Mangaluru : Noted Yakshagana ‘bhagawatha’ Agari Raghurama, (singer-cum-director), died here on Sunday. He was 83.

He is survived by three sons and a daughter.

Mr. Raghurama, from Surathkal, died in a private hospital in the city, his family sources said. Mr. Raghurama hailed from a family that was into Yakshagana. His father, Agari Srinivasa, was also a well-known bhagawatha.

He had quit his job as a clerk in the Education Department after working for nine years to become a professional artiste. He worked as the bhagawatha in the erstwhile Mahammayi Krupaposhita Yakshagana Mandali, Surathkal, for 35 years.

Mr. Raghurama had a typical style of singing which became popular as ‘Agari shaili’. Some of the contemporary bhagawathas in the Tenku Thittu school of Yakshagana now sing in the same style.

He was the contemporary of doyens of Yakshagana such as late Sheni Gopalakrishna Bhat, late Malpe Shankaranarayana Samaga, late Tekkatte Ananda Master, and late Puttur Narayana Hegde.

Mr. Raghurama had won a number of awards.