Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (HB)

Pics: Umesh Marpalli

Udupi, Sep 23: Kota Shivarama Karanth theme park at Kota in the district is all set to celebrate Karanth's birth anniversary by adding new beautiful sculptures of Karanth and other eight Jnanpith awardees to the park.

Nearly 22 artists from different districts have arrived at the town for creating the beautiful statues. They are working day and night, since the last 15 days for completing the task on time.

The park is located at Kota just 20 km away from Udupi.

Jnanpith awardee, Dr Shivarama Karanth, was born in Kota. The park itself is named after this multi-faceted personality in order to keep the name of Dr Karanth alive.

The statues here portray the life, interests, as well as enthusiasm of Dr Karanth and therefore the concerned have tried to portray Karanth's passion for folk arts like Yakshagana here.

An eight feet of Jatayu (bird) monument sculpted by artiste, Mohan, a giant-sized replica of Dr Karanth's well-known works, 'Chomana Dudi', and 'Mukajjiya Kanasugalu' and other statues were created and installed at the park.

Two other statues of Karanth which attract the attention of visitors are the one in which he is depicted as narrating stories to the children and the other, a sculpture of Karanth that shows him addressing the audience from the dais.

Standing seven feet tall, statues depicting two popular forms of Yakshagana, Thenkuthittu and Badaguthittu, have been beautifully carved out by experts. These two sculptures welcome visitors at the entry point of the park.

Nearly Rs 2 lac was spent by Kotathattu gram panchayat on this project. Dr Shivaram Karanth Foundation, Kota has been maintaining this park.

Karnataka Shilpakala Academy, Bangaluru made it possible to realize the dream of the foundation, by bringing skilled artistes from various districts.

Kannada and culture department has extended its wholehearted support for the project.

The expert artistes who have joined hands in carving out these statues are K Vishal (Bangaluru), H Muralidhar Achar Chitadurga), Dhanavesh M S( Bangaluru), Kumar Babu Ghasti (Belgaum), Anil G B (Davanagere), Mohan (Davanagere), Nagaraj S (Shivamogga), Omkar Murthy G B (Davanagere), Nithyananda J K (Bengaluru), Sunil Poojary (Bidar) and ten assistant artistes.

Undoubtedly this park will prove to be an inspiration for future generations and people of all age groups will love to visit this park again and again. The park gives visual treat for all visitors.