Kings, demons, Elon Musk Mark Twain

greatgrandson 32, is the harat Prabhath, one of Dasa, of traditional These were the great haridasas. in who performed storytellers Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra what are now

Maharashtra. and Tamil Nadu, singing, harikatha, involved

of Their art form, a bit often with philosophising, of dancing and tales enacted in. They typically

Ihave humour thrown epics. “But myths and a kings and demons, performed my great-grandfather says. also heard that Prabhath

Vivekananda,” harikatha on Swami an

idea This gives us early 1900s.

“This was in

Sback then.” were even harikatha, of how open trying to Prabhath is and retains

sure it is authentic while making that its essence . he was 19, but since

He’s been performing a harikatha

never watched so “I have was already was performed

in the way it performance

I have “The style Prabhath my back in the day,” from is based on additions. incorporated and my own and scholars, father, teachers Igoon every time like a newborn I still feel

and stage.” English in Kannada, Prabhath performs draws

his Sanskrit. He up on and Hindi, and is Purandara Dasa music also from the devotional

and Tamil, in Marathi ancient poetry songs. oration. writes his own extempore he breaks into Between songs, Twain; or Mark might quote time Here, he such as finding struggles in talk about everyday war Musk, the discuss to go to the of communism. and the decline Ukraine, terrorism attention through the audience’s This helps hold a function says, serving of a traditional that

this tradition:existed in that has long- deviate

is traditional or subplot. “It out of the upakatha to jolt people stories, just to unconnected A their reverie.” borrows a joke. just and Sometimes,

Sherlock Holmes one in which what favourite is the asks Watson camping. Holmes doctor Dr Watson go them. The good night sky above theology he sees in the

take on astrology, an elaborate does replies with universe. “What place in the and Man’s asks. he finally it it say to you, Holmes?” replies. “What

idiot,” Holmes

“Watson, you stolen our tent!” someone has tells me is that

Amid lush mountains, fed by rich rivers, there was once a region of great prosperity, and relative peace. Then came invaders from elsewhere who wanted the region’s riches. Bit by bit, then chunk by chunk, they claimed them. They were heroes in their own tale. So, for a time, they became heroes in this one too. And who doesn’t want to be a hero? The foreigners eventually left. They’d suffered crushing defeats and agreed it was time. But, as their ships drew away, the region they left wasn’t the region it had been. That is the story of colonialism around the world. And it is the tale of how India, along with precious metals and materials, lost many of its stories.

The tales, though thousands of years old, had lived on in their people. Most had never been written down. They’d been painted; carved into stone and wood; but a story must be told, in order to survive. Without the retelling, it fades. Over centuries, once-rich stories faded, in all corners of the land. And so it was that when the region found prosperity again, the people looked around in confusion. They had new metals and materials. But they knew there had been more.

This is how Sharat Prabhath might tell the story of India’s missing tales. It’s how his grandfather and greatgrandfather might have. He comes from an ancient line of storytellers. Now, he’s telling stories again.

His tales are populated with gods and goddesses, heroes, mythical creatures and magical worlds, but also celebrity bad boys and current affairs. He performs his harikatha (a form of traditional discourse mostly seen in peninsular India) in his mother tongue of Kannada, as well as in English and Hindi. As his ancestors did, he uses song and dance, humour, satire, even everyday events, to keep the narrative alive.

“For a long time, our traditional arts and crafts were looked down upon. Our practices were called primitive,”