A tribute to His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan

Before 1971, United Arab Emirates was not formed. All the emirates were ruled by their respective Kings . The King of AbuDhabi Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan decided to make an union of  seven emirates and form a nation,UAE.
UAE celebrates its National Day on Dec 2nd. My daughter Rhiya was dressed up as His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan for a fancy dress competition in school during  National Day Celebrations .

Dance Documentary Drama - Natyarani Shanthala, AbuDhabi Kannada Sangha

Belur & Halebidu

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November 5th 2010 was a very auspicious day for Kannadigas in AbuDhabi.  AbuDhabi Kannada sangha celebrated  Kannada Rajyotsava on this day.There was very large gathering even though it coincided with  deepavali festival, [Festival of lights]. The main attraction was comedy by Praanesh also known as Gangavathi Beechi and Narasimha Joshi.They entertained the audience with their jokes. Many cultural programs were held like Ghost dance, group songs, folk dance. But the program which attracted me the most was a Bharatanatyam DANCE DOCUMENTARY DRAMA on NATYARANI SHANTHALA by  children. It was a treat to all art lovers. The children performed so beautifully that this event is one such special event which will stay in my mind for a very long time.

This dance drama was choreographed by Namitha Ananth, who is well known dancer in AbuDhabi. Every year she comes up with a special composition in her dance choreography. But this year it was unique. She asked me whether I had the music in my collections about ANTHAPURA GEETHEGALU written by D V Gundappa. 

Though I had it with me, I never heard it even once. After listening them, I loved it so much that I wondered why haven't I listened to them till now. It was through Namitha, I came to know that these beautiful poems were composed by DVG on stone sculptures of BELUR and HALEBIDU temples . The lyrics of all poems are very beautiful. She also came up with an idea that she wanted to show a slide show presentation on  rich stone-sculptural heritage of Belur and Halebidu Temples to the audience along with the dance drama. I loved her idea very much. I collected few images of the temples from net and made a slide show. The songs chosen were melodious. Even though I had been to Belur and Halebid, I didn't had the opportunity to enjoy those carvings to my heart's content. This project helped me to know more about the Hoysala Architecture and reminded me of the life history of the great dancer Shantala.

Queen Shantala was the wife of one of the famous Hoysala King Vishnuvardhana. Both were great devotee of Lord Krishna. They constructed many temples. Among them, the temples considered as world heritage are Belur Sri Chennakeshava Temple, Hoysaleshwara Temple in Halebidu [Halebid] etc. The main Architect of these temples was Amarashilpi Jakanachary. He saw a dance performance by Queen Shantala who used to perform for her Lord Chennakeshava in a temple. It was Queen's wish to spread the virtues of Lord Chennkeshava by constructing the temples. The temples is filled with very beautiful stone sculptures. Jakanachary had brought her dance poses live in those stone sculptures which are called SHILABALIKAS and MADANIKAS. The intricate carvings of each and every part of sculptures are very beautiful. Even windows, ceiling of the temples are depicting the tales of Mahabharata and Ramayana. The Belur temple was damaged when Ganga Salar of Kaburgi, Deccan commander of Tughlaq’s army, invaded the temple for its huge treasures of diamonds and gold. If one visits these temples, he will be mesmerized by the rich carving treasures. I wish to visit these temples once again to enjoy its beauty in leisure.

As I mentioned earlier, I also came to know more about DVG or Devanahalli Venkataramanaiah Gundappa. DVG was born in Mulabagilu in 1887. He was multitalented person. He knew many languages. Apart from being a poet, he had knowledge about engineering too. I was surprised to know that he was an assistant to Sir Vishveshwariah when Krishnarajasagar Dam was built, which was the largest dam in Asia at that time. 

His philosophical poem called MANKUTHIMMANA KAGGA is very famous. He had translated many western literature to Kannada. He had been associated with freedom fighters too.

D.V.Gundappa

This is Kannada version of Mankuthimmana Kagga

ಹುಲ್ಲಾಗು ಬೆಟ್ಟದಡಿ, ಮನೆಗೆ ಮಲ್ಲಿಗೆಯಾಗು  

ಕಲ್ಲಾಗು ಕಷ್ಟಗಳ ಮಳೆಯ ವಿಧಿ ಸುರಿಯೇ
ಬೆಲ್ಲ ಸಕ್ಕರೆಯಾಗು ದೀನ ದುರ್ಬಲರಿಂಗೆ
ಎಲ್ಲರೊಳಗೊಂದಾಗು ಮಂಕುತಿಮ್ಮ .

Dance drama in three parts.

Part 1

Yakshagana in USA ,Rajyotsava.2010

  

My Uncle Dr.Rajendra Kedlaya from Ambalpady. He is a professor in Indian University, Colorado, Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology. His father Shri Gopalakrishna Kedlaya was a teacher to PadmaShri Dr. B.R.Shetty,  Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director of the Abu Dhabi based New Medical Centre Group of Companies.
Rajendranna as I call him is a very good Yakshagana artist. I am happy that along with his hectic work, he gives time to spread YAKSHAGANA, a very famous dance form of South Kanara.

Rajyotsava.2010

Yakshagana - Jambavati Kalyana in Colarado, Denever

Jambavantha is Dr. Rajendra Kedlaya.