The three-day Kittur Utsav will be inaugurated in Kittur on Monday. Apart from cultural programmes and sports events, it will have lecture sessions in which historians who have worked on the royal house of Kittur will speak.
An all-woman special session will focus on the war of Independence that was fought by Rani Channamma against the British in 1824, three decades before the first war of Independence in 1857.
Cultural programmes will be presented by film music director Hamsalekha and team on Wednesday night. Sanchit Hegde and team will perform on Monday night. Shamita Malnad and team will perform on Tuesday night.
Various local artists will perform songs, dances, plays and folkart forms on all the three days.
On Monday morning, Ministers Satish Jarkiholi and Lakshmi Hebbalkar will flag off the festival in Kakati, the village in which Rani Channamma was born and in Kittur where she ruled.
Minister for Kannada and Culture Shivaraj Tangadagi and legislators and leaders are expected to attend.
On Tuesday, resource persons Santosh Hangal, Prajnya Mattihalli and Basavaraj Chinagudi will speak on the history of the Kittur dynasty on the main stage inside the fort premises at 10 a.m.
Member of Legislative Assembly Babasaheb Patil will inaugurate the session.
Resource persons Y.R. Patil, Y.M. Yakolli, Veena Hiremath, Shankar Hambar, Rajshekar Ragate, Rajendra Gadad, Veerabhadra Koudi, Manjunath Kalasannanavar, Rajshekar Koti and Mahesh Channangi will speak on various subjects during the first session.
Scholars Sangamnath Lokapur, Shekhar Halasagi, B.C. Bidri, K.R. Melavanki, Gangadhar Dodwad, Rudresh Meti, Gajanand Sogalannanavar, Rajshekar Biradar and Mahantesh Kumbar will speak in the second session that starts at 12.30 p.m.
Ms. Hebbalkar will inaugurate the women’s session.
Writers Bharati Hegde and Vinoda Angadi, the former Zilla panchayat member Rohini Patil, P.V. Sneha will speak at the inauguration function.
Resource persons Manasa M.V., Sujata Hombali, Savitri Kamalapur, Sangeeta Kusugal, Jayashree Chunamari, Bharati Madabhavi, Swati Rao, Meenakshi Deepak and Bharati Mathad will speak.
Sports events such as marathon, kabaddi, volleyball, cycling and wrestling will be organised as part of the utsav.
The marathon will be held at the Rani Channamma Circle on Tuesday at 6.30 a.m.
Kabaddi match and volleyball will be held on the Kalmath School Grounds on Tuesday at 10 a.m.
Cycling will be held at Gajaraj Palace on Alnavar Road on Wednesday at 6.30 a.m.
Wrestling matches will be held on KEB Grounds on the Bengaluru-Pune National Highway on Wednesday at 3 p.m.
Deputy Commissioner and utsav committee chairman Nitesh Patil said that all preparations have been made for the festival in earnest. The State government has released ₹2 crore for the festival.
