BENGALURU: Harikatha involves story-telling with poetry, music and dramatics. It dwells on myths, history and philosophy. TV Jayasimha, whose birth centenary falls today and who is a much-awarded artiste, once tried to do a political katha titled ‘Navayuga’.
“It spoke of inter-caste marraige,” says his son Ragavendra J Prabhat, who runs the Prabhat Arts International. “The story was not well received by our orthodox family. To discourage him, they burnt those scripts.” Jayasimha did tone down his social commentary after this incident, and his son says that Jayasimha had been “depressed and discouraged for days” after, but the Harikatha exponent had not backed down. He revisited the story in his twilight years, touring with the katha to various parts of the country.
Witnessing a Riot
Jayasimha had developed a social consciousness at a young age, from his father Venkanna Dasaru. “In 1928, when a riot hit Sultanpete, Venkanna Das gave shelter to many Muslim children in Ganesha School and stayed with them for two days,” says Ragavendra. “In those few days, he spoke to them of religious harmony and Jayasimha witnessed the whole incident. After the riot, Venkanna personally spoke to Hindu and Muslim sanghas to restore peace... It had a huge impact on Jayasimha.” Ragavendra says that his father had many Muslim disciples who organised his shows and addressed him as ‘guru’.
Harikatha has been in the family for generations. Jayasimha was the son of Venkanna Dasaru, who was the nephew of Rama Dasaru of the Doddaballapura Brothers. Jayasimha’s son Ragavendra started performing at the age of 30 and Ragavendra’s son Sharat started at 19. “Sharat is 26 now,” says Ragavendra, “and hopes to be a Harikatha exponent.”
Other Side of an Artiste
Jayamsimha had various interests including wrestling and astrology. “I don’t remember him missing one day of kushti,” says Ragavendra. “He always used to say that wrestling increases our capacity to fight physical and psychological problems. He even won many prizes for his wrestling... he was also a wonderful swimmer.”
The artiste, who won the Karnataka Rajyothsava Award and Karnataka Kala Tilaka Award from the Karnataka Music and Dance Academy, also wrote rhymes for children called ‘Nagari Thimma. He had also written a first of its kind play, Seeta Devi, which told the story from a child’s perspective.
A teacher, he also ran a school Prabhath Shishuvihara with his three brothers. “He did not believe in the grading system,” says Ragavendra.
Celebrations
The birth centenary celebrations today, organised by Karnataka Music and Dance Academy and Ragavendra’s institute, there will be a mix of guests including freedom fighter Dr HS Doreswamy, research scholar on the history of Harikatha and religious philosopher Dr Aralu Mallige Parthasarathy and President of Gamaka Kala Parishad Dr MR Sathya Narayan. It will be held at Ravindra Kalakshetra from 10.30 am to 1 pm.