Mangaluru : Fans of a Yakshagana artiste have come together to celebrate the silver jubilee of his professional ‘tirugata’ (tour) by organising a day-long programme in the heart of the city on December 20.

The artiste, Chandrashekara Dharmasthala, who has completed 25 years of ‘tirugata’, now served with Manjunatheswara Yakshagana Mandali, Dharmasthala.

Though he dons major characters in Yakshagana ‘prasangas’, Mr. Chandrashekara is also noted for his ‘pundu vesha’ and ‘raja vesha’ which he plays with full spirit.

Mr. Chandrashekara entered the field when he was 15. He acted in Bappanadu mela, Saligrama mela, Puttur mela, Edneer mela and Karnataka mela.

He has toured in Yakshagnaa melas in West Asia, Delhi and other parts of the country.

His characters of Abhimanyu, Babruvahana, Bhramarakuntale, Arjuna, Devendra, Kharasura and Seetha are well known.

The fans under the banner Rajata Chandra Samiti, Mangaluru, have organised various programmes from 9.20 a.m. to 10 p.m. at the University College grounds, Hampankatta.

His “himmela” teachers Leelavathi Baipadithaya and Harinarayana Baipadithaya will inaugurate the programmes. It will be followed by “gaana vaibhava” in which noted Yakshagana ‘bhagawathas’ (singers) of Tenku Thittu school of Yakshagana will sing.

Later, the artiste will present his “guru vandane” to his mentor Kolyur Ramachandra Rao, a senior Yakshagana artiste. There will be felicitations to his other mentors.

Artistes will stage ‘Veera Abhimanyu – Sudarshana Vijaya’ Yakshagana from 1.30 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. It will be followed by screening of a documentary on Mr. Chandrashekara.

There will be a second Yakshagna show ‘Bhargava Vijaya – Srinivasa Kalyana’ from 6.45 p.m. to 10 p.m. Many senior artistes of Tenku Thittu will participate in the show.

Some of them would be Balipa Narayana Bhagawatha, Padyana Ganapathi Bhat, Puttige Raghurama Holla, Patla Satish Shetty, Ravichandra Kannadikatte, Dinesh Ammannya and Ramakrishna Mayya Siribagilu.

In addition, Subraya Holla Kasaragod, Aruva Koragappa Shety, Ubaradkka Umesh Shetty, K. Govinda Bhat, Harinarayana Bhat Edneer, Radhakrishna Navada, Ammunje Mohana and others would be in the ‘mummela’.