'Paddana Kogile' Gidigere Rammakka passes away

Mangaluru: Gidigere Ramakka Mugera, a renowned ‘Tulu Paddana’ artiste, passed away on April 15. She breathed her last at her residence in Gidigere near Kateel. She was 102.

Renowned for her prowess in singing, she could flawlessly perform over 30 Paddanas, each spanning more than a thousand lines. Often, she would enchant her audience by reciting flok songs like ‘O Bele’, ‘Govinda Badane’, ‘Kanada’,  ‘Siri’, ‘Bantaru’, ‘Nallori Mama’, and ‘Abbaga Darage’ while engaged in planting paddy saplings in the fields.

Born to Kokra Muggera and Duggamma in Vamanjoor, Mangaluru taluk, Ramakka tied the knot with Kapeera Muggera at the age of 17.

Her profound knowledge of Tulu literature was inherited from her grandmother, who passed on to her the legacy of Tulu poems and Paddanas. Notably, her Siri Paadana was meticulously documented by the renowned writer and researcher A V Navada. This work was published as `Ramakka Mugerthi Kattida Siri Paddana’ by the Hampi Kannada University.

Ramakka received several prestigious awards, including the Veera Rani Abbakka award, recognition from the district Kannada Sahitya Parishath, Kateel temple’s Paddana Kogile, and the esteemed Rajyotsava award in 2015.

She is survived by her six sons and a daughter.