WARANGAL PEOPLE AND PLACES - 2
‘Nowadays,
people want movie songs and vulgar jokes’
Harikatha
Bhagavathars were most sought after by the public in the olden days and at
times they were unable to give call sheets, renowned Harikatha Bhagavathar
octogenarian Velide Harishankara Sastry reminisced.
There
were times when he hopped from village to village without returning home for a
month.
“More
than the money we got, we were thrilled about the public patronage and their
interest in our art form. We used to get Rs.15 as fee and an equal amount
through generous donations from the audience,” Sastry says.
Harikatha
is a form of Hindu religious discourse that comprises storytelling, poetry,
music and drama. Those practising it are known as ‘Bhagavathars’ who once ruled
the roost before the emergence of cinema and televisions.
Referring
to the changed tastes of public, Sri Sastry said the audience used to listen in
rapt attention till late into the night in the 1940s and 1950s when he started
his career.
Now,
people ask for movie songs and vulgar jokes, which are out of context. “We
cannot sing songs. Some try to appeal people by changing the tune of
Mangalaharathi songs in filmi tunes. That is all we can do,” he explained.
Harishankara
Sastry, born in 1930 was a regular artiste at the Deccan Radio, as was the
present All India Radio called before Hyderabad State merged into Indian Union.
“They
used to pay me Rs.25. The ticket from Warangal to Secunderabad was Rs.2 by
train. In all, the expenditure would come to Rs.6. Gold was sold for Rs.100 for
10 grams. I bought some gold with Rs.18,” he said.
Lamenting
the decreased public patronage, he says now the audience is thin and not that
devout as in the olden days. Though artistes are paid around Rs.3,000, it is
far from enough.
Harishankara
Sastry has toured all over the State and was felicitated by the then Chief
Minister N.T. Rama Rao, who admired Sastry a lot.
He
popularised the traditional vocation and even initiated his son and two
grandsons into the art form.
It
is time that Telugu University or some agency comes forward to document the
life and times of Harishankara Sastry for the benefit of posterity.
ends/
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