As many as eight persons have bagged the Padma awards from Karnataka this year. These include former chief minister SM Krishna, novelist SL Bhyrappa, known writer Sudha Murty for her social work, Khadar Valli Dudekula in science and engineering, Shah Rasheed Ahmed Quadri in art, and S Subbaraman in archaeology.
The remaining two personalities who got a Padma Shri for preserving native art forms are 79-year-old Rani Machaiah and 73-year-old Nadoja Pindipapanahalli Munivenkatappa.
Who are Machaiah and Munivenkatappa?
Ummathat Ki Rani - Rani Machaiah
Rani Machaiah, an Ummathat folk dancer from Karnataka’s Kodagu district, won the award for promoting and preserving Kodava culture through dance. Born in Siddapura in 1943, she dropped out of PUC in 1984 and has been campaigning to popularise the folk dance.
The former president of Karnataka Kodava Sahitya Academy has trained nearly 10,000 women artists in the Ummathat folk dance. Speaking to SouthFirst, Machaiah said:
“Ummathat is performed by a troupe of 20 – two will be singing and the other eighteen will dance to narrate a story…This dance form is similar to the traditional ones of every other state.”
Rani Machaiah in traditional attire.
(Photo: Twitter)
Popularly known as ‘Ummathat ki Rani,’ Machaiah had also set up Kaveri Kala Vrinda and popularised the dance form in Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha, Mizoram, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and other states.
Machaiah’s late husband was an advocate who passed away when she was 65 years of age. Her son, Sathish Machaiah, 55, is a software engineer in Bengaluru. Rani’s daughter, Saritha Devaiah, is a homemaker in Kodagu.
At present, she is encouraging groups of Kodavas working on designing a lipi (alphabet or script) for the Kodava language to preserve its literature. “It will look somewhat similar to Kannada and it will have phonetics and extra words that are used in the Kodava language in Kannada lipi,” she was quoted as saying.
The Tamate Master - Nadoja Pindipapanahalli Munivenkatappa
January 2023, for Munivenkatappa, however, has been a bittersweet month. While he was conferred the Padma Shri award by the Union Government for promoting the folk instrument ‘Tamate,’ he lost the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) site allotted by the state government in 2016.
From Chikkaballapur district, Munivenkatappa has been playing the hand drum, with its roots in the Old Mysuru Region, since he was 16-years-old.
While the instrument is reserved for “untouchable castes only,” Munivenkatappa now trains young and upcoming artists despite the social stigma attached to it.
From Chikkaballapur district, Munivenkatappa has been playing the hand drum, with its roots in the Old Mysore Region, since he was 16-years-old.
(Photo: Twitter)
As per reports, he picked the art form from his father Papanna. However, it was HL Nage Gowda, a Kannada folklorist who after seeing Munivenkatappa perform at a temple fair at Devaramallur village, later introduced him to a larger set of audience across the state.
The 73-year-old known as the ‘Tamate’ (hand drum) master, resides in a remote village named Pindipapanahalli and plays the instrument with his co-artistes even today. His tiny village is now witnessing a flood of visitors to congratulate the maestro.
Recognising his contributions, the state government on 26 February 2016, had allotted a G-category (persons in public life) BDA site in Kempegowda Layout, News9Live reported.
According to the rules, the beneficiary has to pay Rs 5 lakh to the BDA and get the site registered in his name within three years from the date of allotment.
Being a Dalit and having his livelihood be solely dependent on his ‘tamate’ performances, the Padma Shri recipient could only manage to pay Rs 26,000.
On 5 January this year, the BDA informed him that the site allotted to him has been cancelled for non-payment.
“I had been to the BDA office earlier this month, they said the allotted site has been cancelled as I had not paid Rs five lakh. I paid them Rs 26,000 and they said that they would return it. I live on my performance, how would I get Rs 5 lakh. I am hoping for some relief from the state government,” he was quoted as saying.
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