration.
International dance day was celebrated on Sunday night with dance programmes from five troupes. Sita Kalyanam and ‘Bhagavata Mela Natakam’ will be performed on Wednesday night.
At Saliyamangalam, 15 kms from Thanjavur also, the festival started with ‘Prahalada Charithamu’. ‘Bhagavata Mela Natakam’ is staged by amateur artistes. “This is the 373rd year of Bhagavata Mela drama festival at our village,” said the organisers.
C.S. M. Subramanyam, senior engineer of Southern railway acted as Hiranyakasibu. He said that he has been acting in ‘Bhagavata Mela Natakams’ for the past 50 years and donned the roles of Prahalada, Leeavathi etc in the past. Many engineering college students who got trained in the art also acted in the drama. Mr. N. Kamakoti, CEO of City Union Bank Ltd., graced the inauguration.
