Daroji Eramma

Daroji Eramma, popularly known as Burrakatha Eeramma (1930 – 12 August 2014) was a folk singer and performer of the Burrakatha, a folk art form of epic storytelling from South India. She was awarded several awards including the Rajyotsava Prashasti in 1999.

Life Eramma was born in 1930 in a family from the semi-nomadic Buduga Janagama community, a scheduled caste tribe. She learnt the Burrakatha from her father Lalappa as a young adolescent, and had taught this folk art form to the members of her family and community.

Though illiterate, Eramma could perform twelve folk epics from memory, which amounts to 200,000 sentences and 7,000 pages in print. These folk epics include Kumararama, Babbuli Nagireddi, Baala Nagamma, Jaisingaraaja Kavya and Bali Chakravarthi Kavya. The Department of Tribal Studies, Kannada University, Hampi felicitated her with the Nadoja Award in 2003. Some of her performances have been recorded and published by Chalavaraju, a scholar of intangible heritage based at the Kannada University.