Pili Vesha troupes add dash of colour, entertainment to Mangalore Dasara
Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (NM)
Mangalore, Oct 14: The traditional Pili Vesha (tiger troupe) has been an integral part of Dasara celebrations. Year after year, men and boys with attractive designs of tiger and lion painted on their bodies, with matching headgears, have enthralled the people of the city.
Come Dasara (or Navaratri as its also called), large crowds gathered around these 'tigers' who dance merrily to the beat of drums and other instruments is a common sight on the busiest of streets. The sound of the drums is an open invitation to the people to take some precious time off their busy schedules and soak in the festive spirit of the season.
Over the last nine days or more, some tiger troupes performed at every doorstep, while a few performed only at places where they were invited for huge sums of money.
A troupe of 50 including drummers belonging to ‘Sharadha Huli’, Suratkal was one among such troupes in the city. The troupe entertained the audience at Vikas Pre-university College campus with tiger dance.
The entertaining dance included adventurous acrobatics and risky stunts. The 'tigers' were all over the place - flipping off the top of the bus, somersaulting and so on. Drummers motivated the dancers with heavy beats. The dancers were mostly in the age of 15 – 35 years.
One of the troupe members Manoj Thokur said that they perform only at some places on invitation. "This is our third year and we mainly perform in Suratkal, Mulky and Kinnigoli. The troupe also remembers the untimely death of Manjunath, a team member three years ago," he said.