Continuing a long-standing annual tradition, amateur artistes of Melattur Bhavatamela Natya Natak Trust opened a four-day sacred theatre festival ‘Bagavata Mela,’ by presenting Prahlada Charithramu, at the Shri Dr. Nalli Kuppuswamy Auditorium, Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swami Temple in Melattur on Tuesday.
The dance-drama, one among those enacted by Venkatrama Sastri, speaks about the devotee Prahlada’s unshakeable faith in the omnipresence of the Lord.
The inaugural event was presided over by S. Babaji Raja Bhonsle. hereditary trustee, Thanjavur Palace Devastanams, Thanjavur. V.N. Devi Prasad, former principal, Sanskrit College, Chennai, N. Srinivasan, retired Sanskrit scholar, Saraswati Mahal Library, Thanjavur, Nagasuri Venugopal, former director of All India Radio, Chennai and actor Saravanan were also present.
The stage was lit up with oil lamps as a nod to traditional theatre. “This is a cultural heritage that is being showcased each year with much effort. The release of the book Harischandra, among the 10 major scripts of Venkatrama Sastri, will help to preserve the unique theatrical tradition for posterity,” said Mr. Bhonsle.
The main characters of the play — Leelavathi, Hiranyakashibu and Prahlada — were performed by Nagarajan, Aravind Subramaniam and Atul, respectively. Ramaswamy, an energetic 85-year-old thespian associated with this art for the past 55 years, performed the role of Lord Narasimha. Arunachalam, Gopi, Raghavan, Surya and Jai essayed supporting roles. Hariharan Herambanathan was the nattuvanar. Mahalingam, artistic director and coordinator of the festival, welcomed the gathering.
The Trust’s ongoing theatre festival will include cultural programmes and performances of Harischandra, Rukmini Kalyanam followed by Anjaneya Utsavam. It is scheduled to end to May 24.
