Stories.. The most common memories of storytelling are of the bed night stories of childhood, or conversations with friends around campfire, a more visual forms through art, films and theatre. Whatever is the case, hold on tight as I am going to take you to an age old traditional art of oral storytelling.
Oggu Katha is a traditional folk theatre form which is an ancient narrative form of Telugu speaking regions. Its name is derived from ‘Oggu’ - a small hand drum associated with Lord Shiva and literally means, ’oggu tales’. It is a form of traditional theatre where ballads and dialogues of Lord shiva known as "Mallanna", his life, his consort and wedding are described in detail. The origin of this art cannot be dated back precisely. However, the inscriptions found in the temple premises built by 'Ganapathi Deva 'of Kakatiya Dynasty around 11th century A.D describes the art of oggu katha.
This tradition is performed by the priests of the pastoral community called the Kuruma and Golla(Yadav’s), of the Deccan plateau. The oggu priests who serve the temple of Lord Shiva perform and narrate the story of Mallikarjuna (Lord Shiva) and his consort Bramaramba. It is said that Bhramaramba s seven brothers had an argument with their brother-in-law Mallanna at the time of his wedding with Bhramaramba. Mallanna defeated them and cursed them to turn into dogs, and later into Oggus, at the behest of Bhramaramba, to narrate stories in praise of him.
It is performed by the priests as they move from place to place, narrating the stories of their caste gods. The performance is mostly done in various temples and marriages while wandering from place to place. There are usually four participants in Oggu Katha narration: a singer-narrator, an assistant singer-narrator who complements with dramatic dialogue, and two instrumentalists - one playing the Ramdolu (a huge drum, also known as Ranabheri), and another playing large cymbals. An optional fifth member plays on a kanjira and an additional sixth one sings along with the narrator and also plays a napheera - a wind instrument. The interesting part of the narration is that if the story being narrated is that of Yellamma or any other female deity, the chief narrator dresses up like a woman. The costume is striking. The main singer wears a white-and-red dhoti and ties a 'dhatti' around his waist. He also wears ankle bells and a garland made of seven shells, known as gavvala darshanam. The seven shells symbolise the seven brothers and are given a prominent place while narrating the story.
Like many arts, Oggu Katha has undergone many changes over time and mostly forgotten. These arts are very important to be taught and made known to the future generations. Documentation of preparations and performances of the tradition needs to be done along with a critical analysis of the existing informal mode of teaching and training. Who we are is symbolised by these arts. Let's protect our identity by encouraging, protecting and talking about these arts.
Opmerkingen