Tigers display prowess and battle each other for title

Mangaluru: Several hundred Pili Vesha (tiger dance) enthusiasts invested their Ayudha Pooja holiday in watching and enjoying ‘Pili Nalike 3’ competition for tiger dancers on Monday, October 10 at Mangala volleyball stadium. After two successful years of this event, the third year saw more audience than the previous years.

As many as 10 teams from Udupi, Puttur and Mangaluru participated in the competition for 21 minutes each. The teams consisting of 15 members each danced with zest and performed traditional acrobatics on a huge stage big enough to accommodate all their adrenaline boosted stunts.

What made it even better for the spectators is the huge pandal covering the whole event keeping sunlight from troubling the view. Seating facility for around 700 enabled early-birds to enjoy the view with comfort. The event drew such a huge audience that passers byscould not resist stopping by, even if it meant that they stand outside the venue and peep through the steel mesh. Though there were hundreds of two wheelers parked on the boulevard next to the venue, an orderly fashion was maintained.

The competition began at 12 PM after the formal inauguration which was attended by ‘Ulidavru Kandanthe’, Rakshith Shetty who dances with the tigers in the movie. Each team had a black tiger who is supposed to be the one with substantial prowess. During the show, the black tiger of each team must lift a tightly woven 38 kilogram rice lump with his hands tied on the back using only his teeth and a lot of power from the jaw, neck, back and leg muscles.

A thunderous applause, loud hooting and whistling was heard from the audience after every team’s performance. One team from Mulki had four tigresses among the six tiny tot participants who performed single handed cartwheels and flips. The team which won the hearts of the judges and the audience alike was ‘Rajalakshmi Tigers’ from Hoigebazaar in Mangaluru who followed traditional rituals of lighting the lamp before God and a mini procession with a deity and a prop, before they started their performance.

All the three judges, Venkatesh Bhat, K K Pejawar and Mithun Rai lauded Rajalakshmi Tigers for the effort taken to follow the rituals and disseminate the real traditions of Pili Vesha to the audience some of whom were new to the tradition.

As a token of appreciation for participating despite being the day where they go collecting money from households, the event organizers gave away Rs. 20,000 to each time. The best painted tiger, black tiger, mini tiger and pili vesha music team were each awarded Rs. 30,000 cash prize. Moreover, the elderly tiger mask and traditional percussion instrument makers were honoured for dedicating their lives for the love of the tradition.

While distributing the prizes to one of the teams, District Incharge Minister Ramanath Rai congratulated all the participants for giving a fine presentation of Mangalorean Dasara culture. “The old tradition of tigers dancing in every household has come a long way. This competition upholds the local culture of tigers bringing joy to every locality”, he said after he shared the news of Karnataka having four hundred which is the highest population of real tigers and not their painted human counterparts.

Mithun Rai, Head of Mangaluru Youth Congress is also the person who took lead in making three seasons of Pili Nalike competition happen in the city. He said that the main aim of this event is to encourage more and more tiger dancers to keep up the culture of the city. Naveen Kumar Shetty and Namma TV Producer Dr. Shivasharan Shetty helped Mithun extensively.

Superintendent of Police, Bushan Gulabrao Bhorase visited the event with his tiny tot daughter. Ace Yakshagaana producer and artist, Satheesh Shetty was also present.