Senior Yakshagana artiste and former MLA Kumble Sundar Rao passes away

He was the first professional Yakshagana artiste who got elected to Karnataka Legislative Assembly from the erstwhile Surathkal constituency in Dakshina Kannada in 1994 from BJP

Senior Yakshagana artiste Kumble Sundar Rao passed away in Mangaluru on November 30, 2022. He was 88 and is survived by his wife two sons and three daughters.

Rao was the first professional Yakshagana artiste who got elected to Karnataka Legislative Assembly from the erstwhile Surathkal Assembly constituency in Dakshina Kannada from the BJP in 1994. He represented the Surathkal Assembly constituency in the 10 th Karnataka Legislative Assembly till 1999.

He was the first chairman of the then Karnataka Yakshagana and Bayalata Academy. As the chairman of the academy, he instituted Parthi Subba Award to be conferred to a senior Yakshagana artiste by the academy annually in memory of Parthi Subba who is said to the father of Yakshagana.

A former MLA, Rao as the chairman of the academy had published the bio-data of Yakshagana artists in two volumes. It was the first such attempt to record the resume of Yakshagana artists of both Tenk Thittu and Badagu Thittu schools of Yakshagana.

A versatile orator Rao was also a well-known Talamaddale artiste. He lived at Pumpwell in Mangaluru.

P. Dayananda Pai and P. Satish Pai Yakshagana Adhyayana Kendra, Mangalore University had conferred him Yakshamangala Award for 2018-19.

He performed for a long time by being in Dharmasthala Manjunatheswara Yakshagana Mandali, Dharmasthala. Earlier he had also performed in Surathkal and Ira Yakshagana melas.