The grand musical and drama festival of South Indian folk culture had an enthusiastic closure here on Wednesday. The Yakshkathi fest concluded at Madhya Pradesh State Tribal Museum with another years old form ‘Yaksh Gaan’.
Presentation of Bali Moksha in Yaksh Gaan style gave the audience, art lovers a great deal of enjoyment, including their dedication, commitment to art and loyalty towards traditions. The concluding presentation was performed by artists from Karnataka and was a delightful experience for the Bhopalites.
Baali Moksha, is a reference to Ram-Sita after the exile and Sita abduction by Ravana. Wandering in the forest with his brother laxman in search of his wife Ram meets demon Kabandha and kills him, freeing him from a curse. The freed Kabandha advises Ram to seek the help of Sugriva to find Sita.
Continuing on his journey, Ram meets Hanuman. Sugriva tells him the story of how Bali his identical twin brother became his enemy. Sugriva is very scared of Bali and he is full of doubts that Ram could kill him. He tells him many incredible stories of Bali's power. Ram asks Sugriva to challenge Bali and bring him outside Kishkindha.
Sugriva challenged Bali to a fight. When Bali sallied forth to meet the challenge, Ram emerged from the forest to shoot and kill him with an arrow from the back of a tree.
To prepare for the presentation, the make-up artist had come to the venue from noon. It took nearly six hours for them to get ready. The joy of presentation with very beautiful, artistic and costly costumes was unique. The artist's language was naturally in the presentation, however, there was no dearth of communication and the audience sitting in the hall had no inconvenience to understand the context. The efficiency in singing and music effect presentation was consistent.
In the role of Sivananda Hegde in the role of Ram, Timppa Hegde in the role of Hanuman, Sadashiv Bhatt in the role of Ravana, Sadashiv Bhatt in the role of Sita and Tara, Vigheneshwar Haavgodi in the role Bali and of Ishwar Bhatt in the role of Sugriva were spontaneous.
The artists were accompanied by Bhagwan Anant Hegde in vocals, Sachin Bhandari played drum drum and Mridangam and Sridhar Gowda on Dholak,.