Burra katha

Burra katha, also spelled as Burrakatha, is a story-telling technique used in villages of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in India. The troupe consists of one main performer and two co-performers. It is a narrative entertainment consists of prayers, solo drama, dance, songs, poems and jokes. The topic will be either a hindu mythological story or a contemporary social problem.

Etymology

"Burra" is referred to Tambura, a musical instrument with a hallow shell and attached strings. Katha means story.

Burra means a skull in telugu. The shell resembles a human skull. It is made of baked clay or dried pumpkin, or of brass and copper. The instrument looks very similar to Veena and the performer can pull and press strings to get music.

Alternative names

The name "Burrakatha" refers to same art in entire Andhra Pradesh, but there are also local names to the art in each region.
* Coastal region - Jangam Katha
* Rayalaseema - Tandana katha or suddulu
* Telangana - Tamboora katha or sarada katha.

History

Burrakatha started as devotional songs of nomadic people and became a popular art form and is played on Radio and TV regularly in Andhra Pradesh. It is a new name (twentieth century) for the theater show known as Jangam Katha. The jangams were wandering minstrels who worshiped and sang of Siva. Two performers participated in these plays: the storyteller and his wife. With societal and cultural changes, the secular aspect was incorporated into this form. Modern form has three performers of any gender.

Popular Hindu artists were Pendyala Venkateswarrao, Paruchuri Ramakotayya, Sirivisetti Subbarao, Kosuri Punnayya, Govardhana, Kakumanu Subbarao, Davuluru, Chintalal Suryanarayana,budagajangala mote papaiah,budagajangala mote kullayappa,budagajangala mote ramalingam etc. Women also formed groups, e.g., Moturi Udayam, Chintala Koteswaramma, Mahankali Lakshmi, Sridevi sisters etc. Popular non Hindu artists are Abraham Bhagavatar, Manohara Kavi, Khader Khan Sahib etc.

Modern form

The main story teller(called as Kathakudu) narrates the story. He plays Tambura and dances to music. He also wears a metal ring called as andelu on his right thumb, holds another ring in his other hand and adds more music by colliding them frequently. The co-performers plays gummeta(also called as dakki or budike), earthen drums with two heads. All three or only kathakadu will be wearing anklets(also called as gajjelu), which add even more music when they dance.

The right side performer(called as the hasyaka, means joker) acts as a joker and cracks satires and jokes. The left side performer(called as the rajakiya, means politician) acts as a person who knows worldly ways and talks about politics and social issues. The main performer and co-performers constantly addressing each other. The co-performers interrupts him with doubts, and they sometimes add emphasis the main events in the story with short words similar to "Wow!" ,"aaha" and "That it it".

Whenever the main performer sings a song, he starts with "vinara veera kumara veera gadha vinara" followed by the co-performers singing "tandhana tane tandhana na", hence it is also called 'tandana katha'.

ignificance

Burra katha was a pastime event in villages. It is seen even now during Dussehra or Sankranti festival seasons to describe events in epics like Ramayan and Mahabharatand also some of best and moral kingdom stories like kambojaraju katha,chinnamma katha,muggurumoratila katha etc.

It played effective role in conveying message to people and awakening them during Indian Independence Movement. Burrakatha was banned in Madras by the British government and in Hyderabad kingdom by Nizam government, because it was the medium to enlighten the people of the current political situation in various political meetings.

present

Shortly burrakatha tellars called as budagajangalu.Present movies internet plays major role in modern life. That's why the burrakatha become old and no one is there to develop this and improve this. In past these burrakatha tellars are main part of the village people. But now there is no response for their art. So these burrakatha tellars left their traditional art and became beggars, daily vagers. Even this computer days alsothere are no educated people in this tribe. Even they not containing cast certificates for developing their tribe.

ee also

* Katha - The Art Of Story Telling In India
*Harikatha
* Dance forms of Andhra Pradesh

External links

* [http://www.vepachedu.org/burrakatha.htm Burrakatha origins]
* [http://www.nrityanjali.org/th_bur.asp Burrakatha description]
* [http://andhraguyz.com/My_Andhra/p2_articleid/987 Burrakatha as art]
* [http://www.carnatica.net/harikatha1.htm Story telling techniques in south India]