Padma Shri awardee Mogulaiah turns daily wager to fulfil basic needs

Darshanam Mogulaiah, the 73-year-old artiste who was honoured with the Padma Shri award two years ago for reinventing the rare musical instrument kinnera, was recently found working as a daily wager at a construction site at Turkayamjal near Hyderabad.

The post-award grant of Rs 1 crore in cash from the Telangana government on his family exigencies, leaving the artiste struggling to fulfil his basic needs.

The father of nine children expressed his struggle, citing medical expenses for his son and the discontinuation of a Rs 10,000 monthly honorarium.

"One of my sons suffers from seizures. For medicines, I need Rs 7,000 per month only for myself. Then there are medical tests and other expenses," Mogulaiah told TOI.

"What's worse, when I approached the government offices for help, many people clicked photos with me and circulated them saying I am begging for existence. It is really painful," Mogulaiah informed TOI.

In the past, the artiste had also visited the Rangareddy collector's office at least thrice. But every time he found a new collector there. He said he was always received well by the officials and they had also promised him to allot a piece of land near Hayathnagar. However, nothing has been done so far, the TOI reported.

Mogulaiah, who was drafted by the popular Telugu star and Jana Sena Party founder Pawan Kalyan, has preserved the art of playing the 12-stair kinnera, an indigenous stringed instrument that is not used in the music industry. The instrument is associated predominantly with Dalit and tribal communities, such as the Dakkalis, the Madigas and the Chenchus.

Mogulaiah is from a Madiga family. He grew up in the Ausalikunta village of the Lingala mandal in Telangana's Nagarkurnool district, along the stretches of the Nallamala forests. 

As this art form is on the verge of dying, folk singers such as Mogulaiah are the only hope to keep it alive.