Nandalike Balachandra Rao announced in the newspapers his plan to celebrate the 125th birth year of Muddana from December 1995 to December 1997 in a special, unique manner. The number of his admirers and culturally oriented people that came to support it was naturally large.
How many programmes were carried out by the Committee set up for the purpose of celebrating the 125th year under the presidentship of Balachandra Rao!
The first ever programme in this connection materialized in no other place than Nandalike, Muddana’s place of birth. In December 1995, in the front hall of Nandalike Palace, Muddana’s admirers joined the band of the hosts Shobha and Sandesh Hegde. For the first time in the history of Yakshagana a Yakshagana Ashtavadhana, a novel programme in relation to Yakshagana, was presented by a team of scholars headed by Dr. Kabbinale Vasantha Bharadwaj.
Muddana, who had composed unique Yakshagana Prasangas, was naturally highlighted in the programme. It was the late Sheni Gopalakrishna Bhat, a veteran Yakshagana expert of unequalled mastery, who lighted the lamp and declared the programme open.
The Kannada Sangha of Mangaluru hosted the second programme under this banner. Head of Kannada Movement in Mysore Dr. Ha. Ma. Nayak participated in the function and lent it dignity and decorum. Dr. Ha. Ma. Nayak himself released a book ‘Muddanana Shabda Pratibhe’ (The genius for vocabulary – Muddana) – a book painstakingly written by Dr. Na. Damodar Shetty, a well-known writer and literary thinker.
Udupi, Kundapura and Karkala Taluks were the haunts of Muddana. History was created in 125 High Schools of these three Taluks by an elocution and an essay writing competition on the theme of Muddana on September 14, 1996, Teachers’ day. This was an unprecedented programme that again created history. It was organized by the same Committee set up for Muddana 125 Celebrations, especially under the spirited stewardship of Balachandra Rao.