Art to showcase village of Rani Abbakka

Mangaluru: The Karnataka Tulu Sahitya Academy is organising the 'Manel Gramododji Chitra Kuto’ on Saturday and Sunday in the village of Manel, where the palace of the legendary 16th-century warrior queen Rani Abbakka once stood.

The event aims to document the historical and significant sites of Manel village, near Gurupura in Mangaluru taluk. Academy chairman Tharanath Gatti Kapikad said that the Chitra Kuto will give emphasis to the village’s history and traditional crafts through paintings by invited artists.

“Artists have several historical places and structures closely related to the life of Rani Abbakka, who fought the Portuguese. Artists will document the traditional ‘Kattemar Mane’, a centuries-old house, Jain Basadi that existed since Rani Abbakka’s period, remains of a fort, an old Sooryanarayana Temple, and ‘Manel Pete’ a riverbank trade centre that has centuries of history. Italian traveler Pietro Della Valle had visited the Manel town and met Rani Abbakka in 1623,” he said.

The inauguration of the event will take place at 10am on Saturday in the auditorium of the Manel Sri Lakshmi Venkataramana Temple. The event is being organised in collaboration with Intach Mangalore chapter and Rani Abbakka Chavadi Manel.

Senior artist Ganesh Somayaji will inaugurate the programme. Prashanth Kumar Kattemar, descendant of the Kattemar family, Vaman Nayak, trustee of Sri Lakshmi Venkataramana Temple, Abdul Razak, president of Manel Jumma Masjid, and academy member Booba Poojary Manel will be present.

Kapikad said that during the inauguration, historian Pundikai Ganapayya Bhat will speak on 'The History of Abbakka in Manel Village,' and retired lecturer Prof Akshay Kumar will discuss the social and cultural background of Manel village. The two-day art event will feature participation from 15 artists from the district.

Artists including Wilson D’Souza, Santosh Andrade, Jeevan Salian, Harish Kodialbail, Reshma S, Deergha M, Nashmitha D Narayan, Shrikanth A, Abhishek Tirthahalli, Roopesh Suvarna, N Sandeep and Likhith Poojary will participate in the event, he said, adding that the academy has plans to release a coffee table book on the event.