Okkaliga Kalashree award was given in memory of late Krishna Bhandari Gunavante to legendary artist of Yakshagana Mahadeva Patagara Hegade.

Sri Mantappa Upadhyaya's article on Mahadeva Patagara is for you.

From Memory Pages- 48
*Elite Artist Mahadev Patagara*

    A Peepul Tree seed fell on a stone can become an enormous. The seed of an interest on art is equally influential. There are few artists who can perform without practice, study or hard work just by their talent.”
     Mahadeva Patagar is an artist who learned Yakshagana¹ by watching the open stage performance with enormous interest from early childhood, not by the trainer or a Guru, made theater of Yakshagana enriched by performing naturally.

     During 1976-77, the Kamalashile Troop was performing on that time under the direction of Mahabala Hegde for a limited time. The companion artist in that team was Mahadev Patagar. The artist was from an economically poor background then and still is. But the richness of a life lived out of poverty without being influenced by it should be learned from the artist Mr. Patagar. It is a great talent to live soberly, without any complaint or intensity of need or greed. What a reticence that can cover up the scarcity, the inevitability of life. Always fun. Take a step as if it represents the originality of the ground soil. It is always yes and yes to the stage as well as to live life. He takes innocent pleasure in the available things. He is a simple heart and can be melted by friendly words.
 
    Mr. Patagar, who can act out all the feminine guises of the mythological episodes is a great artist. Especially Satyabhame of Maruti Pratap was unique. No artist who has taken birth to this day to forget us about all impressions created by Mr. Patgar. Aha! Awesome! Today, it is the like a motion picture running in my mind. In the act, the performance, one can see and feel the way in which the arrogancy that which despises and rejectis Krishna totally, the bubble of ego that had grown slow as Narada comes and praises it, hides wisdom as it is in the act of Satyabhama.

  In another act, Medhavini, the wife of Kiratha Kulinda, is a minute minimum character in Chandrahasa Charite. After getting Chandrahasa, the attraction of the play lies in the dialogue between Kulinda and Medhavini which makes the audience held on their toes for about one and a half hours. The talk of desi style, a knack for enriching the context without the subject or theme, making people curious, and the art of knitting conversation on the spot are the narrations of the talent of Mr. Patagar, at that time there was no other artist like him.

 I think that if any of the enthusiastic people who Read this article, record the demonstration of these two above mentioned characters performed by Mahadev Patagar, those will remain as an element of an exemplary glorious event.

     Now about four years ago he had a heart attack and had a stent implanted. At that time, though Mr. Patagar had started for me to ask for assistance, returned back home thinking it would become meaningless if I had forgotten the acquaintance of the artist. What more can be said about an artist who knows that personal respect and self-respect are more important than health and life.

    It is my understanding that this self-respecting artist, who does not want to stretch hand towards anybody despite of the economic disadvantage, still performs in various Yalkshagana troops in order to run and keep his art life. I think the same pattern of life made the life of best artist hide out of the main stream. I hope that this society will support Mahadeva Patagar who has retired from Yakshagana about fifteen years ago and lives in his village silently.

---Mantapa Prabhakara Upadhyay.

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