The six touring troupes of Kateel Sri Durgaparameshwari Prasaditha Yakshagana Mandali popularly called as Kateel Mela attached to Sri Durgaparameshwari Temple in Kateel wounded up their season’s tour by staging a performance in Kateel on Sunday.
The mela has a history of more than a century. According to the official website of Kateel Sri Durgaparameshwari temple, the mela was founded during the middle of the 19th century.
All six troupes, put together, stage more than 1,000 performances during their tour of nearly six months. Each troupe performs a minimum of 175 shows in a season from December to May.
The troupes perform on request by devotees who have taken a vow to arrange a show of Yakshagana for fulfilment of their harake (wish) as a service.
Devi Mahatme is the most popular prasanga (episode) preferred by many. The troupes perform at least 600 shows of Devi Mahatme in a season.
The mela performs prasangas based on themes of only the Puranas without discarding the Poorva Ranga performances. All the troupes of the mela present all night shows. They mainly tour in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Kasaragod (Kerala) districts.
