Veera Vrushasena - A Kannada Yakshagana: Events in Hyderabad

If you did not know, Karna had a kid (and even if you did, he did). Who almost killed Arjuna. Catch it live tonite.

The Karnataka Karavali Maithra Sangam is organizing a Yakshagana, on 26th October, at Sundarayya Vignana Kendram. The story of Veera Vrishsena is a part of the great epic war of Mahabharata. On the seventeenth day, Karna, the Commander-In-Chief of the Kaurava army, is engaged somewhere in various battles. Seeing his father caught up, Vrishasena, Karna's 14-year-old son, decides to help his father. Though his mother Somaprabha tries to stop him, she is won over by his skilful talk.

On the Pandavas' side, Lord Krishna decides to teach Bhima a lesson as he has become arrogant due to his powers. He persuades Bhima to take Vrishasena captive. Unaware of the child's potential, Bhima advances towards him only to be humbled by him.

In the final phase of the story, Krishna asks Arjuna, the best archer of the age, to engage Vrishasena in battle with him. The result is the unexpected and Arjuna is almost defeated, but at the end manages to win and the war continues.

Yakshagana is a classical folk art form of Karnataka, mostly popular in the districts of Uttara Kannada, Shimoga, Udupi, Dakshina Kannada and Kasargod. This would be considered to be a form of opera by Western eyes.

Traditionally, Yakshaganas go on for whole of the night. The actors wear resplendent costumes, head-dresses and painted faces, which they paint themselves with natural colors and dyes, and enact the various roles that usually depicts a story from the Hindu epics and puranas. A vocalist narrates the story in a song-like fashion, and is backed by musicians playing traditional musical instruments, as the actors dance to the tune, with actions that portray the story as it is being narrated.

"Vishwa Vikhyatha Makkala Mela", which means International Repute Of Children, was started in 1975 by National Award winning teachers Karkada Srinivas Udupa and H Shrishara Hande. The organization selects talented school boys and trains them in their houses or in some convenient location in Yakshagana, free of cost. The troupes trained by them have given many performances in India and abroad. This troupe, Makkala Mela, has toured all over USA, England and Bahrain.

Please contact Radhakrishna of the Karnataka Karavali Maithra Sangha at 92478-23276 for further details.