Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (PS/CN)

Mangalore, Sep 16: Prof Malpe Laxminarayana Samaga, new president of Karnataka Yakshagana Bayalata Academy, was felicitated in a programme organized at Town Hall on Friday September 16.

'Yakshanandana' troupe of Panambur, known for staging Yakshagana 'prasangas' in English, honoured him as the organization is celebrating three decades of its existence.

Accepting the honour, Prof M L Samaga said that new experiments in art are necessary for its growth. About his three-year term in the Academy, he said that he has some plans to help out Yakshagana artistes who constitute the main essence of the art. He added that he would make sincere efforts to study the expectations of the artistes thereby developing the art.

Shree Vidyaprasanna Swamiji of Subrahmanya Mutt was present and said that Yakshagana is a major entertainment art for the people of this region and it also expands intellectual power.

Senior litterateur and folk expert Erya Laxminarayana Alva lauded Prof Samaga for being a simple and approachable person. He also stressed the need for upliftment of all 'thittu' (forms) of Yakshagana.

Harikrishna Punaroor and Santhosh Aithal were present on the dais. Afterwards, child artistes of Yakshanandana staged an English Yakshagana Prasanga.