Rathabeedi Geleyaru

Rathabeedhi Geleyaru ® Udupi

(A cultural Organisation Devoted to the cause of Art, Culture and Values)

Dr. N. Murari Ballal, President

Conception

Udupi, the birthplace of the great Saint-philosopher, Sri Madhvacharya, is noted for its cultural pluralities. Yakshagana, Bhootharadhana and Modern Theatrical Experiments; Hinduism, Jainism, Islam and Christianity; and, languages like Kannada, Tulu, Konkani and Marathi, all co-exist here.

Today this coastal district of Karnataka is at a crucial juncture of its socio-cultural history. The whole district has been experiencing civilizational changes due to its ruthless exposure to only one version of indiscriminate modern progress dominantly alien, imported from Bombay, Gulf countries and America. A sweeping wave of illusory prosperity and distributed affluence has been changing the life style, undermining the cultural ethos of the entire region. Every village in the district has been fast emerging as a mini-town by giving up its peaceful and charming pastoral features under the pressure of linear concept of development. With high literacy, white-collared employment and a bulging middle class, the whole society of Udupi has been acquiring a sort of stereotyped semi-urban character.

Insatiable acquisitive greed for amassing wealth and comforts has become a dominant feature of this population, and this has ultimately led the district to a stage of high-mass-conception, rather prematurely, without the other prerequisites of a well developed society. Westward-looking liberalisation and the explosive scale of industrialisation of 1990’s, by hastening further the process of defacement of the cultural dimensions of the people, have been converting the district into a typical industrial society – impersonal, culturally reductive and highly imitative. Both, personally and collectively, people of this district today seem to be woefully under the spell of international commercial and political forces, working behind what is, attractively, called globalisation.

On the other side, however, as a response to this challenge, one also observes, simultaneously, the rising phenomenon of culturally sensitive human beings coming together to form various small groups to pursue and promote regional art and culture in order to quench the hungers of the human soul.

“Rathabeedi Geleyaru” is one such vibrant cultural organisation of the temple town of Udupi, in Udupi District.

Inception

It is a Forum, which was born as a loose organisation, functioning in a most informal and non-dogmatic way in a spirit of doubt and inquiry. The Forum, over the past fifteen years, has been providing a release route from the fatiguing confinement of the human spirit to the blind pursuits of the modern world process. The primary concern of the Rathabeedi Geleyaru is to protect and preserve the cultural interior of every human being, and enrich the inner core of the community by responding in its own unique way to the contemporary cultural constructs of the society. The members of the Forum, however, know very well that the fundamental questions confronted by our society are intractable to mere logic and advances in science; and instead we have to find answers to these questions in spheres beyond the pale of mundane knowledge. Therefore, “Rathabeedi Geleyaru” from the day of its formation, has been endeavouring to maintain its fluid character, unhindered by any rigid preconceived agenda – ideological or otherwise – in addressing the various contextually relevant issues taken up by it.

Action

Though “Rathabeedi Geleyaru” has been engaging in purposeful activities in the spheres of Performing Arts, Literature and other areas of cultural importance, the preoccupation of the Organisation, however, has been Drama and Theatre.

1) Theatre

The theatre – group of “Rathabeedi Geleyaru” has produced and presented a number of plays directed either by the National School of Drama graduates or with the active co-operation of a reputed institution, namely, ‘Ninasam’ Heggodu, Karnataka (the director of this institution K.V. Subbanna is a Magsaysay award winner). Some of the plays produced by the Group are:

        Name of the Play /Playwright/Director

1)     Mandaarthi (1983) /G. Balakrishnayya /A.R. Chandrashekar

2)      Taamra Patra (1983)/ Devashicha Muzumdar\ K.G. Narayan

3)      Macbeth (1983)/Shakespeare / B.R. Nagesh

4)      Sule Sanyasi (1964)/ K.V. Subbanna/K.G. Narayan

5)      Kaththe Mattu Dharma (1984)/ Siddalingaiah/ T.M. Nagaraj

6)      Neeli Kudure (children’s play)/----/ K.G. Krishnamurthy (1984)

7)      Three Penny Opera (1984)/ Brecht/ K.V. Akshara

8)      Saddu Vicharane Nadeyuthide/ Vijay Tendulkar/K.G. Narayan (1986)

9)      Media (1987)/ Sophocles / K.G. Narayana

10)Visit (1988)/  Durrhenmet/ K.G. Krishnamurthy

11) Hamlet (1989)  /Shakespeare / Iqbal Ahmed

12) Pushpa Rani (1989)/ Chandrashekar Kambar/ Pushpa Halkere

13) Siri Sampige (1992)/             -do-                     / K.G. Narayan

14) Yayaathi(1996)/              Girish Karnad/ K.G. Narayan

15)Agni Mattu Male (2000)/       -do-          / Krishnamurthi Kavathaar

2) Literature, Culture, Contemporary Issues:

Besides theatre activities , the Forum has been engaging itself in a number of other activities in the field of art, literature, culture and other contemporary issues.

• It was a unique privilege of “Rathabeedi Geleyaru” to host a Two-Day State Level Seminar on “Contemporaneity in Drama and Theatre” during 1986, which attracted a large number of eminent writers, critics, playwrights, theatre directors like Girish Karnad, Lankesh, G.B. Joshi, Ramachandra Sharma, Vijaya, Prasanna, K.V. Subbanna, D.R. Nagaraj, Keerthinatha Kurthakoti, Vaikuntaraju, Shudra Srinivas and others as participants.

• In commemoration of the Nehru Centenary, a National Seminar on “Nehru’s Life and Thoughts” was organised during 1989, to critically evaluate his contribution to social, economic and political spheres. Nehru, the first Prime Minister of independent India was a visionary who gave firm footing to the democratic institutions of Independent India; and was a great thinker who envisaged the path that free India must tread on. Eminent personalities like Shivashankar, Janardan Poojary, Sukharam (former Central Ministers), Ravindra Kumar, K.J. Shah, Raman Pillai, G.D. Sharma, U.R. Ananthamurthy, P.R. Brahmananda, Shafiulla, D.P. Tripathi, B.R. Nanda, Valerian Rodrigous, D.R. Nagaraj, Oscar Fernandes, Member of Parliament and others participated in the Seminar.

• In 1991, the Forum organised a Three-Day National Dialogue on “Art, Culture and Values – Today”. It was conceived as an inter-disciplinary dialogue on “A National Cultural Policy for India and its Mode of Implementation”. The objective of this Dialogue was to provide a National Forum for free and intimate interaction of minds on the questions of conservation, preservation and promotion of different facets of Indian Art, Culture and Values, in the context of the release of the report of High Power Committee headed by Sri P.N. Huxer on the National Cultural Policy, and to spell out appropriate policy measures to the Government of India. The dialogue was inaugurated by Mrs. Pupul Jayakar, Former Advisor on Cultural Heritage to Prime Minister of India, late Mrs. Indira Gandhi, and the President, INTACH, and was attended by eminent persons engaged in creative fields of literature, music, drama, theatre, painting, film, and T.V. Prominent ones among them were U.R. Ananthamurthy, K.V. Subbanna, Chandrashekar Kambar, B.V. Karanth, D.R. Nagaraj, Ramachandra Sharma, G. Rajshekar, B.A. Vivek Rai, Arya, Keerthinatha Kurtakoti, Na. Ratna, Bannanje Govindacharya, K.V. Akshara, G.B. Joshi, I.K. Boluvaru, Ishwarayya, T.P. Ashok and Valeriene Rodrigous.

The dialogue ultimately culminated into the compilation of “Culture Policy Expression” in relation to National Cultural Policy of the Huxer Committee, and it was submitted to the Department of Culture, Government of India.

• During 1993, through holding a series of lectures by experts like Willis D’Silva, P. Shreepathi Tantri, Bannanje Govindacharya, M. Prabhakar Joshi, the Organisation attempted to make a re-reading of the Cultural History of India with a different perspective.

• During 1994, a Drama Festival and a Seminar on B.V. Karanth’s productions, release of the first set of 10 books in ‘Akshara Chinthana’ series and a cultural dialogue were arranged. D.R. Nagaraj, G. Rajashekar, B.R. Nagesh, Sathish Bahudhur, Keertinath Kurtakoti, Prasanna, Agrahara Krishnamurthy, Ku.Shi. Haridas Bhat, Vaidehi, B.V. Karanth, N. Gururaj, Pattabhi, Lakshmisha Tholpadi, Shudra Srinivas, K.G. Krishnamurthy, Mohan Sona, Chidambar Rao Jambe etc. had participated in this dialogue.

• In February 1995, a state level seminar was organised on the writings of Dr. U.R. Ananthamurthy, recipient of the Jnana Peetha Award. The seminar was largely attended by litterateurs and thinkers like Ashish Nandy, Manu Chakravarthy, Nataraj Huliyar, Ramakrishna Hegde, B. Damodar Rao, Ki. Ram. Nagaraj, Prasanna, Virendra Kumar, K.V. Subbanna, T. P. Ashok, Pattabhirama Somayaji, Hayavadana Upadhya etc.

• A Seminar on Da. Raa. Bendre in commemoration of his birth centenary was organised during the same year, in which K.V. Subbanna, Lakshmisha Tholpady, N. Shreesha Ballal and U. R. Ananthamurthy took part as chief guests.

• Ten years ago, the Organisation had arranged film shows continuously for two years in six villages with the help of NINASAM and the National Film Archives. The main objective of this project was to educate the public as how to see and appreciate cinema.

• During 1996, in remembrance of Gandhiji’s 125th birth anniversary, Rathabeedi Geleyaru, in association with Manipal Academy of Higher Education - MAHE (a Deemed University), and Kendra Gandhi and Modern World Culture – A Critique of Development” at Manipal. As we are all caught in the historical process of development bringing great civilizational changes in this ancient culture of ours, particularly in the present context of globalisation, we thought it necessary to return to Mahatma Gandhi, the greatest critic of the modern world system, with a spirit of critical inquiry in order to probe whether there are wholesome alternatives to what appears inevitable in the world historical process. We brought together persons who have profoundly contributed – both as Activists and Thinkers - like JPS Oberoi, Dharampal, Ramachandra Guha, R. Sudarshan, Nadana Reddy, N. Bharath Ballal, D.R. Nagaraj, U.R. Ananthamurthy, K.V. Subbanna, Prasanna, K. Shivarama Karanth, Gopal Guru, Claude Alvares, Rajan Gurukkal, K. Raghavendra Rao, Devanuru Mahadeva, B. Damodar Rao, N.K. Thingalaya and others towards making Gandhian thought alive and vibrant for facing the challenges of the modern world system.

• During 1997, to mark the 50th Anniversary of India’s Independence, we have initiated a lecture series on “Fifty Years of India’s Independence – ‘We’ and the ‘Other’ ”. K.V. Subbanna gave the inaugural talk and eminent thinkers like D.R. Nagaraj, U.R. Ananthamurthy, Keerthinatha Kurtakoti etc. gave special talks in the series at various points of time during the year.

• A unique one-day “Vaidika – Avaidika Dialectics”, perhaps first of its kind among the modernists, was organised in this ancient temple town in a traditional dialectical mode with Poorvapaksha and Uttarapaksha presentations. An important postmodernist scholar and literary critic of the country D. R. Nagaraj made “Avaidika” presentation as ‘Poorvapraksha’ and an eminent Vedic scholar Ashwathanarayana Avadhani along with other scholars like Ranganatha Sharma, Prabhakara Joshi, Rajagopala Acharya, Sripathi Tantry presented ‘Vaidika’ line of arguments. The entire dialectics took place under the presidentship of U.R. Ananthamoorthi and amidst a large gathering of scholars.

• Mallepuram G. Venkatesh, one of the renowned scholars of Karnataka continued the same dialectics; during February, 2001.

• During September 1998, a one-day Seminar was organised on the writings of the literary genius of our times – D.R. Nagaraj. A host of literary personalities like Girish Karnad, Manu Chakravarthi, K.V. Subbanna, U. R. Ananthamurthi, N. Murari Ballal made their presentations.

• During the same year, Rathabeedi Geleyaru with SPIC-MACAY jointly organised “Bharath Anveshana Jaatha” to create awareness about the contemporary contextualization of Cultural traditions, Democracy, Civil Society, Cultural and Religious Plurality, Nationalism, Feminism, Education, Non-violence, Sustainable Development, etc. Rajeev Bhargav and Smt. Neerajagopal Jayaal of Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi gave special talks on the subject. Their theatre group played “Mudra Rakshasa”, a play directed by the renowned theatre director of the country, Habib Tanveer. He has also participated in the Jaatha.

• A seminar on Girish Karnad’s Writings was organised on the occasion of “Jnana Peetha Award” to him. Ki. Ram. Nagraj, Prasanna, Rajendra Chenni, Arundhathi Nag, K.V. Akshara, Phaniraj, C.N.Ramachandra, I.K. Boluvar, K.S. Haridasa Bhatt etc. presented their papers.

• In addition to these special features, Rathabeedi Geleyaru group has also been engaged in a number of other regular activities like organising Neenasam Tirugaata Drama Festival every year since 18 years, publishing and releasing important literary works, and also involving itself in the social and cultural movements related to Secularism, Environmentalism, Civil Society, Cultural Pluralism of the region.

• The Forum, has also organised during 1998, a two-day workshop on Cinema Appreciation by a noted film director, Girish Kasaravalli, with screening of this national award winning movies ‘Mane’ and ‘Tayee Saheba’ (both Kannada).

• The Forum has also been organising from time to time, dialogues with intellectuals, artists, culturally sensitive persons, activists, etc., whenever they visit coastal Karnataka. Noted among them are Tejaswini Niranjana, Rustom Bharucha, Bhishma Sahani, Asgar Ali Engineer, Vidyamanya Theertha Swamiji (a great saint of Udupi), Shambhu Hegde, S. R. Ekkundi, Fritz Benevitz, N. Vyasaraya Ballal, G.S. Shivarudrappa, Pa. Vem. Acharya, Malathi Pattanashetty, Krishnananda Hegde, K. Shivarama Karanth etc.

Bi-centensiol Year Activities (2000-01):

As a part of bi-decennial celebrations, our Group has organised a number of programmes. Girish Karnad’s play “Agni Matthu Male” has been staged. An opera was staged by Deaf and Dub Theatre group of London; and a Shakespearean play – “Macbeth” – was played by the prisoners of Bangalore jail. Also recently, a unique Dance performance with a short Theatre Repertoire is organised by a group of dancers and theatre persons namely CHAALI from New Delhi, Trivandrum and Calcutta. The project of this nationally and internationally acclaimed dancer group is to take Dance to its audience and is called “Highway Performance Circuits”.

• The Forum also has decided to hold as a part of its bi-decennial celebrations, a Two-Day National Symposium on: “Economic Globalisation and Culture: An Exploration into Sustainable Alternatives” on May 6-7-2001 to provide a National Forum to bring together persons who have profoundly contributed towards the process of right understanding of the challenges of the modern world system against the backdrop of Gandhian Alternatives.

Future is now: Reweaving

Over a period of last 20 years, Rathabeedi Gelyaru Forum has grown well in stature and profundity, earning a good reputation in Karnataka as a major cultural organisation. It attempts at genuinely addressing the contemporaneous issues in the field of Art, Literature and Culture; and, creatively confronting the vital social and cultural shocks from time to time. It has been endeavouring to sensitively perceive the transient structural dichotomy of the societal and economic realities of the continuous ‘present’ against the background of a clearer understanding of the traditional past, and to peep into the possible future revelations. While translating its perception into action, the Forum strives to maintain seriousness and profundity in all its activities; and, organizes every event – whether it is a Seminar, a Symposium, a Dialogue, a Workshop or a Cultural Performance – with an aesthetic dignity without any pretension.

Economic globalisation – the biggest Chimera of the New Millennium

At the chimerical crossroad of the new year, a new century, a new millennium, it is not inappropriate to be curious about what connects the past heritage with a new dawn in the eternal “now”. In that brief moment of confrontation of the ‘then’ and the ‘now’, we are stirred awake to observe, a charged moment of the past and the future dissolving in the present, thus making way for a Dialogue between individual psyche and the collective consciousness. However, are we sensitive enough in addressing the vital contemporary issues? - is the ominous question, that time alone would answer.

Today’s primary concern of our Organisation, however, is to confront the socio-cultural backlashes of economic globalisation and its attempt to challenge the diversity of Creation through its open agenda of homogenising everything which is revealed as societal, economic and cultural manifestations. Hence, at the moment, our work is primarily confined to the ‘Now’, addressing ‘Truth’ directly without seeking security or shelter under any ideology. We would be openly self-reflexive, self-interrogative and ready to make new beginnings in this, according to the changing situational contexts. These small creative interventions all over the globe by innumerable number of small groups like ours, we hope, would ultimately reweave the universe anew by healing the historical wounds of civilizational encounters within every country.

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Rathabeedi Geleyaru (2001)