BENGALURU : She has been beaten, she has begged on streets, slept on footpaths, and sold idlis for 25 paise. Little did transwoman Jogati Manjamma (63) know then that one day her life would turn around and she would go on to win the Padma Shri award.
One of the five recipients from Karnataka this year, Manjamma is a folk artiste who has the distinction of being the first transwoman to head the Karnataka Janapada Academy, a state-government run folk art institution. In addition, her biography Naduve Suliva Hennu written by Arun Joladkudligi, a postdoctoral fellow at Kannada University, is also set to release on January 31 at Nayana at Ravindra Kalakshetra.
Sporting a big bindi and a bigger smile, Manjamma takes us to the very beginning of her journey when she started learning the folk dance form Jogati Nritya to earn one square meal. “I had never imagined that I would get this prestigious award which is given to highly accomplished people in their fields.
I can’t even express my happiness,” she tells CE. On Monday noon when she received a call from Delhi informing her about the award, she didn’t know what to make of it. “They were speaking in Hindi, and I only caught the word ‘Padma Shri’. I really thought they were joking,’’ she says sheepishly.
Hailing from Kallukambagraama in Ballari, Manjamma’s family moved to Kukwaada village in Davanagere where her father worked in a sugar factory, and she did her schooling. “Though I was born a boy, when I was 16 years old, I realised I was behaving like a girl.
That’s when my hard days started. I was beaten by family members, and was taken to astrologers and doctors. They even stopped talking to me and I felt helpless,” Manjamma recalls. Unable to bear this humiliation, Manjamma stole some money from her mother and ran away from home.
Manjamma went to Mariyammanahalli in Hospet where she learnt folk art form Chowdaki Pada. She moved to Chikkanahalli in the ’80s where she started selling idlis. For additional income, Manjamma, who has passed Class 10, started taking tuitions for Rs 5 per month.
It was during this time that Manjamma met Kalavva Jogati, a Jogati Nritya performer, from whom she picked up the art form. Manjamma later joined a women’s theatre group where she started playing male characters like Bhasmasura, Keechaka and Tarakasura. “Since I am well-built, I was usually asked to play male roles,’’ she says nonchalantly.
However, Manjamma feels sad for the hundreds of Jogatis, especially from north Karnataka, who continue to face hardships. She says, “To this day, they are facing the same difficulties that I did. They have neither Aadhaar nor BPL cards and don’t get any benefits.
I request the government to allow those under the age of 30 to continue their education, while those over 30 should be helped with jobs. In Karnataka, there are hundreds of watchmen who are from outside Karnataka. Why cannot we get such jobs? Don’t we also have the right to live a life with dignity?”
Ritual dance
In North Karnataka, devotees of Yellavva are known as Yellavva Jogi. Jogati Nritya is a ritual dance performed by Jogati, a community of transgenders. They dedicate their life to goddesses Yellavva and they perform the dance with a basket /pot on the heads.