A modern tryst with oral history of Telugu States ensued this week here as 105 storytellers from different walks of life lined up to narrate short stories with a contemporary touch to schoolchildren.
In a seven-day Telugu Storytelling Festival that started on July 20, so far, 90 stories of different traditions including Burra Katha and Hari Katha have been narrated with a modern twist. The fest is being organised by Baala Sahithya Parishad.
On the final day, author and president of the Parishad Chokkapu Venkata Ramana is expected to narrate 100 stories of 30 seconds to two-minute duration in 100 minutes.
The event, which is a first-of-its-kind organised at the State level, is being attended by 700 children. “Once there lived a king whose court had a big bell that people chimed to get a hearing for their grievances. One day, the bell broke and the king decided to build a bigger, better one. But his Guru advised, ‘Your kingdom does not need a big grievance bell but a just rule to ensure that people are not aggrieved’,” narrated Dasari Venkata Ramana, Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award winner and secretary of Baala Sahithya Parishad during the event as children clapped, imbibing the content which is relevant till date.
Not only writers of children’s fiction, but civil servants, industrialists, homemakers and teachers have been attending the festival, which entered its third day on Sunday. Speaking to The Hindu , Chokkapu Venkata Ramana said, “Stories are a medium to teach lessons to children. The festival is a reminder of the long tradition of storytelling that Telugu-speaking States have.”
In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, performative storytelling in the form of Burra Katha (satire) and Hari Katha (moral stories) have existed since the 16th century.
Traditional storytelling performed by one or two narrators to the accompaniment of song or musical instruments — Oggu Katha and Dakki Katha — had thrived alongside Karnataka’s Yakshagana tradition.
“There are very few performers who can do Oggu and Dakki even now. The coming generations would know little about these traditional story performances unless they are revived,” said Dasari Venkata Ramana. In this year’s festival, a troupe led by students of government schools in Hyderabad performed Burra Katha. Thanks to the overwhelming response, the festival will be made an annual feature henceforth. “We are also planning to take the festival out of Hyderabad into the Telugu speaking districts in the coming year,” Mr. Dasari said.
This year, storytellers from both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh attended the event.
In Sunday’s session, the story that received the loudest applause was narrated by Dasari Venkata Ramana: “A Rakshasa found 20 men who were on their way to Kashi walking through a forest. He asked any one of them to offer himself to be eaten so that the lives of others could be saved.
One man stepped up to the occasion. The Rakshasa killed the 19 others and spared the righteous man.”
The festival will conclude on July 26.
