Darshanam Mogilaiah | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Mogilaiah in 2016 | |
| Born | 1951 (1951) Ausalikunta,Nagarkurnool district,Hyderabad State, India |
| Awards | Padma Shri (2022) |
Darshanam Mogilaiah (1951), also known asKinnera Mogulaiah, is an Indian artist from the state ofTelangana and is one of the few surviving performers of a tribal musical instrument known by the name Kinnera.[1] The kinnera is a stringed instrument much like aveena whose origin can be traced back to as early as the 4th centuryCE. The instrument is indigenous to thenomadic tribes and theDalit communities in theDeccan Plateau such as the Dakkali,Madiga and theChenchu. There are kinneras with different numbers of stairs or steps. Mogilaiah's forefathers were pioneers in making and playing kinneras having different numbers of stairs. His father had made a nine-stair kinnera. Mogilaiah is the first person to create a 12-stair kinnera and is the only artist who made and plays the 12-step kinnera.[2] In 2022, the Govt. of India honoured him with thePadma Shri award for his contributions as a kinnera musician.[3]
Darshanam Mogilaiah hailed from aMadiga (Dalit) family in the Ausalikunta village ofLingal mandal inNagarkurnool district of Telangana along the stretches ofNallamala Hills. He has had not much formal education and has had no steady job with an assured income. He has seen much hardships and his life had been very difficult eking out a living doing odd jobs like a daily wager in construction sites. He had worked as a laborer for 14 years in Adilabad, Karimnagar and Warangal. He had also worked at a construction site in Mumbai.[4]
In a sense, Mogilaiah reinvented the kinnera. Kinnera is a two-stringed instrument made using indigenous materials likebamboo, dried outer shell of roundbottle gourd,honeycomb, bull horn,beads, mirrors andpeacock feathers. His ancestors made the kinnera with seven, eight or nine stairs. He was the first to make a kinnera with 12 stairs. His forefathers used women's hair, horse-tail hair and even animal nerves as the strings. He replaced the nerves with metal strings. Mogilaiah learned the art of playing kinnera from his father Yellaiah. He had started traveling with his father from the age of eight. Now, Mogilaiah has been singing folk tales of local heroes for over five decades, heroes who all helped the poor like Pandugolla Sayanna, Endavetla Pakiraiah and Miya Saab, all of whom helped the poor.[4]
Mogilaiah's forefathers are believed to have played the kinnera in the court of theRaja of Wanaparthy about 400 years ago. Wanaparthy Samsthanam or Raja of Wanaparthy was a vassal of the Nizam of Hyderabad. It was one of the three important Samsthanams, the other two beingGadwal Samsthanam and Jatprole Samsthanam. He has sung a part of the title song of the 2022Telugu language action drama film,Bheemla Nayak directed bySaagar K Chandra and starringPawan Kalyan.[4]
Mogilaiah's second son Mahender accompanied his father for the kinnera performances in cultural programs held in different parts of the country. Mahendar later learnt to play kinnera and took his father's legacy forward.[5]