Nov/Dec 2013 Shiva Vishnu Temple Kumbhabhishekam

Gods must have been very satisfied with the Shiva Vishnu Temple of South Florida Kumbhabhishekam.  It was as if Varuna Bhagawan did another Kumbhabhishekam after the priests had done.  But Varuna was very careful not to impede any festivities by allowing the procession to finish and the devotees were safely inside the Temple or in the Fellowship hall or in one of those nicely erected tents.  The rain relented after the energy has been re-transferred to the Vigrahas – how about that?  How about those Garudas circling high above the Raja Gopurams exactly at the time of Kumbhabhishekam?  First there was this lonely Garuda and several others followed and they all vanished out of sight after the event.  It was indeed a heavenly blessing.

It is impossible to capture in words the three days of festivities, but I will try my best to provide my experiences.  To appreciate the entire event one needs to splice together several such viewpoints.  First, allow me to give a broad brushstroke of the festivities before going into details.  I would like to tip my hat to the organizers for going into minutest details and executing in grand style.  I would recommend that this should be documented as a model to be followed by other organizers.  A lot of meticulous planning went in to execute such a phenomenal event.  I have not seen Vaikuntam or Kailasham but the decorations took us pretty close.  Our priests were augmented by several visiting priests who were extremely knowledgeable; their Veda chanting was simply divine.  The religious committee volunteers worked tirelessly to help the priests.  How about those who took care of the parking and transportation?  They worked outdoor for hours together day after day with a permanent smile on their faces.  Thanks to the kids who volunteered at the shoe stand – not a single shoe was misplaced.  Thanksgiving weekend is famous in the US for food.  We were served with what seemed to be a never ending supply of tastiest South Indian delicacies.  We will talk about the cultural programs, especially the Yaksha Ganam program.  The music from Nadaswaram and Thavil gave stiff competition to the silk sarees in adding color to the festivities.  It was also a sort of reunion with those who used to live in South Florida and move on elsewhere.  It was real nice to see the South Florida kids who had gone off to college or work come back and participate in big numbers.  Speaking of kids let me digress a bit.

Dr. Vivek Murthy who grew up in our community has been nominated to be the Surgeon General by President Barak Obama.  When he showed up at the celebrations, there was a rustle in the crowd.  The kid who never fails to give me a hug will be the “Top Doc” in the country.  Jayanthi disputes “Vivek hugs me first”.  Right, whatever makes you happy!  Now we will be lucky to hug the body guard!  The entire South Florida community is proud of Vivek’s accomplishments and we all wish him the best in the confirmation process.  Vivek – you will be a fantastic Surgeon General.  Let us get back to function.

Nov 29, 2013 (Day 1) – We were engrossed in the religious activities during the first half of the day following the Ganapathi and Sudarshana Homams.  Simultaneously a whole lot of cultural activities were taking place in the Fellowship hall.  One needs to omnipresent to view everything that went on.  Later I saw snippets of the songs and dances by the talented South Florida community kids.  Great job every one.

In the evening, we settled down at the Fellowship hall to witness the program called Samarpanam.  It was nice to hear a combination of music and dance to live music by the Community teachers.  I especially enjoyed the song on Kamakshi when the singers were thoroughly synchronized – nice job by Madhu, Vasumathy mami, Hema, Bhagi, Viji with Sanjay on the violin and Dr. Ramakrishnan on the mridangam.  Noteworthy among the dances was the one on Andal by Shilpa Krishnan.  I enjoyed the injection of Bhagavad Gita slokas in the middle of Sadinchane.  It was refreshing to watch the choreographed dances to a few Pancha Rathna Krithis. Sri Srinivas and his students from Tampa added color to the music with his mridangam.

I wrote earlier about the energy transfer from the main deities on to the mirror.  Today the reversal of that process started.  The energy from the mirrors was transferred to Silver Kalasams filled with water.  Now the water became sanctified.  There is one Kalasam for each deity which were then taken in procession to the pooja tent for the homam and veda chanting the following day.

Nov 30, 2013 (Day 2) –

The Kalasams were connected to the Shiva Lingam and Sri Venkateshwara by what looked like a 300 feet long dharbha strand.  As the Veda mantras were chanted the energy flows back into the Moola Vigrahas through those strands.

It was a great fortune to sit among the learned Ritviks from the community and the priests and chant Veda mantras.  Thanks to Rajesh who is trying real hard to teach us.  We participated in the chant of Rudram, Chamakam, Purusha Suktam, Durga Suktam and Sri Suktam.  Chanting such divine Vedas in unison can open pathways to higher worlds.  It was a fantastic experience.

In the evening again we planted ourselves in the front row in the Fellowship hall.  We were able to see a few dances by advanced students.  Shilpa Sridhar captivated the audience with her beauty, grace and talent.

Yaksha Ganam – I had no expectation as I have never seen Yaksha Ganam performance before.  It is a combination of dance, drama and music.  There were only two main dancers with a supporting dancer.  Audiences were taken aback when the Krishna character made a grand entrance with really elaborate costume.  The story was about Shayamanthaka Mani.  This is a story where Bhagavatham meets Ramayanam.  Here is the brief:

Krishna was blamed for the loss of the gem called Shayamanthaka Mani.  Krishna goes to the forest in search of the gem where he finds the king was killed by a lion and the lion was also killed.  Following the footsteps that led to a cave Krishna finds Jambavan who had the gem.  After a lengthy dialogue between the two, a fight ensues.  As Jambavan began to lose the fight, he sees his Lord Rama in the form of Krishna.  Jambavan gets his daughter in marriage to Krishna and returns the Shayamthaka Mani.

There were just three characters in the dance drama but coupled with their story telling it made it look like every character came alive.  I wish I knew Kannada to understand the dialogue – well that will be my retirement project to learn that beautiful language.  The artist who acted as Krishna is a professor but he was clearly a professional.  The main actor was Jambavan came fully alive at the scene right after his daughter’s marriage and departure.  Both of them had impeccable rhythm and gait.  Live music accompaniment actually faded into the background which speaks volumes of their dancing prowess. 

Dec 1, 2013 (Day 3) – Today is the main Kumbhabhishekam day.  It was real nice to see all families together so early in the morning.  After the daily homam, the Utsava Vigrahas were taken in procession into the temple.  This was followed by the Kalasams taken by the priests into the Temple.  After that devotees got a chance to take the Kalasams around the temple in procession.  With the Nadaswaram music preceding the entire community walked around the temple.  Each Kalasam is filled with sanctified water with the energy of the respective deity.  The energy is then transferred back to the deities with appropriate mantras and abhishekam of the sanctified water.  For those who stayed outside the temple were still able to witness the Kalasa Abhishekam through the closed circuit television installed at several spots in the campus.  The arrangements were simply fantastic – no words can describe. 

For those readers who have not been to the Shiva Vishnu Temple of South Florida, the installed deities were Shiva as Ekambaranadeshwarar, Kamakshi, Ganesha, Iyyappan, Saraswathi, Valli-Devayani sametha Murugan, Chandikeshwara, Navagrahas, Nandi and Dwaja Sthambam from the Shiva parivar.  From the Vishnu parivar we have Lord Venkateshwara, Lakshmi, Andal, Krishna, Rama parivar, Hanuman, Vishwakshena, Garuda and Dwaja Sthambam.  As you can imagine it is quite an elaborate process to transfer the energies from this many deities and transfer back.  It is also very impressive that our Agama Shasthras were so clear in instructing how to do this maintenance process.  It is both practical and deep.  The function concluded in the evening with Kalayana Utsavam of Lord Shiva and Lord Venkateshwara. 

Jayanthi joins me to express our gratitude to Dr. Ramu Iyengar for his leadership and Sri Govindaraj for his execution and our thanks to every volunteer in every committee for a job well done.  Let me conclude with our namaskarams to all the priests who conducted the function effortlessly.

2013 Nov - Nadaswaram Concert by Nakenthiran and Party

A long time ago, I heard a joke about why Nadaswaram is played in marriages.  When the “getti melam” is played during the time of tying the knot the decibel level of the instrument is so high making it hard for the couple to have second thoughts.  The music generated by the Nadaswaram and Thavil simply carries above the general chatter of the people attending weddings it will even drown out any harmful family gossip. 

For me, sitting in the front row for the Nadaswaram concert, forget about the second thoughts I did not even have first thoughts.  The music simply drove away all the thoughts allowing us to experience just the presence which is beyond thoughts.  For that, we are grateful to Mr. Nakenthiran and party for a sumptuous concert.  That could be the reason though many of us complained about the high volume but stayed through the concert.  Presence must be addicting.  Allow me to digress a bit and we will pick up from here shortly.

Our beloved singer within our community received a coveted “Aasthana Vidwan” title from Kanchi Sankaracharya recently.  It is none other than Sri Madhu Venkatesh Chandrasekar.  Well deserved title for someone who is innately talented, well trained and has worked extremely hard to achieve great heights such as this in his music career.  Jayanthi joins me in wishing you enormous success in the field of music and every aspect of life.  The entire South Florida community is very proud of having Sri Madhu in our midst.  Congratulations to his family as well for providing the support.  Nice job. 

Shiva Vishnu temple Kumbhabhishekam activities are happening around the clock.  It will culminate during the Thanksgiving weekend this year.  Along the way, we have some unique opportunities to experience a few rare events.  It is our strong belief that the Moola vigrahas inside the inner sanctum have the energy of their respective Gods invoked in them when the Temple is first built.  In the case of our temple, Sri Savyasachi Swamigal came to do the initial invocation or Prana Prathista at the time of the first Kumbhabhishekam.  Over the years through the chanting of Vedas, abhishekams, poojas and prayer of thousands of devotees the Sannidhyam or divinity has grown.  Now, it has been 12-years and it is time to renew the temple or do the Jeernodharanam followed by another Kumbhabhishekam.  The question is what to do about the energy inside these Moola Vigrahas?  During the recent Balalayam function, this energy was  transferred on to mirrors and saved for the next two weeks.  The energy will be transferred back during the Kumbhabhishekam.  It was interesting that strands of darbhai, a form of sawgrass, are used for this purpose.  One may ask – is this all hocus pocus?  Well, if you believe there is energy in those vigrahas then it can surely be transferred to another object and transferred back.  If you can believe thin strands of fiber optics can carry thousands of phone calls then surely darbhai can be the conduit to enable the transfer.  Let me leave it at that and allow people with more knowledge to carry on the dialogue.  Let us get back to the concert.

I must admit I enjoyed the Carnatic music part in the first half of the concert more than the film songs that followed.  But everyone enjoys songs from the evergreen film like Konjum Salangai and Thillana Mohanambal.

·    Vathapi Ganapathim in Hamsadhwani – started the concert powerfully.  The sahithyam part was done very well.  Swaras could have been stronger but overall a powerful rendition

·    Aravinda Lochana in Needimathi – took many of us for a loop in guessing this ragam.  Glided us through the song beautifully.

·    Ninuvina in Navarasa Kanada – when the alapana started I thought the song was going to be Papanasam Sivan’s “Naan oru vilaiyatt bommaiya”.  Let me put in the request for the next time.  Excellent alapana and very nice rendition of the song.  Thoroughly enjoyed it.

·    Ever popular “Kurai Onrum Illai” in Raga Malika – audience was in a music-high at this point.  Now the film song section:

·    Singara velane deva – abheri.  Probably an all time favorites among nadaswaram fans.  A difficult song with very intricate gamakams.  Took us back 50-years to this film era.  Nice.  I am going to list the film songs played so you can gain an appreciation (at least the Tamils among the readers) for the breadth and depth of the team’s knowledge of film music.

·    Thunbam nergaiyil (in Desh), Kannodu kanbathellam, Ponnonru kanden

·    Maraindirundu parkum (in shanmuga priya), Nalamdana, English note by madurai mani – great to hear Thillana Mohanambal songs back to back

·    Aiyyayyayyo anandame, Unnai kanaada (from Vishwaroopam), Nee oru kaadal sangeetham, Then sindude vanam, ENNa paravai siragadithu, Pakkathile kanni pennirukku (from padikkada medhai), Vinnodum mugilodum, Konja neram, Thakita thadhimi (from salangai oli), Innum konja neram?? – kumki, Amudhai pozhiyum nilave, Thaazhaiyaan poo mudichu, Povoma urgolam - chinna thambi, Radhaiyin nenjame, Uruguthe maruguthe

·    Nenjukkulle unnai from recent movie Kadal.  Responded to on the spot request from the audience.  A very difficult song to sing or play.  I thought the song was simplified and played in Nadaswaram.  Good attempt.

·    Thillana – from where else?  Thillana from Thillana Mohanambal, of course. 

Thanks to Ilangai Tamizh Manram and Sri Balasubramanian from arranging the concert.

2013 Aug - Dance Recital by Shilpa Sridhar

Dancing Dynasty

Shilpa Sridhar, who is a darling of our South Florida community, gave a fantastic dance recital on Aug 11, 2013 at the River of Grass Susan B Katz Theater. 

Let us set aside the dance part a bit and listen to the thank you speech again from Shilpa.  She did not just stop at thanking her parents for everything they have given.  Shilpa said she hopes to take care of them someday like she is being taken care.  That was a very inspiring statement for someone who just finished her high school.  It was nice to see mother-daughter team function also as a Guru-Sishya team.  Bringing up a child is tough enough, in addition bringing out the artistic talent is even more difficult – great job by Sangeetha Sridhar.  Jayanthi joins me in blessing Shilpa for the dancing dynasty to continue.  Congrats to the Sridhar family.

We have known Shilpa from her birth so obviously I will be a little biased.  I tried to set that aside and look at her dance from an outsider viewpoint to the best of by ability.  Congratulations to Shilpa as she has truly developed her “dancer personality”.  It is one thing to repeat what your guru has taught but it is a whole another thing to bring out your own personality into it.  That’s when a dancer truly begins to blossom in her art form and chalks a course for herself.  It is wonderful that she has captured that essence and I think those who witnessed will agree.  Speaking for South Florida community I would request Shilpa to give a solo performance at least once a year.  In addition, in during her undergraduate years at the University of Florida I am sure she will showcase her talent.  We are very proud that Shilpa is from our community.  We wish you the best in your life.

Pushpanjali and Jathiswaram – A striking beginning to the program.  Jathiswaram was in Ragamalika which made it look like we were witnessing several Jathiswarams back to back.  The ease with which Shilpa moved about on stage and her graceful fluid movements gave life to the music.  Her sense of rhythm was evident.  This set the tone for the program to come.

Varnam in Shiva Shakthi and Shivaranjani in Adi – here three generations were at work in this number.  Shilpa’s grandmother Smt. Vasumathy Swamy is truly a gifted Tamil poet.  She has composed many songs in the past and they have been set to music and choreographed into dance numbers.  This one tops it all – great job, Maami.  This Varnam is on Ardhanarishvara a celestial union of Shiva and Parvathi as one – symbolizes that male-female principles are inseparable.  This Varnam was written specifically for this program.  It was a 40-45 min piece demonstrating Shilpa’s mastery over various faculties of Bharatha Nrithyam and endurance.  There were a lot of scope for showing the bhavams especially the power of Shiva and the grace of Parvathi.  It culminated in bringing the two together with Shilpa depicting Shiva on her right half and Parvathi on her left.  The raga choice was also fantastic here in bringing out the true feelings of the song which was powerfully rendered by the orchestra making it a divine experience.

Illai, Illai in Ragamalika/Adi – Some of you may have heard the Hindi Bhajan composed by Sur Das called “Mai Nahi Makhan Khayo” popularized by Anup Jalota in recent times.  Inspired by that, this song takes two popular krithis of Oothukkadu “Thaya Yashoda” and “Illai Illai” and blends it into one number.  Krishna lies through the song to get favors from Yashoda and finally delivers the punch line that every complaint she heard was in fact true by adding “Poyye Illai” at the end.  Very similar to Sur Das’s clever punch line of “Mai Ne hi Makhan Khayo” meaning “I was the one who ate the butter”.  Now, let your imagination go on how Shilpa would have danced for this song.  Any song on Krishna is always a favorite of audiences of all ages.  Lot of happiness, humor and grace were presented in this song.

Maa Mayura in Bilahari/Adi – a catchy tune in a ragam that is favorite for many and well done by the orchestra.  Song depicts Lord Muruga riding on his beautiful peacock to come and bless the dancer.  Nice depiction of festivities and devotion to Muruga and graceful steps with Kaavadi. 

Sundara Kaandam in Ragamalika/Adi – Shilpa depicted the stories of Hanuman crossing the sea to find Sita in the Ashoka Vanam in Lanka.  Shilpa actually brought out those characters from within.  We all felt like flying with Hanuman and feeling the sorrow of Sita staying alone in Ravana’s land.  That shows the maturity of the dancer as she becomes the character she is depicting.  Nice.

Drupad in Purvi/Rupakam – well rendered with speed and agility.

Aug 2013 - Bharatha Natyam Arangetram by Bhavika, Aneesha and Shalini

A feast for eyes and ears

Bharatha Natyam Arangetram of Aneesha Balachandar, Bhavika Shah and Shalini Chandar successfully took place on Aug 3, 2013 at the beautiful Miniaci center of Performing Arts in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

Having multiple dancers in a debut performance has some advantages and challenges.  This allows a lot more scope for creative choreography which was nicely taken advantage by their teacher, Aparna Matange.  There is a huge pressure on the dancers to be in lock step with each other as even a slight miss can be picked by even untrained audience.  Kudos to the dancers as their years of training have paid off.  A lot of credit goes to Aparna for imparting the thalam knowledge to her disciples.  Overall, the performance was a real treat along with the musical ensemble.  Each dancer is very capable and I hope they stretch themselves to the challenge of giving solo performances in the future.  Jayanthi joins me in congratulating Shalini, Bhavika and Aneesha.

Before going to the song-by-song details I would like to have a word with you about the MCs, Sangeetha Ramkumar and Jigna Shah.  It is wonderful to have MCs who are accomplished dancers themselves.  Their explanation before each song with abhinaya was extremely educational.  They were both picture of grace and beauty on stage.  We have all seen this done by dancer themselves on occasion but this format is surely refreshing and thank you for giving us a unique experience.

Ganesha Stuthi – when the singer and mridangist started the evening with a beautiful rendering of a song on Ganesha we all knew this is going to be an enjoyable evening.  In Tamil we say “Kutchery Kalai Kattidithu” meaning the program is going to be wonderful.  Mridangam usually sets the tempo of a dance program and Sri Shankaranarayan set it beautifully.  The well trained voice of the singer, Bhavana Pradumna, was well suited for dance with a bit of huskiness in it and the mridangist was an experienced hand.  On the violin was our local maestro, Sanjay Chandran and on the Flute was Sreekrishna Pasumarthy.  They added color to the concert.  Nice job, overall.

Shloka and Alaripu – All our programs start with a dance seeking the blessings from Guru, God and the audience.  Alaripu is a warm up for the upcoming performance.  Also gave a peek into the choreography we are about to witness – nice touch.

Jatiswaram in Raga Hamsanandi/Rupaka talam – Aparna had a very well trained voice for rendering the Jati’s, it is no wonder as she is a trained singer as well.  Nice dance sequences individually and collectively.  It was like watching a kaleidoscope bursting in front of our eyes as the dancers moved in rhythmic patterns in their rich costumes.  The synchronization of the thalam among the dancers was pleasing.

Gajavadana in Sriranjani/Aadi – This was a solo performance by Aneesha, who was very graceful.  Her hard work through the years of training showed.

Varnam in Poorvi Kalyani/Aadi – As always, I enjoyed Sanjay’s rendition of Poorvi Kalyani on the Violin.  His intro piece to the song was nice and the singing by Bhavana was wonderful.  Varnam is usually the most challenging piece in any Arangetram as it tests every aspect of the dance – pure dance form, sancharis or story-telling, abhinya or acting and bhavam or expressions.  Varnam also tests your mettle as it usually goes on for about 40-45 min.  In a shared Arangetram the endurance test is lost a little as the choreography has to allow for each to showcase their individual talent.  But I can tell you that each one is capable of taking on the challenge of a solo performance.  I am hoping to see that very soon.

Pancharatna Kriti – Jagadananda in Natai/Aadi – very good song selection.  This is a well known krithi, loved by all music lovers, but first time for me witnessing as a dance number.   Choreography again is done well and executed beautifully by all the dancers.

Enna Thavam in Kapi/Aadi – another song composed by Papanasam Sivan Krithi.  Shalini gave a solo performance for this song.  Shalini had grace and beautiful expressions.  She beautifully acted out the part where Krishna was tied to a barrel and releasing himself.  Good job.

Jakkinidaru in Shankarabharaman/Aadi – well done

Yaro Ivar Yaro in Bhairavi/Aadi – a beautiful slow number with a lot of scope for abhinaya and bhavam.  Bhavika as a solo performer did a very nice job displaying Seetha’s mind as she watches Rama in procession through the streets of Mithila.  There were some light moments in the performance which was very enjoyable.

Thillana in Brindavana Saranga/Aadi – nice brisk dance with intricate footwork and poses.  Having three dancers again gave a lot of scope for unique choreography well taken advantage by Aparna.    

Nice performance by Shalini, Bhavika and Aneesha.  Accept our blessings for you to grow and achieve greatness in your life.  Having been trained in one of the greatest art forms in the world – keep that passion alive through the rest of your life.  You will never know when it will come in handy.  Keep up the great work.