If you're below 30, there's a very dim possibility that you've ever been in a Harikatha. Make that 40. Or perhaps 50. It's currently exotic, spelt d-y-i-n-g. Let's not let it.
Shilparamam, as part of the on-going All India Crafts Mela from 16th to 31st December, is organising a Harikatha recital by Harikatha Bhagavatarini Yeleswarapu Vijayavalli Priya today, the 8th day.
The Harikatha by Valli will have renditions based on Seetarama Kalyanam, written by Harikatha Pithamaha Ajjada Adibhatla Narayana Das and composed by Yeleswarapu Subrahmanya Sastry. The story is about King Dasaratha, who had three wives, Kaushalya, Sumitra and Kaikeyi. They had four sons between them - Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata and Shatrughna. They learn warfare education from the great sage Vishwamitra.
The story moves further with Saint Vishwamitra taking Rama and Lakshmana along with him to the forest to guard his Yagna against the demons. Then follows the battle with the asuras, Thataka Vadham, the release of Ahalya, the entry into Mithila, the first meeting of Sita and Rama, and Rama breaking the Shiva Dhanusu (bow), thereby winning Sita's hand in the Swayamvaram.
Valli will be accompanied by P V L Bharadwaj on the violin, V Vasudeva Murthy on the mridangam and Iruganti Madhavi Latha on the sruthi.
Vijaya Valli is a Harikatha Bhagavatarini, Kuchipudi dance guru and Carnatic musician, with a Diploma in Folk Arts and Masters in Kuchipudi Dance from the Potti Sriramulu Telugu University, Hyderabad. She took to the teaching of this existing style with a special briskness and feistiness that she imbibed from her father and dedicated Guru Rudravaram Sudhakar Rao, and tries to inculcate the spirit of spontaneity and inquisitiveness in the young minds of her disciples with all dedication at her budding institution Shankari Natyasthal.
She has rendered the Harikatha at several places since the age of 5, like the Vemulavada Thyagaraja Aradhana Utsavam, the Bhadrachalam Vaggeyakara Utsavam and the Yadagirigutta Vaggeyakara Utsavam to mention a few. She has also represented the Government of Andhra Pradesh at the TANA Silver Jubilee Celebrations at Sunnyvale Temple, and the Sri Venkateshwara Swamy Temple at San Jose, Los Angeles, USA, in 2004.
Please contact the venue at 2310-0455 for further details.
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