Propagating the culture of Oggu Katha

The Advisor for Government of Telangana, KV Ramana Chary launched Dr N Jnaneshwara Bhikshu’s book titled ‘Semiotics of Oggu Katha’ at Ravindra Bharathi recently.

Dr Bhikshu wrote the book with an objective to show the importance of ‘Oggu Katha’; an ancient culture of Telangana. It is a traditional folklore of Telangana which includes singing, praising and narrating the stories of Hindu Gods Mallanna, Beerappa and Yellamma. Usually the stories are narrated about Lord Mallanna Swamy (son of Lord Shiva) using the Damarukam (Jaggu).

“Dr Jnaneshwara Bhikshu spent his life to improve theatre arts. Oggu Katha shows the greatness of a language. We don’t have books about it in English. I believe this book helps in propagating the culture of the narrative worldwide. We have great artistes in Oggu Katha that includes Midde Ramulu and Chukka Sattaiah.

We are also planning to do a documentary on Chukka Sattaiah to show his great work on Oggu Katha,” said Mamidi Harikrishna, Director for Language and Culture Department, Government of Telangana at the launch.

“Arts have no limit. Oggu Katha is a great culture of Telangana. I was happy for this book and I am looking forward to encourage more material on Oggu Katha in the future. Government of Telangana is planning to organise many shows to propagate the greatness of Oggu Katha to the world,” said KV Ramana Chari after launching the book.

Chukka Sattaiah, an Oggu Katha exponent said, “I appreciate Jnaneshwara Bhikshu for this book. I will be happier if it is translated to Telugu as well.” Modali Nagabhushana Sharma, Devendra Sharma and Publisher Mahadevan were among those who were present for the launch.