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.

http://gollapudisrinivasarao.blogspot.in/

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WARANGAL COLOURS -1

A Man of the People

WARANGAL: At a time when political leaders crave for public patronage, here was a man who commanded respect and affection of people of the whole town for about half a century.
The name of the town Manukota is synonymous with one person – Voore Ramakoteswara Rao, a septuagenarian who retired as lecturer over a decade ago. His organizational skills were peerless when it came to conducting Sri Ramanavami celebrations in Mahabubabad town which over the decades came to be acclaimed as Mini-Bhadradri utsavalu. 
For the 54th consecutive year, the Sri Ramanavami celebrations were held on grand scale where over 10,000 devotees thronged the temple. The celebrations assumed significance with growing patronage from people of villages surrounding the town who could not afford to go to Bhadrachalam.
The Sri Ramanavami celebrations in Mahabubabad town contributed richly to the cultural heritage and developing sense of devotion among the rich and poor for the past five decades. Movies artistes, noted dancers, Harikatha and Burrakatha exponents, spiritualists – everyone who made big name once performed here thus began their long journey from Mahabubabad town after being blessed by the simple folk.
Legends in Harikatha – Munikutla Sadasiva Sastry, Kuchibotla Koteswar Rao and Kota Sachidananda Sastry, dancers like Vendatam Satyanarayana Sharma, Shobha Naidu, acclaimed poet Divakarla Venkatavadhani, noted litterateur Garikapati Narasimha Rao – all entertained the people of Manukota town which came to be known as Mahabubabad later.
The Sri Ramanavami celebrations were held for the first time in 1959 by the local Railway station authorities. In 1970, local people came together to form celebrations committee with Mr Ramakoteswara Rao as convenor who remains still as convenor earning unstinted support of people. In 1983, the Endowments department took over but the committee still functions doing what the department could not organizing the Sri Ramanavami celebrations on a grand scale.
It is time the new generation emulates people like Mr Ramakoteswara Rao, a man of the people.

He breathed his last on January 24 in 2014 at the age of 78.

He is survived by two daughters and illustrious son V Gurunatha Rao, a teacher in government school in Mahabubabad mandal. He carved a niche for himself as good science teacher with scores of research publications in national and international journals.

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