Kundapur: Sleepy Mahishasura goes 'missing', gives auto driver a demonic fright!

Daijiworld Media Network – Kundapur (SP)

Kundapur, Feb 18: In an amusing incident reported near Byndoor here, a Mahishasura went 'missing' in the middle of a Yakshagana performance, only to turn up later after a ride in an auto rickshaw that scared the daylights out of the hapless driver!

Just imagine, what happens if an artiste expected to play a prominent role in a stage performance goes missing at the last minute? What will the Goddess do if she finds the demon she is expected to annihilate on stage by taking him by the horns, has no horns at all? These questions were answered in the Yakshagana play held at Byndoor.

As per a report in a Kannada daily on the incident, the Yakshagana episode, ‘Devi Mahatme’, was scheduled to be performed near a village located a little distance from the national highway 66 near Byndoor, in honour of a vow a family in the village had undertaken to appease a deity. The story relates to the destruction of demons by Goddess ‘Devi’, ‘Mahishasura’ being the most prominent among them. The person donning this role, who was ready to enter the stage with makeup, costumes, headgear, etc had some more time before he was to make an appearance to take on the Goddess.

As he was feeling sleepy, the artiste wanted to take a short nap, and found a cosy place in the trailer of a goods rickshaw parked nearby. The ‘demon’ jumped into it and took a short siesta. Within a couple of minutes, the driver of this rickshaw returned, and started to drive away the vehicle towards his home, unaware of the fact that the 'demon', waiting to be decimated by the Goddess, was sleeping in his vehicle.

After driving the vehicle for a couple of kilometers, the driver realized that there was someone in the cargo bay of his vehicle. He turned his head and saw through a small opening in the cabin, that a huge 'demon' was sleeping in the vehicle. Growing fearful of the prospect that some kind of phantom or soul of a deceased person had taken this shape and occupied his vehicle while crossing through forest region frequented by spirits, the driver increased the speed of the vehicle.

The ‘demon’, which had woken up by now, started pleading with the startled driver to allow him to return to the Yakshagana show to enable the performance to move ahead, trying his best to convince him that he was an artiste and not a spirit. By the time the driver was convinced about the claim of the person in the form a demon, the vehicle had covered a distance of about four km from the said village. The driver, who had been struck by fright, only allowed the artiste to alight from the vehicle. Without coming out of the driver’s cabin, he sped away as fast as he could, after unloading the 'demon', who was pleading to be dropped back at the venue of the performance but to no avail.

The artiste then started to run towards the stage where he was to perform, and by the time he neared the venue, his appearance was due. He was huffing and puffing when he entered the stage, unable to create the awe-inspiring entry of the demon, having lost all the energy. His spirits went further down upon realizing that the huge horns adorning his head, which are the hallmark of demon Mahishasura, had fallen off when he was running back to the village. The demon’s predicament provided amusement to the audience, who were now able to shrug out of their slumber and enjoy the goings on to the hilt.

In spite of what transpired, the show went off well and concluded successfully.

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