Mangaluru (The Hindu): Vishwesha Tirtha Swami of Paryaya Pejawar Mutt on Monday cautioned against distortion of facts in Yakshagana prasangas or episodes with regard to characters in epics such as the Ramayana and Mahabharata, and Puranas.

He was speaking after inaugurating the weeklong Tala Maddale Saptaha titled “Shapanugraha,” organised by the Sri Krishna Mutt/Temple, Department of Kannada and Culture, Karnataka Bank and Yakshagana Kalaranga at Rajangana, here.

The Pejawar seer said that some episodes of Yakshagana which were being staged carried distortions of the characters of Rama, Lakshman and Sita. These distortions should be avoided as they were being used by some intellectuals to point out that the discrimination that prevailed in the Hindu society.

Valmiki’s Ramayana should be considered as the base or standard text with regard to characters in Yakshagana episodes in relation to the epic. Yakshagana had two forms – Bayalata and Tala Maddale. While Bayalata gave importance to dance and was entertaining, Tala Maddale provided food for the intellect, the seer said. Vishwaprasanna Tirtha, junior seer of Pejawar Mutt, said that Tala Maddale was a unique art form. It used words or power of vocabulary to convey the intricacies of the epics and puranas. The power of words was such that it took the audience to another world, he said.

The audience kept floating in the world created by the “arthadharis” of Tala Maddale. The art form of Tala Maddale was one of the methods for removing the fear of stage among young children, he said. He lauded the Yakshagana Kalaranga for conducting the Tala Maddale Saptaha continuously for the 16th consecutive year.

Satish Kamath, General Manager of Syndicate Bank, K.R. Ramachandra Adiga, advocate, and K. Sripati Bhat, businessman, were present.

Later, the Tala Maddale Saptaha began with the episode “Bhrigu – Vishnu” composed by Sridhar D.S.. The artistes who participated in it were Radhakrishna K., Vasudeva Ranga Bhat, Sankadagundi Ganapati Bhat, Umakanth Bhat and Mudambailu Gopalakrishna Shastri.