I started from my office by 5:30 PM on December 30, 2008 and took an auto to my relative's home, who had promised me to give me a ticket for Aruna Sairam's concert at Mylapore Fine Arts Club. I should thank my relative for being so generous to offer me a ticket for the carnatic music Rajni Kant's (?!) concert. Wondering why do I make such a comparison? Well there is a story behind this.
It was on December 27, morning at 8:45 AM. I went to The Music Academy for getting ticket for the evening concert which was none other than our super star Aruna Sairam. The ticket selling was started by 8:30 AM and with in 15 minutes all were sold out. Not even a balcony or LCD hall ticket was spared. I inquired an officer there why did it all happened? The answer was, today is like a Rajni Kant's movie release. Getting a ticket is not so easy.
Agreed? Can you understand why I did this comparison? Well. We shall continue our musical journey.
After getting a ticket from my relative, I went to the sabha, by walk, crossing all the traffic jams of the alwarpet junction. I crossed St.Isabels' hospital and the venue of the evening concert came. After getting my ticket punched, I entered the hall. Of course this place was not like the new sabhas with air conditioning etc. It was an age old building with false ceilings newly laid. I was sweating even in a margazhi eve. But these and all are secondary. I am going to experience a divine music in few minutes.
Well the curtains were unveiled. The star of the day, Smt Aruna greeted the audience with a traditional "NamaskAram". Sri B.V.Raghavendra Rao was on the violin, Sri Tiruvarur Vaidyanathan was on the mridangam and Dr.S.Karthick was on the ghatam.
A short alapana in the raga bhairavi followed by the ever green ata taala varnam viribhoni welcomed the divine evening. The varnam was singed in both first and second speed. While singing in the second speed, one could very well notice Aruna's style (biting and opening words or the swaras). Its her own style as that of Rajnikant's.
Tamil date for 30-12-2008 is 15-Margazhi-5109 Kali Era. 15th song in the Tiruppavai is Elle ilan kiliye. The song was rendered in the raga begada. The natural majesticity of the raga was very well maintained.
The third was the soulful kalyani. A worthy alapana and then GNB fame Vasudevayeni. Kalpana swarams for the song cant be described. So much of depth and dhuritham (fast notes). There is a phrase in Tamil - Anal parakkum - the swaras literally sparkled like diwali crackers(matthappu).
Then came the beautiful Saveri. The artiste started with a viruttham NaaL yen seiiyum and proceeded towards Muruga Muruga of Periyasamy Thooran. Misra chapu tala added beauty to the song. I dont know why, whenever I listen or sing a song set to misra chapu tala, I feel like swaying, sitting on a jhoola.
The tala contains the aksharams - Tha ki ta tha ka dhi mi (7 aksharams). Of these the first 3 (tha ki ta) is the effort spent by us for getting the speed. i.e placing our foot on the ground and rubbing. The next four (tha ka dhi mi) is the swing that we get after releasing our feet from the ground. This cycle continues and so does the song.
The next in the list was a refreshing hindolam. Aruna sang, Nambi kettavar, a composition of Papanasam sivan. The song was apt for the place as its Mylapore Fine arts and the song was on Thirumayilaiyin Iraivan - Kapaleeswaran.
Aruna has sung an ashta ragamalika (song with 8 ragas) in few of her concerts. In that, the raga keeravani was described as "suddha mei gnanam tharum keervani thaye" (keeravani will refresh one's mind and grant pure knowledge). The keeravani that she sang in the concert was no exception to this statement. The raga was so pure and orthodox. Aruna chose Kaligiyunte of Tyagaraja for the day. Niraval was placed at Baaguga sree ragu in the charanam. The swaras were as usual, rocking!
It will be a blunder, if I fail to mention about the tani avartanam. The tani by Karthick and Vaidyanathan was "THE BEST" that I had heard so far during this season. The same vaidyanathan, when I heard him playing for Unni Krishnan, the previous day in Margazhi Maha Utsavam, was not so appealing. But all of a sudden, in Aruna's concert, he was at his best. Both the percussionists played with their instruments. They tried to bring out impossible jathis, from low decibel to high decibel, but since Isabel hospital was nearer, the silence was broken by the ambulances. Minor disturbances arised due to problems in car parking. Despite of those disturbances, I could experience the divinity of the music.
Then came the majestic Kambodhi raga. The alapana lasted for 15 minutes. Predominant swaras were Ma Ga Pa Da Sa, Da Sa Ri, Pa Da Sa... That was followed by a rhythmic taanam. Along with the percussion instruments, the singer beautifully rendered the taanam. Not many will give a rhythmic taanam and Aruna is an adept in it.
The pallavi was - kaana kan kodi vendum vinnuyar gopuram thillayil. This was a mix of Papanasam Sivan's kambodhi raga song kana kankodi vendum kapaliyin bavani and Gopalakrishna Bharathi's kaanavendamo iru kann irukkum podhey vinnuyar gopuram.
The RTP was based on Nandanar Charitham.
The swaras in the ragam kambodhi needs a special appreciation. The singer sung the swaras in tisra nadai (three swaras per beat) and chatusra nadai (four swaras per beat) in an alternating fashion. The tala was adi tala (4 + 4 aksharams). First 4 were in tisram and the next 4 were in chatusram and it kept on alternating. The violinist too responded very nicely and in addition to the two nadais, he completed with a khanda nadai (5 swaras per beat).
Then came the ragamalika swaras. The first was mayamalavagowlai and Aruna hinted that by rendering Sivaloka nadhanai kandu song. The second raga was sriranjani and aruna sung, kaan vendamo. The third was nattakurinji and the song she sung was maraithirukkudhe maadu. The fourth raga was poorvikalyani and the song was sattre vilagi irum pillaai. Next was a short pallavi line in the raga subhapantuvarali and then she sang the full song - varugalamo in the raga maanji, quickly. Once the slow maanji was over, than came the swift kambhoji raga swaras and she returned back to the pallavi. There was a mini tani avartanam for 2 minutes.
Nandanar wanted to see the deity Nataraja in chidambaram temple and he went there. But the Nandi was obstructing his view of the deity. So he complained to the lord about this. The graceful lord, asked his Nandi to move slightly so that Nandanar could see easily. The Nandi obliged it's master's order and once Nandanar saw the deity he asks for attaining salvation, by singing Varugalamo.This theme was explained by the artiste at the end of the lengthy RTP.
That was a very wonderful, thought provoking and divine concert that I heard during this margazhi. Expecting to hear more and more concerts like this from the artiste in the coming years too.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Monday, December 29, 2008
Bombay Jayashree's concert at Music Academy
Followed by Nithyasree's concert, I went to Bombay Jayashree's concert on 26-December-2008 at The Music Academy, Madras. The concert was at 4:15 PM.
Even for this concert, getting a ticket is a marathon job. When I went to get the ticket at around 9 AM in the morning, all were sold out and the seats at LCD hall (Mini hall) started filling. Luckily there were some 5 tickets for Dais and I got one.
I was waiting in the queue near the dais entrance with lot of eagerness. I was sided by two old ladies who never stopped talking about the jewellery worn by artistes and the crowd for the concert and many more worldly affairs.I was praying to God that I should get a place in the stage without any hinderance from these kind of people. God answered my prayers. I got a place in the second row, from where I could see all the performing artistes.
The concert started with a calm nattai raaga alapana that was followed by Saraseeruhasana priye. The song was so serene and calm. Kalpana swaras were also highly commendable.
Then was the attractive nayaki. The raga, by nature, will be smooth. And when heard in her voice, it was smoother even. Jayashree's rendition of Nee bhajana gaana needs special appreciation.
Then was the master piece of that concert - Sree Balasubramanya in the raga Bilahari of Muthuswami Dikshithar. I had heard, Bilahari as a roaring lion. But Jayashree gave a new face to it. It was like a motherly lion with grace and majesticity. She placed the niraval at the charanam - kanaka valli devaseno. I was expecting kalpana swarams there. But she didnt. I thought there wont be kalpana swarams for this song today. No sooner did I thought than came the garland of swaras based on the pallavi sree balasubramanya.
This song was on the swamimalai (near Kumbakonam - my place of birth) swaminatha swamy I guess. The charanam had the lines swami shaila.. Also this kriti had mine and my sister's name. In the anupallavi, there were phrases Dheena sharanya and Prakasa Lavanya. One more kriti of Dikshithar Sree Subramanyaya Namasthe in the raagaa kaambodhi will also have such phrases.
Then was the gana ragA GaanaMoorthi and the song was of course Tyagaraja's gem - Gaanamoorthe. When Jayashree was about to finish the song, she rendered the words Gaanamoorthe which appeared to me like Gaanam oorudhe (Tamil words - Meaning - The music is getting soaked in oneself).
Then was the kharaharapriya raga alapana. It was handled traditionally but at the same time innovatively. The sahitya was the sweet - Raama Nee samaanam yevaru. The neraval at the charanam - Paluku paluku laku thEnE was so sweet like the honey (thEn!)
Ranjani is absolutely a challenging raga. But when handled properly it will melt the listener's heart. The result of the melting would be nectar. That happened during Jayashree's rendition of Ranjani raga ragam taanam pallavi.
Raagam was in pure ranjani. Tanam had a 3 storeyed structure comprising of Ranjani, Begada and Hindolam. Then came the pallavi on lord Muruga. It was set to Khanda jaathi triputa taalam in chatusra nadai. The ragamalika swaramin 7 ragas was a real garland. Ranjani, Begada, Hindolam, Hamsanadham, Janasammodhini, Charukesi, Kapi were wonderful and showed how strong was Jayashree in Ragam and Taalam. The kalpana swarams were really a feast for the listeners.
Then was the viruttham in the raga behag followed by Velane sivabalane. It was rendered with utmost bhakthi.
Then came a Jayadevar's ashtapathi in the raga karnaranjani. The composer has written with a sincerity and so did the singer sung that song.
The penultimate item was a tillana, written by Lalgudi Sri Jayaraman, in the raaga vaasanthi. I am happy that I was able to find that raga in the very start itself. Many were asking what that raga was.
The concert was concluded with the traditional nee naama rupamulanu nithya jaya mangalam in the raga sourashtram.
The concert was superb on the whole. But Jayashree could have announced the rare ragas once it was over as it could have avoided the unnecessary murmurings every now and then a rare raga was sung. Hope the artiste will do that from her next concert onwards.
Even for this concert, getting a ticket is a marathon job. When I went to get the ticket at around 9 AM in the morning, all were sold out and the seats at LCD hall (Mini hall) started filling. Luckily there were some 5 tickets for Dais and I got one.
I was waiting in the queue near the dais entrance with lot of eagerness. I was sided by two old ladies who never stopped talking about the jewellery worn by artistes and the crowd for the concert and many more worldly affairs.I was praying to God that I should get a place in the stage without any hinderance from these kind of people. God answered my prayers. I got a place in the second row, from where I could see all the performing artistes.
The concert started with a calm nattai raaga alapana that was followed by Saraseeruhasana priye. The song was so serene and calm. Kalpana swaras were also highly commendable.
Then was the attractive nayaki. The raga, by nature, will be smooth. And when heard in her voice, it was smoother even. Jayashree's rendition of Nee bhajana gaana needs special appreciation.
Then was the master piece of that concert - Sree Balasubramanya in the raga Bilahari of Muthuswami Dikshithar. I had heard, Bilahari as a roaring lion. But Jayashree gave a new face to it. It was like a motherly lion with grace and majesticity. She placed the niraval at the charanam - kanaka valli devaseno. I was expecting kalpana swarams there. But she didnt. I thought there wont be kalpana swarams for this song today. No sooner did I thought than came the garland of swaras based on the pallavi sree balasubramanya.
This song was on the swamimalai (near Kumbakonam - my place of birth) swaminatha swamy I guess. The charanam had the lines swami shaila.. Also this kriti had mine and my sister's name. In the anupallavi, there were phrases Dheena sharanya and Prakasa Lavanya. One more kriti of Dikshithar Sree Subramanyaya Namasthe in the raagaa kaambodhi will also have such phrases.
Then was the gana ragA GaanaMoorthi and the song was of course Tyagaraja's gem - Gaanamoorthe. When Jayashree was about to finish the song, she rendered the words Gaanamoorthe which appeared to me like Gaanam oorudhe (Tamil words - Meaning - The music is getting soaked in oneself).
Then was the kharaharapriya raga alapana. It was handled traditionally but at the same time innovatively. The sahitya was the sweet - Raama Nee samaanam yevaru. The neraval at the charanam - Paluku paluku laku thEnE was so sweet like the honey (thEn!)
Ranjani is absolutely a challenging raga. But when handled properly it will melt the listener's heart. The result of the melting would be nectar. That happened during Jayashree's rendition of Ranjani raga ragam taanam pallavi.
Raagam was in pure ranjani. Tanam had a 3 storeyed structure comprising of Ranjani, Begada and Hindolam. Then came the pallavi on lord Muruga. It was set to Khanda jaathi triputa taalam in chatusra nadai. The ragamalika swaramin 7 ragas was a real garland. Ranjani, Begada, Hindolam, Hamsanadham, Janasammodhini, Charukesi, Kapi were wonderful and showed how strong was Jayashree in Ragam and Taalam. The kalpana swarams were really a feast for the listeners.
Then was the viruttham in the raga behag followed by Velane sivabalane. It was rendered with utmost bhakthi.
Then came a Jayadevar's ashtapathi in the raga karnaranjani. The composer has written with a sincerity and so did the singer sung that song.
The penultimate item was a tillana, written by Lalgudi Sri Jayaraman, in the raaga vaasanthi. I am happy that I was able to find that raga in the very start itself. Many were asking what that raga was.
The concert was concluded with the traditional nee naama rupamulanu nithya jaya mangalam in the raga sourashtram.
The concert was superb on the whole. But Jayashree could have announced the rare ragas once it was over as it could have avoided the unnecessary murmurings every now and then a rare raga was sung. Hope the artiste will do that from her next concert onwards.
Nithyasree's concert at Music Academy
I had been to Nithyasree's concert at The Music Academy, Madras, on December 25,2008. It was a holiday for me as the day was XMas day.
After having a fine evening tiffen, I went to the academy nearly at 3:45 PM, half an hour before the start of the concert. There was a huge crowd and it was well organised as a long line.
Before describing about the concert, let me tell you the story how I got the ticket. It was about 8 AM in the morning. After completing my music class, I took an auto to the academy. There was again a big crowd for getting ticket. I approached the counter. They asked me to get a token first for getting the ticket. So I went to the token issuing person and got a token, specifying the ticket rate (balcony) and number of tickets needed. He wrote the same in a paper and gave a number for me. It was 83!
Then I was waiting in a chair, similar to the one that will be at hospitals for visiting a doctor or at the collector office for meeting a collector. I was waiting for my number to be called. 56, 57... 75..79.. 81,82..... 83. Yeah! It was my turn to get the ticket. I got the ticket.
With a sense of satisfaction of having achieved something, I went to home.
Now the time is 4:00 PM. I am waiting to enter the hall in the steps that proceed towards the main hall balcony. This reminded me of waiting in the queue at Tirupathi for getting the darshan of swami venkateswara. Finally after a long 30 mins waiting, I entered the hall and got myself seated at a comfortable place.
The time is 4:15 PM. I am eagerly waiting for the curtain to be raised. Two bells rang. Wow, the curtain raised and the artiste greeted the gathering and signed on for a wonderful start of the divine concert. Darbar raga adi tala varnam, kick started the concert. It was a good starter (like a hot vegetable soup). Then followed Tyagaraja's Nee daya radha in the raaga vasantha bhairavi. It made the environment lively. The fast kalpana swaras were superb. It was like popping up cheese balls during a dinner.
Then started the sunadhavinodhini raga alapana. I was a bit proud that I was able to identify the raga on hearing the very first line, when others were struggling for it. It took of very well and Nithyasree handled the raga very efficiently. Why because is the raga's structure is like S G M D N S - S N D M G S. If by mistake R (Rishabam) comes, it will turn to hamsanandhi. Such a delicate ragam is sunadha vinodhini. The song she sung was Mysore Vasudevacharyar's composition Devadi Deva. The kalpana swaras can be compared to an avalanche of electrons that will come from a laser beam.
Then was the Nattakurinji raga song Karunai Purindhu. This time, the raga was so soft, in contrast to Muruga that she sang in Jaya TV Margazhi Maha utsavam. May be since this song started with the word Karunai (grace) it was so soft, and the song Muruga, since it was Bharathi's song, It was majestic. In the song Karunai Purindhu, the words and the beats went hand by hand.
Then came the famous, Tyagaraja yoga vaibhavam in the raga Ananda bhairavi. No body can beat her grand mother smt DKP in Dkshithar kritis. And here too the same. Each and every syllable was perfect. One need to note the science embedded in the kriti. The concept of differentiation (Big to Small) and integration (Small to big) can be observed in this kriti.
Differentiation in the pallavi - Tyagaraja yoga vaibhavam - agaraja yoga vaibhavam - raja yoga vaibhavam - yoga vaibhavam - vaibhavam - bhavam - vam.
Integration in the charanam - Prakasam - Thathva swaroopa Prakasam - sakala thathva svaroopa prakasam - siva sakthyathi sakala thathva svaroopa prakasam.
The raga mudra and the sahitya kara mudra is given in such a nice way by dikshithar. He describes, Tyagaraja as Sri Guruguha gurum sachidhanandhabhairaveesam. A nice kriti.
Then came the majestic Kambodhi ragam. Nithyasree sang, Sri Raguvara. The rendition of swaras for each and every line of charanams was quite innovative. Aalapana was studded with phrases - P D S - P D S R - P D S R G and so on. The violinist Sri M.A.Krishnaswamy replied for those phrases with GNB Style of swaras - P D S - D S R - S R G - R G P and it was "sabaash sariyana pOtti". For this song, Nithyasree gave tani avartanam. It was a real laya sancharam.
Then was the beautiful Karnaranjani. Nithyasree sang an RTP (Ragam Tanam Pallavi) in this raga. It was a wonderful RTP. Pallavi was about sri Maha vishnu. It was set to the talam Thisra jaathi Jampha taalam in sankeerna nadai. This pallavi educated me about the combinations of taalas and nadais. Here every beat should contain 9 sub beats and there should be 6 beats per aavartanam. That is 123 1 12 is the form of the taalam. Each and every aksharam was crystal clear and I could see that sitting from the last row of balcony.
The pallavai was followed by ragamalika swaras consisting of 16 ragas excluding Karna ranjani. Bhoopalam, Kaanadaa, Jaganmohini, Ataanaa, Amruthavarshini, Nalinakaanthi, Neelaambari, Kalyanavasantham, suddha saranga, Janasammodhini, madhuvanthi, naattai, Gowlai, aarabhi, varaali, sree and then back to karna ranjani. It was a 16 storeyed building built out of 16 ragas.
Then was the sidhubhairavi raga viruttham followed by a song - Adi deva paramathma, about Lord Venkateswara of Tirupathi.
Then was her fame - Kandha nee oru malaivasi in the raga - Ahirbhairavi. It was simply superb.
Then came the swift, valaji raga tillana. Nithyasree stressed twice on the raga mudra "valarseela migu pazhani...". I dont know how many would have noted it.
The whole concert was maintained in the same pace. The open throated singing of Nithyasree added beauty to the concert. Every swara was clear and so the words too.
After having a fine evening tiffen, I went to the academy nearly at 3:45 PM, half an hour before the start of the concert. There was a huge crowd and it was well organised as a long line.
Before describing about the concert, let me tell you the story how I got the ticket. It was about 8 AM in the morning. After completing my music class, I took an auto to the academy. There was again a big crowd for getting ticket. I approached the counter. They asked me to get a token first for getting the ticket. So I went to the token issuing person and got a token, specifying the ticket rate (balcony) and number of tickets needed. He wrote the same in a paper and gave a number for me. It was 83!
Then I was waiting in a chair, similar to the one that will be at hospitals for visiting a doctor or at the collector office for meeting a collector. I was waiting for my number to be called. 56, 57... 75..79.. 81,82..... 83. Yeah! It was my turn to get the ticket. I got the ticket.
With a sense of satisfaction of having achieved something, I went to home.
Now the time is 4:00 PM. I am waiting to enter the hall in the steps that proceed towards the main hall balcony. This reminded me of waiting in the queue at Tirupathi for getting the darshan of swami venkateswara. Finally after a long 30 mins waiting, I entered the hall and got myself seated at a comfortable place.
The time is 4:15 PM. I am eagerly waiting for the curtain to be raised. Two bells rang. Wow, the curtain raised and the artiste greeted the gathering and signed on for a wonderful start of the divine concert. Darbar raga adi tala varnam, kick started the concert. It was a good starter (like a hot vegetable soup). Then followed Tyagaraja's Nee daya radha in the raaga vasantha bhairavi. It made the environment lively. The fast kalpana swaras were superb. It was like popping up cheese balls during a dinner.
Then started the sunadhavinodhini raga alapana. I was a bit proud that I was able to identify the raga on hearing the very first line, when others were struggling for it. It took of very well and Nithyasree handled the raga very efficiently. Why because is the raga's structure is like S G M D N S - S N D M G S. If by mistake R (Rishabam) comes, it will turn to hamsanandhi. Such a delicate ragam is sunadha vinodhini. The song she sung was Mysore Vasudevacharyar's composition Devadi Deva. The kalpana swaras can be compared to an avalanche of electrons that will come from a laser beam.
Then was the Nattakurinji raga song Karunai Purindhu. This time, the raga was so soft, in contrast to Muruga that she sang in Jaya TV Margazhi Maha utsavam. May be since this song started with the word Karunai (grace) it was so soft, and the song Muruga, since it was Bharathi's song, It was majestic. In the song Karunai Purindhu, the words and the beats went hand by hand.
Then came the famous, Tyagaraja yoga vaibhavam in the raga Ananda bhairavi. No body can beat her grand mother smt DKP in Dkshithar kritis. And here too the same. Each and every syllable was perfect. One need to note the science embedded in the kriti. The concept of differentiation (Big to Small) and integration (Small to big) can be observed in this kriti.
Differentiation in the pallavi - Tyagaraja yoga vaibhavam - agaraja yoga vaibhavam - raja yoga vaibhavam - yoga vaibhavam - vaibhavam - bhavam - vam.
Integration in the charanam - Prakasam - Thathva swaroopa Prakasam - sakala thathva svaroopa prakasam - siva sakthyathi sakala thathva svaroopa prakasam.
The raga mudra and the sahitya kara mudra is given in such a nice way by dikshithar. He describes, Tyagaraja as Sri Guruguha gurum sachidhanandhabhairaveesam. A nice kriti.
Then came the majestic Kambodhi ragam. Nithyasree sang, Sri Raguvara. The rendition of swaras for each and every line of charanams was quite innovative. Aalapana was studded with phrases - P D S - P D S R - P D S R G and so on. The violinist Sri M.A.Krishnaswamy replied for those phrases with GNB Style of swaras - P D S - D S R - S R G - R G P and it was "sabaash sariyana pOtti". For this song, Nithyasree gave tani avartanam. It was a real laya sancharam.
Then was the beautiful Karnaranjani. Nithyasree sang an RTP (Ragam Tanam Pallavi) in this raga. It was a wonderful RTP. Pallavi was about sri Maha vishnu. It was set to the talam Thisra jaathi Jampha taalam in sankeerna nadai. This pallavi educated me about the combinations of taalas and nadais. Here every beat should contain 9 sub beats and there should be 6 beats per aavartanam. That is 123 1 12 is the form of the taalam. Each and every aksharam was crystal clear and I could see that sitting from the last row of balcony.
The pallavai was followed by ragamalika swaras consisting of 16 ragas excluding Karna ranjani. Bhoopalam, Kaanadaa, Jaganmohini, Ataanaa, Amruthavarshini, Nalinakaanthi, Neelaambari, Kalyanavasantham, suddha saranga, Janasammodhini, madhuvanthi, naattai, Gowlai, aarabhi, varaali, sree and then back to karna ranjani. It was a 16 storeyed building built out of 16 ragas.
Then was the sidhubhairavi raga viruttham followed by a song - Adi deva paramathma, about Lord Venkateswara of Tirupathi.
Then was her fame - Kandha nee oru malaivasi in the raga - Ahirbhairavi. It was simply superb.
Then came the swift, valaji raga tillana. Nithyasree stressed twice on the raga mudra "valarseela migu pazhani...". I dont know how many would have noted it.
The whole concert was maintained in the same pace. The open throated singing of Nithyasree added beauty to the concert. Every swara was clear and so the words too.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Ranjani & Gayathri concert in Jaya TV
Sisters will always make anything in this world enjoyable. I do have a sister. When I am with her, I will enjoy my life to the core.
This is applicable to Carnatic Music too. Bombay Sisters, Priya Sisters, Chinmaya Sisters, Hyderabad Sisters and the list goes.
The vocal concert of Ranjani and Gayathri is no where exception to the fact. It was a lovely concert.
This was telecasted on 17-12-2008. The theme of the concert is Hari smaranam.
The first song was well settled Nayaki raga kriti of Sri Muthuswamy Dikshitar, Ranganayakam bhaavaye. Each and every phrase of the kriti was rendered with utmost sincerity. Both their voices were in unison. Absolute tonal perfection can be observed.
The next song was Pankaja lochana in the raga kalyani. This was elaborated nicely. Gayathri's alapana needs a big appreciation. The raga bhaavaa was completely delivered and it reached the listeners in its full form.
Then came a Tamil virutham that was set to ragamalika, comprising of Shanmukapriya, Mohanam and Hamsanandhi
On that very day, in the morning, I read a review of a concert by a critic. In that he mentioned about few people pronuncing sa in Tamil as sha and Tamil language has no sha kind of thing. I could observe that in the sister's rendition.
Srinivasa thiruvenkata followed the viruttham.
Then was the song depicting the theme. Hari smarane mado in the raga yaman kalyani was highly commendable.
Then came their trade mark, Bholo vittal - Abhang based on chakravagam ragam. That song added divinity to the concert. Especially the rendition of Vittal vittal in a swift manner by Ranjani and Vittalaa like a raga alaapana by Gayathri was a good mix indeed.
To sum up, the concert was a nice treat to music lovers.
This is applicable to Carnatic Music too. Bombay Sisters, Priya Sisters, Chinmaya Sisters, Hyderabad Sisters and the list goes.
The vocal concert of Ranjani and Gayathri is no where exception to the fact. It was a lovely concert.
This was telecasted on 17-12-2008. The theme of the concert is Hari smaranam.
The first song was well settled Nayaki raga kriti of Sri Muthuswamy Dikshitar, Ranganayakam bhaavaye. Each and every phrase of the kriti was rendered with utmost sincerity. Both their voices were in unison. Absolute tonal perfection can be observed.
The next song was Pankaja lochana in the raga kalyani. This was elaborated nicely. Gayathri's alapana needs a big appreciation. The raga bhaavaa was completely delivered and it reached the listeners in its full form.
Then came a Tamil virutham that was set to ragamalika, comprising of Shanmukapriya, Mohanam and Hamsanandhi
On that very day, in the morning, I read a review of a concert by a critic. In that he mentioned about few people pronuncing sa in Tamil as sha and Tamil language has no sha kind of thing. I could observe that in the sister's rendition.
Srinivasa thiruvenkata followed the viruttham.
Then was the song depicting the theme. Hari smarane mado in the raga yaman kalyani was highly commendable.
Then came their trade mark, Bholo vittal - Abhang based on chakravagam ragam. That song added divinity to the concert. Especially the rendition of Vittal vittal in a swift manner by Ranjani and Vittalaa like a raga alaapana by Gayathri was a good mix indeed.
To sum up, the concert was a nice treat to music lovers.
Kadri Gopalnath's concert in Jaya TV
I heard the first concert of Margazhi Maha utsavam concert series in Jaya TV that started on 16-12-2008. That was Kadri Gopalnath's concert. Violinist was Kanyakumari. She followed each and every movement of Kadri like a shadow.
The concert started with the Brisk Bahudari raga kriti of Tulasi vanam, Bhaja Maanasa vigneshwaram anisam. The mood was set perfectly. This served as a starter for the deep bhairavi raga swarajati of sri shyama sastri. Kamakshi Amba was rendered with more attention to the raga bhavam.
Amruthavarshini was the main item. The joyous nature of the raga was very well portrayed.
The final one was the soft kapi raga song by Papanasam Sivan, Yennathavam seidhane.
All together the concert was a good start for the festive season - Isai vizha.
The concert started with the Brisk Bahudari raga kriti of Tulasi vanam, Bhaja Maanasa vigneshwaram anisam. The mood was set perfectly. This served as a starter for the deep bhairavi raga swarajati of sri shyama sastri. Kamakshi Amba was rendered with more attention to the raga bhavam.
Amruthavarshini was the main item. The joyous nature of the raga was very well portrayed.
The final one was the soft kapi raga song by Papanasam Sivan, Yennathavam seidhane.
All together the concert was a good start for the festive season - Isai vizha.
Mahakavi - Thematic Concert by Nithyasree
I watched Nithyasree's concert in Jaya TV for Margazhi Maha Utsavam, on 22-12-2008.
It was simply superb. The theme Maha Kavi was interesting.
The first song, pozhudu pularndadhu, rendered in the form of varnam in malayamarutham ragam was very innovative. The rendition of Sa and Pa in the Chitta swaram with brihas were fantastic.
The second song vettri yettu in Mohanam is another feather on your cap, that proudly proclaims the DKP tradition.
Every single swara was crystal clear. Sa Ri | Da Sa | Paa Da Pa Gaa Ri| Sa Ri Ga Ga Paa (Vettri | Yettu | Dhikkum yetta | kottu murasE) amazing.
Then was the nattakurunji raga viruttham followed by Muruga song. It was very swift and I am sure it would have enthralled the audience. The akaarams that were used here were excellent. The different ways that you took the pallavi line Muruga (arai yedam, kaal yedam) was a real taala sanchaaram.
Then came the beautiful Kanada, my all time favourite. The song Vande Mataram Yenbom was rendered with melody and majesticity. The kalpana swaras were really soul stirring. I enjoyed a lot. The swara prayOgams Ga Ma Ri Sa in higher octaves were really excellent.
Chinnanjiru kiliye song was nice. But I felt that it could have been even more soft and could have been a little slower. I was listening to it, but suddenly the song ended.
The next song Dhikkukkal yettum about Rain in Hamsanadham was wonderful. My observation is that, only in this song, The percussion instruments took off. This doesn't mean that for the other songs they were waste, but it was nice for that song.
When compared to other concerts of Nithyasree, this concert, the strength of accompaniments was very low. Only strength was her singing. This concert turned out to be a one woman army.
The madhyamavathy song was a nice ending for the thematic concert.
It was simply superb. The theme Maha Kavi was interesting.
The first song, pozhudu pularndadhu, rendered in the form of varnam in malayamarutham ragam was very innovative. The rendition of Sa and Pa in the Chitta swaram with brihas were fantastic.
The second song vettri yettu in Mohanam is another feather on your cap, that proudly proclaims the DKP tradition.
Every single swara was crystal clear. Sa Ri | Da Sa | Paa Da Pa Gaa Ri| Sa Ri Ga Ga Paa (Vettri | Yettu | Dhikkum yetta | kottu murasE) amazing.
Then was the nattakurunji raga viruttham followed by Muruga song. It was very swift and I am sure it would have enthralled the audience. The akaarams that were used here were excellent. The different ways that you took the pallavi line Muruga (arai yedam, kaal yedam) was a real taala sanchaaram.
Then came the beautiful Kanada, my all time favourite. The song Vande Mataram Yenbom was rendered with melody and majesticity. The kalpana swaras were really soul stirring. I enjoyed a lot. The swara prayOgams Ga Ma Ri Sa in higher octaves were really excellent.
Chinnanjiru kiliye song was nice. But I felt that it could have been even more soft and could have been a little slower. I was listening to it, but suddenly the song ended.
The next song Dhikkukkal yettum about Rain in Hamsanadham was wonderful. My observation is that, only in this song, The percussion instruments took off. This doesn't mean that for the other songs they were waste, but it was nice for that song.
When compared to other concerts of Nithyasree, this concert, the strength of accompaniments was very low. Only strength was her singing. This concert turned out to be a one woman army.
The madhyamavathy song was a nice ending for the thematic concert.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Frank Speaking
Frank speaking - Is it possible?
Many will say Yes. But I say its not possible. Even if we speak, we are highly prone to get more bad opinions like - he/she will not speak softly or he or she doesnot know how to speak.
Consider this case - There is a relative who use to come to your home regularly. He/she will always torture us by saying something foolish and expecting us to say he/she is a genius. If you are a frank speaking person, if you say to him/her that he/she is talking ridiculously, imagine what will happen. If the relative is an easy going person, no problem. On the other hand, if that relative is a sort of person who cant accept bad facts about him/her, you will be getting a bad name in his perspective.
The same case is with your boss or even with your friend or spouse.Frank speaking is not always 100% possible. It has its own limitations.
You can speak up openly. But the next time, you cant see the person to whom you spoke frankly, with the same comfort level that the person had with you, before you spoke.
Many will say Yes. But I say its not possible. Even if we speak, we are highly prone to get more bad opinions like - he/she will not speak softly or he or she doesnot know how to speak.
Consider this case - There is a relative who use to come to your home regularly. He/she will always torture us by saying something foolish and expecting us to say he/she is a genius. If you are a frank speaking person, if you say to him/her that he/she is talking ridiculously, imagine what will happen. If the relative is an easy going person, no problem. On the other hand, if that relative is a sort of person who cant accept bad facts about him/her, you will be getting a bad name in his perspective.
The same case is with your boss or even with your friend or spouse.Frank speaking is not always 100% possible. It has its own limitations.
You can speak up openly. But the next time, you cant see the person to whom you spoke frankly, with the same comfort level that the person had with you, before you spoke.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
The whole world can learn for free!
Chennai based Softsmith Infotech have started an initiative to teach netizens lot of things about IT, through Webinars. The Webinar is absolutely free.
Many more courses are added.
For more details about the courses and for registering, click here
Once registered you will receive an email confirming your registration with information you need to join the Webinar.
All we need is a PC, internet connection and a headset.
In future, there will be more webinars too. dont miss this golden opportunity. Please do tell your friends.
They are offering this as a service to the society. Just wanted to share with you the benefits that I got out of these webinars.
Many more courses are added.
For more details about the courses and for registering, click here
Once registered you will receive an email confirming your registration with information you need to join the Webinar.
All we need is a PC, internet connection and a headset.
In future, there will be more webinars too. dont miss this golden opportunity. Please do tell your friends.
They are offering this as a service to the society. Just wanted to share with you the benefits that I got out of these webinars.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Svanubhava
To all young students of Carnatic music:
Popular vocalists Sri.T.M.Krishna and Smt.Bombay Jayashree Ramnath in association with YACM (Youth Association of Carnatic Music), Tamil Nadu Government Music College - Adyar, Kalakshetra and Music Academy - Madras are organising a 6 day workshop on carnatic music. Many popular artistes are giving concerts, lecture demonstrations, talks on Carnatic Music.
This event from Matrka (Founded by Jayashree and Krishna) will be a platform to learn more for many youths interested in music.
For more details, visit their blog -
Svanubhava
Popular vocalists Sri.T.M.Krishna and Smt.Bombay Jayashree Ramnath in association with YACM (Youth Association of Carnatic Music), Tamil Nadu Government Music College - Adyar, Kalakshetra and Music Academy - Madras are organising a 6 day workshop on carnatic music. Many popular artistes are giving concerts, lecture demonstrations, talks on Carnatic Music.
This event from Matrka (Founded by Jayashree and Krishna) will be a platform to learn more for many youths interested in music.
For more details, visit their blog -
Svanubhava
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
88888 Campaign
This is an initiative of EXNORA, as a movement to save our Earth. The idea behind this initiative is to save electric power and there by reduce the heat generated by glowing lights.
We are contributing towards global warming in many ways. When electrical appliances are running, it generates heat. The air conditioner, computer, television, refrigerator etc., emits lot of heat while functioning. Many of us will just lock our computers in office instead of turning it off. These heat will affect the atmospheric stability and will in turn lead to global warming.
An article related to we not turning off our computers says:
More than 30 billion kilowatt-hours of energy is wasted because many of us simply forget to shut down our computers when we’re not using them. Even with a screen saver on, when you’re not using it, it’s STILL using up to 280 watts/hour of completely wasted power this power pumps out 1.5lbs of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere for every KWh. For very 24 hours that’s 9lbs of CO2 every day and 3,285lbs per year. That’s more than 1.6 tons of CO2 thrown up into the atmosphere just to keep one single PC working.
This CO2 is one of the cause for global warming. Consequence of global warming is known to us. The antarctic and arctic ocean, ices will start melting, there by affecting the lives there. This will also affect our eco system, by allowing more UV rays to enter Earth's surface which will lead to skin ailments and other health hazards.
Its our duty to save our Mother Earth. Lets join our hands together for this mission.
All we need to do is, to switch off the power to your home or office on August 8, 2008, for exactly eight minutes starting 8 p.m.
Lets all co-operate and save Earth from global warming.
For more info, visit:
88888 Campaign Website
We are contributing towards global warming in many ways. When electrical appliances are running, it generates heat. The air conditioner, computer, television, refrigerator etc., emits lot of heat while functioning. Many of us will just lock our computers in office instead of turning it off. These heat will affect the atmospheric stability and will in turn lead to global warming.
An article related to we not turning off our computers says:
More than 30 billion kilowatt-hours of energy is wasted because many of us simply forget to shut down our computers when we’re not using them. Even with a screen saver on, when you’re not using it, it’s STILL using up to 280 watts/hour of completely wasted power this power pumps out 1.5lbs of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere for every KWh. For very 24 hours that’s 9lbs of CO2 every day and 3,285lbs per year. That’s more than 1.6 tons of CO2 thrown up into the atmosphere just to keep one single PC working.
This CO2 is one of the cause for global warming. Consequence of global warming is known to us. The antarctic and arctic ocean, ices will start melting, there by affecting the lives there. This will also affect our eco system, by allowing more UV rays to enter Earth's surface which will lead to skin ailments and other health hazards.
Its our duty to save our Mother Earth. Lets join our hands together for this mission.
All we need to do is, to switch off the power to your home or office on August 8, 2008, for exactly eight minutes starting 8 p.m.
Lets all co-operate and save Earth from global warming.
For more info, visit:
88888 Campaign Website
Class room humours
Humour #1
Teacher - Ramu, if you add 10,24,45,67,89,76 what will come?
Ramu - Total will come teacher.
Teacher - ??!!
Humour #2
Teacher - What is 5 + 6?
Student - 10
Teacher - How is that possible?
Student - If I add it wrongly!
Teacher - **??!!??**
Humour #3
A teacher asks a student to copy a poem of Wordsworth on the black board. The student finishes it and sits in his place. Now she asks a student who wrote it? The naughty student replies - "Anita wrote it".
Humour #4
Lecturer - What do you call a person who keeps on speaking irrespective of others listening?
Student - A Lecturer!
Humour #5
Teacher - How old is your father?
Student - As old as I am.
Teacher - How is that possible?
Student - He became father only after I was born.
The same teacher while handling class for another group of students asked the same question.
Teacher - How old is your father? Dont tell me as old as you are.
Student - No teacher. He is as old as my elder sister is.
Teacher - ??!!
More to come....
Teacher - Ramu, if you add 10,24,45,67,89,76 what will come?
Ramu - Total will come teacher.
Teacher - ??!!
Humour #2
Teacher - What is 5 + 6?
Student - 10
Teacher - How is that possible?
Student - If I add it wrongly!
Teacher - **??!!??**
Humour #3
A teacher asks a student to copy a poem of Wordsworth on the black board. The student finishes it and sits in his place. Now she asks a student who wrote it? The naughty student replies - "Anita wrote it".
Humour #4
Lecturer - What do you call a person who keeps on speaking irrespective of others listening?
Student - A Lecturer!
Humour #5
Teacher - How old is your father?
Student - As old as I am.
Teacher - How is that possible?
Student - He became father only after I was born.
The same teacher while handling class for another group of students asked the same question.
Teacher - How old is your father? Dont tell me as old as you are.
Student - No teacher. He is as old as my elder sister is.
Teacher - ??!!
More to come....
Laws for Software Engineer
First Law:
Every Software Engineer continues his state of chatting or forwarding mails until and unless he is assigned work by manager.
Second Law:
The rate of change in the software quality is directly proportional to the payment received from client and the deadline time, and it takes place at the quick rate as and when deadline force is applied.
Third Law:
For every bug a software engineer fixes, there arises another bug.
Law of Conservation of Energy:
Bugs can neither be created nor be removed from software by a developer. It can only be converted from one form to another. The total number of bugs in the software always remains constant.
Every Software Engineer continues his state of chatting or forwarding mails until and unless he is assigned work by manager.
Second Law:
The rate of change in the software quality is directly proportional to the payment received from client and the deadline time, and it takes place at the quick rate as and when deadline force is applied.
Third Law:
For every bug a software engineer fixes, there arises another bug.
Law of Conservation of Energy:
Bugs can neither be created nor be removed from software by a developer. It can only be converted from one form to another. The total number of bugs in the software always remains constant.
Speak out only good things
See good things alone
Say good things alone
Hear to good things alone
Sounds to be heard some where. Well, the idol or picture of the popular 3 monkeys will depict the above sayings.
If we see good things, we will be happy. If we hear good things, then also we will be happy. But does saying good things, will make us happy? Whay not? It will.
Why to say good things alone? Here is the explanation for this.
"Energy can neither be created nor be destroyed. It can be changed from one form to another form, but the total energy of the system remains the same".
This is the popular law of conservation of energy.
Similarly, the words we utter is the sound. Sound is a form of energy. So if we say good words, the goodness will come to us in another form. If we say bad things, only bad results will come to us, not in the form of words, but as some other event. What ever we say is a sound. Going close with the law,
sound can neither be created, nor be destroyed. It can be changed from one form to another form, but the total result remains the same.
Say good things alone
Hear to good things alone
Sounds to be heard some where. Well, the idol or picture of the popular 3 monkeys will depict the above sayings.
If we see good things, we will be happy. If we hear good things, then also we will be happy. But does saying good things, will make us happy? Whay not? It will.
Why to say good things alone? Here is the explanation for this.
"Energy can neither be created nor be destroyed. It can be changed from one form to another form, but the total energy of the system remains the same".
This is the popular law of conservation of energy.
Similarly, the words we utter is the sound. Sound is a form of energy. So if we say good words, the goodness will come to us in another form. If we say bad things, only bad results will come to us, not in the form of words, but as some other event. What ever we say is a sound. Going close with the law,
sound can neither be created, nor be destroyed. It can be changed from one form to another form, but the total result remains the same.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Type of Deposits
There are two major type of term deposits that are normally used by people, in banks.
1. Fixed Deposit (FD)
2. Recurring Deposit (RD)
In FD, we deposit a fixed amount, for a fixed period of time, earning some interest, based on the rate declared by the bank. The amount we put is called the principal. We can either get the interest amount at the end of every month or quarter as declared by the bank or accumulate it till the end and add it with the principal and get. The latter type is called cumulative fixed deposit scheme. Once the period is over, we can take the entire amount or renew it again. i.e. put the earned amount in the same bank for some more time.
In RD, we deposit some amount (which may be fixed or variable) every month and it will keep on adding till the tenure gets over. It will also fetch some interest for the amount deposited. If the amount paid is variable, it is called Variable RD (VRD), which was started very recently by banks.
Some more saving scheme popular in India is NSC (National Saving Certificate). Here we put some amount while we start the scheme and we can close the scheme and get money only at the end of deposit period. But if we need in the middle, we can pledge the certificate and get loan from financial institutions namely banks.
1. Fixed Deposit (FD)
2. Recurring Deposit (RD)
In FD, we deposit a fixed amount, for a fixed period of time, earning some interest, based on the rate declared by the bank. The amount we put is called the principal. We can either get the interest amount at the end of every month or quarter as declared by the bank or accumulate it till the end and add it with the principal and get. The latter type is called cumulative fixed deposit scheme. Once the period is over, we can take the entire amount or renew it again. i.e. put the earned amount in the same bank for some more time.
In RD, we deposit some amount (which may be fixed or variable) every month and it will keep on adding till the tenure gets over. It will also fetch some interest for the amount deposited. If the amount paid is variable, it is called Variable RD (VRD), which was started very recently by banks.
Some more saving scheme popular in India is NSC (National Saving Certificate). Here we put some amount while we start the scheme and we can close the scheme and get money only at the end of deposit period. But if we need in the middle, we can pledge the certificate and get loan from financial institutions namely banks.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Investment in Mutual funds
Mutual funds are another type of investment where we can gain money. If we apply our minds and analyse and then invest, we can get maximum profits. There are two types of mutual funds, namely open ended and close ended.
Open ended funds can be closed any time we need. Close ended funds can be closed only after the stipulated time is over.
There is another type of classifying funds - sector specific, diversified.
Sector specific funds are raised to invest only in a particular sector. i.e if there is a mutual fund for the power sector, started by a company say X, the fund invested by us in that power sector mutual fund of X, will in turn be invested by X in the shares of the power sector companies like NTPC etc.
Diversified funds section of the company X will invest the funds got from its investors like us, in several segments. It is not bounded to one particular sector.
Diversified mutual funds are better than sector specific funds. The reason being, if the sector say, power is performing low, then the value of the sector specific fund will become low and it wont yield much results for us. But the diversified fund will invest in other good performing sector and will keep on earning money and there wont be much danger for our money, as optimum value will be maintained by the diversified mutual fund.
The value of a mutual fund on a particular date is called as Net Asset value (NAV). It is similar to the share price. It will be calculated based on the transaction that the company X has performed on the other companys' shares. If the shares of the company in which our company X has invested performs well, the NAVs will also be higher. Else NAVs will be lower.
Once we invest some amount in a mutual fund company X, in a particular scheme (sector specific or diversified), we will be alloted some units (similar to shares) based on the NAV at that time. For example NAV of a scheme is Rs.10, and we have invested Rs.5000, we will get 500 units. Again here also the brokerage comes. Here we call it as load (entry load - amount paid while buying and exit load - amount paid while selling). So we will get 5 or 10 units less while purchasing.
If the NAV increases, say to Rs.20, we will get profit. If it decreases, we will incur loss. This is obvious.
This mutual fund investment can be made in two ways:
1. One time investment
2. Systematic Investment Plan (SIP)
One time investment is same as share investment. SIP is like this. Every month or every quarter, we will invest some amount. Based on the NAV at that time, we will be getting permissible units. And we can close the investment any time we need if it is an open ended fund. As a result we can get some profit or loss based on the NAVs.
Investment in mutual fund is subject to risk like the share market trading.
Open ended funds can be closed any time we need. Close ended funds can be closed only after the stipulated time is over.
There is another type of classifying funds - sector specific, diversified.
Sector specific funds are raised to invest only in a particular sector. i.e if there is a mutual fund for the power sector, started by a company say X, the fund invested by us in that power sector mutual fund of X, will in turn be invested by X in the shares of the power sector companies like NTPC etc.
Diversified funds section of the company X will invest the funds got from its investors like us, in several segments. It is not bounded to one particular sector.
Diversified mutual funds are better than sector specific funds. The reason being, if the sector say, power is performing low, then the value of the sector specific fund will become low and it wont yield much results for us. But the diversified fund will invest in other good performing sector and will keep on earning money and there wont be much danger for our money, as optimum value will be maintained by the diversified mutual fund.
The value of a mutual fund on a particular date is called as Net Asset value (NAV). It is similar to the share price. It will be calculated based on the transaction that the company X has performed on the other companys' shares. If the shares of the company in which our company X has invested performs well, the NAVs will also be higher. Else NAVs will be lower.
Once we invest some amount in a mutual fund company X, in a particular scheme (sector specific or diversified), we will be alloted some units (similar to shares) based on the NAV at that time. For example NAV of a scheme is Rs.10, and we have invested Rs.5000, we will get 500 units. Again here also the brokerage comes. Here we call it as load (entry load - amount paid while buying and exit load - amount paid while selling). So we will get 5 or 10 units less while purchasing.
If the NAV increases, say to Rs.20, we will get profit. If it decreases, we will incur loss. This is obvious.
This mutual fund investment can be made in two ways:
1. One time investment
2. Systematic Investment Plan (SIP)
One time investment is same as share investment. SIP is like this. Every month or every quarter, we will invest some amount. Based on the NAV at that time, we will be getting permissible units. And we can close the investment any time we need if it is an open ended fund. As a result we can get some profit or loss based on the NAVs.
Investment in mutual fund is subject to risk like the share market trading.
Investment in shares
In my previous post on banking, I mentioned that by depositing in bank or in shares or mutual funds, we can multiply our money. This is possible in banks, as we acquire interest for the money we deposit. But what about, shares?
Shares - This is belonging of a public limited company that we can buy by paying some amount. To be more clear, we have the money earned by us. Let us assume there is a company, whose worth is Rs.10000. The company needs Rs.5000 urgently. It can either get by borrowing from bank (called as debt financing) or from the public, by offering shares (called as equity financing). The company wishes to sell half of it to the public. So it announces 500 shares, each costing Rs.10. This is called the face value of the share. This first offering by the company is called as Initial Public Offering or IPO.
So I wish to invest my money in this IPO. I wish to invest Rs.200 in the company's shares. So I will get 20 shares. This 20 shares is 4% of the company's share. So I am one of the owner of the public limited company. My ownership percentage is 4%.
The price range of the company's share is controlled by SEBI (Security and Exchange Board of India) in India. The key index is the SENSEX that is operational at the Bombay Stock Exchange. Depending upon the buy or sell call initiated by investors on the company's share, the price will rise or fall. If the price of the share increases to Rs.15 on some other day and then, if I wish to sell my 20 shares, I can do it. There by I will get Rs.300. That is a profit of Rs.100. Thats great right?
But now a days these transactions are taken care by intermediate parties called brokers, who will buy or sell shares for us. So for every transaction we need to pay them some amount. So taking the brokerage into consideration, we need to decide on selling the share.
For example, if a broker charges 10% (10% of 300), we will get only Rs.70 as profit from the above example. Also we may need to pay the broker, some amount for buying a share. In the above case, we need to pay Rs.20 for Rs.200 to be invested in a company.
So actual profit will be Rs.50.
Cost of share - 200
Borkerage - 20
Total (from our hand) - 220
Sold for - 300
Brokerage - 30
Total (received by us)- 270
Net profit = 270 - 220 = 50
If I had sold the share when its price has been Rs.20, I would have got an amount of Rs.400. Subtracting brokerage of Rs.40, There would be a profit of (360 - 220 = 140).
Also we will get some amount as dividend from the company. Suppose the company records a profit of Rs. 1000, this amount is divided based on the proportion of shares held by the investors and given to them. The company will declare that it will give some amount for each share held by the investor. For example, if it says that it will give Rs.1 for each share held, I will get Rs.20 as dividend in this case.
Thus we can earn in share market.
The difference between share market and bank is the steady return. We can get fixed amount as interest from bank. If a bank says 8% per annum as interest, I will get Rs.8 as interest if I had deposited Rs.100, at the end of one year. So I will have Rs.108/-. This will be steady.
But in share market, I may get profit if the company performs well. If it under performs, I have the risk of losing the money that I had invested. In the same example, if the price of the company's share falls to Rs.8, The value that I may get on selling is (20 x 8 = 160). Brokerage will be Rs.16. So Net amount that I will get is Rs.148. But I have invested Rs.220 (including brokerage). So I am reporting a loss of (220 - 148 = 72).
This is a speculation. We need to take risk and multiplying money needs lot of analysis.
Shares - This is belonging of a public limited company that we can buy by paying some amount. To be more clear, we have the money earned by us. Let us assume there is a company, whose worth is Rs.10000. The company needs Rs.5000 urgently. It can either get by borrowing from bank (called as debt financing) or from the public, by offering shares (called as equity financing). The company wishes to sell half of it to the public. So it announces 500 shares, each costing Rs.10. This is called the face value of the share. This first offering by the company is called as Initial Public Offering or IPO.
So I wish to invest my money in this IPO. I wish to invest Rs.200 in the company's shares. So I will get 20 shares. This 20 shares is 4% of the company's share. So I am one of the owner of the public limited company. My ownership percentage is 4%.
The price range of the company's share is controlled by SEBI (Security and Exchange Board of India) in India. The key index is the SENSEX that is operational at the Bombay Stock Exchange. Depending upon the buy or sell call initiated by investors on the company's share, the price will rise or fall. If the price of the share increases to Rs.15 on some other day and then, if I wish to sell my 20 shares, I can do it. There by I will get Rs.300. That is a profit of Rs.100. Thats great right?
But now a days these transactions are taken care by intermediate parties called brokers, who will buy or sell shares for us. So for every transaction we need to pay them some amount. So taking the brokerage into consideration, we need to decide on selling the share.
For example, if a broker charges 10% (10% of 300), we will get only Rs.70 as profit from the above example. Also we may need to pay the broker, some amount for buying a share. In the above case, we need to pay Rs.20 for Rs.200 to be invested in a company.
So actual profit will be Rs.50.
Cost of share - 200
Borkerage - 20
Total (from our hand) - 220
Sold for - 300
Brokerage - 30
Total (received by us)- 270
Net profit = 270 - 220 = 50
If I had sold the share when its price has been Rs.20, I would have got an amount of Rs.400. Subtracting brokerage of Rs.40, There would be a profit of (360 - 220 = 140).
Also we will get some amount as dividend from the company. Suppose the company records a profit of Rs. 1000, this amount is divided based on the proportion of shares held by the investors and given to them. The company will declare that it will give some amount for each share held by the investor. For example, if it says that it will give Rs.1 for each share held, I will get Rs.20 as dividend in this case.
Thus we can earn in share market.
The difference between share market and bank is the steady return. We can get fixed amount as interest from bank. If a bank says 8% per annum as interest, I will get Rs.8 as interest if I had deposited Rs.100, at the end of one year. So I will have Rs.108/-. This will be steady.
But in share market, I may get profit if the company performs well. If it under performs, I have the risk of losing the money that I had invested. In the same example, if the price of the company's share falls to Rs.8, The value that I may get on selling is (20 x 8 = 160). Brokerage will be Rs.16. So Net amount that I will get is Rs.148. But I have invested Rs.220 (including brokerage). So I am reporting a loss of (220 - 148 = 72).
This is a speculation. We need to take risk and multiplying money needs lot of analysis.
Banking Fundamentals
What to do with the money earned? How to invest it? Why should I invest my money?
These are the questions that will come up in our mind when we start to earn money. We can spend the money that we earn or we can save it. But for saving it, do we need to keep it in a secure box? "Secure" means, to what extent? So goes the question. If we keep the money in a box, what happens if any thing happens to the box, like box catching fire or attacked by rats or stolen by thieves? So to avoid these situations we need to invest our money in some financial organisations like Banks, Mutual funds.
The advantage behind investing our money is that, it will multiply. We will acquire interest for the money invested. Sounds good right? Yes. But how are the banks managing to give interest or extra money for our money? Do they have any tree that will yield money?
The banks will circulate the money invested by depositors to other people, called as borrowers who need money in the form of loan. For this loan, they will charge interest. That is, if they give Rs.100 as loan to the borrower, they will collect Rs.110 from them. This means that the bank has charged 10% interest. So for the investor, they will give 7% interest, i.e 7 rupees for every 100 rupees they deposit. The remaining 3% is the profit they earn. These will amount to huge figures when transaction happens at levels of thousands or lakhs or crores.
The banks are controlled by government agency. So they cant escape away with our money. It is the safest place to keep our money.
Also we can take our money any time we need, from the bank.
So, all those who have started to earn, dont keep your money idle. Deposit them in bank or do some investment in shares or mutual funds or bonds. This will strengthen our economy.
These are the questions that will come up in our mind when we start to earn money. We can spend the money that we earn or we can save it. But for saving it, do we need to keep it in a secure box? "Secure" means, to what extent? So goes the question. If we keep the money in a box, what happens if any thing happens to the box, like box catching fire or attacked by rats or stolen by thieves? So to avoid these situations we need to invest our money in some financial organisations like Banks, Mutual funds.
The advantage behind investing our money is that, it will multiply. We will acquire interest for the money invested. Sounds good right? Yes. But how are the banks managing to give interest or extra money for our money? Do they have any tree that will yield money?
The banks will circulate the money invested by depositors to other people, called as borrowers who need money in the form of loan. For this loan, they will charge interest. That is, if they give Rs.100 as loan to the borrower, they will collect Rs.110 from them. This means that the bank has charged 10% interest. So for the investor, they will give 7% interest, i.e 7 rupees for every 100 rupees they deposit. The remaining 3% is the profit they earn. These will amount to huge figures when transaction happens at levels of thousands or lakhs or crores.
The banks are controlled by government agency. So they cant escape away with our money. It is the safest place to keep our money.
Also we can take our money any time we need, from the bank.
So, all those who have started to earn, dont keep your money idle. Deposit them in bank or do some investment in shares or mutual funds or bonds. This will strengthen our economy.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Need for declaring public offers or shares by a company
"Share" - This has been a buzz word with many people for the past 15 years or so. What is this share? Why do companies offer share?
Share or stock as called popularly is a share in the ownership of a company (its assets). This means, "one who holds stock of a company is one among the others owners who are owning shares or stocks of the company".
Obviously, the owners should also get proportionately, the profits that the company makes. Yes, this is given in the form of dividends. This can be compared to the interest that a depositor gets when he invests some amount in a financial organisation.
Why do the companies offer shares?
Well, the company requires money to run its operation. There are many ways a company will get money. Either through its earnings by the sale of its products or service or by getting loan from bank or by getting money from the public.
Getting loan from banks is called as debt financing.
Getting money from public is called as equity financing.
But will the public give money without getting or expecting anything in return? The answer is a clear NO. So as a reward, the company offers ownership to all who had come forward to offer money. The degree of ownership offered to a person or even another company is directly proportional to the amount invested by the investor.
It is important that the distinction between a company financing through debt and financing through equity is well understood.
When we buy a debt investment such as a bond, we are guaranteed the return of our money (the principal) along with promised interest payments.
This isn't the case with an equity investment.
By becoming an owner, we also need to accept the risk of the company not being successful.
Shareholders earn a lot if a company is successful, but they also stand to lose their entire investment if the company isn't successful.
Share or stock as called popularly is a share in the ownership of a company (its assets). This means, "one who holds stock of a company is one among the others owners who are owning shares or stocks of the company".
Obviously, the owners should also get proportionately, the profits that the company makes. Yes, this is given in the form of dividends. This can be compared to the interest that a depositor gets when he invests some amount in a financial organisation.
Why do the companies offer shares?
Well, the company requires money to run its operation. There are many ways a company will get money. Either through its earnings by the sale of its products or service or by getting loan from bank or by getting money from the public.
Getting loan from banks is called as debt financing.
Getting money from public is called as equity financing.
But will the public give money without getting or expecting anything in return? The answer is a clear NO. So as a reward, the company offers ownership to all who had come forward to offer money. The degree of ownership offered to a person or even another company is directly proportional to the amount invested by the investor.
It is important that the distinction between a company financing through debt and financing through equity is well understood.
When we buy a debt investment such as a bond, we are guaranteed the return of our money (the principal) along with promised interest payments.
This isn't the case with an equity investment.
By becoming an owner, we also need to accept the risk of the company not being successful.
Shareholders earn a lot if a company is successful, but they also stand to lose their entire investment if the company isn't successful.
Three important ratios in share market
There are three important ratios for assessing a company's share, whether we can buy or not. They are:
1. Earnings per share (EPS)
2. Price to Earning ratio (P/E)
3. Price to future growth ratio (PEG)
1. Earnings per share (EPS)
EPS = (Net income of the company - dividend declared) / No of shares
where
Dividend declared = Amount declared as dividend by the company
No of shares = Average outstanding shares.. i.e if the company has 10 billion shares in first half of the year and if it has 15 billion shares in the second half of the year, we need to take average number of shares as 12.5 billion.
Three types of EPS -
Trailing EPS - Company's last year's number.
Current EPS - Company's this year's number. But are still projections.
Forward EPS - Future projections of the company's number.
2. Price to Earning ratio (P/E)
P/E = Stock Price / EPS
If P/E is high, that stock is called an over priced stock.
If P/E is low, then that stock loses the confidence among the investors.
P/E tells us, what the market thinks of a stock.
3. Price to future growth ratio (PEG)
PEG = (P/E) / (projected growth in earnings)
A stock with low projected growth in earnings has a high PEG ratio. So its not a good stock. But a stock with higher projected growth will have lower PEG. So we are in favour of low PEG numbers. This ratio helps us in deciding our stand for a public issue.
All these ratios are theoritical one. These can serve its purpose to some extent. But share market is subject to people's mind set. Its all completely in the hands of the investors to bring the share prices up or to pull it down. For example if all investors start selling a share as it has reached a price level where they can get a good amount of profit, eventually the price will come down. On the other hand, if the investors start buying a company's shares as it got quoted very low, but future projections has been very good, then the price of the shares will increase.
These ratios can be used to take the initial decision.
1. Earnings per share (EPS)
2. Price to Earning ratio (P/E)
3. Price to future growth ratio (PEG)
1. Earnings per share (EPS)
EPS = (Net income of the company - dividend declared) / No of shares
where
Dividend declared = Amount declared as dividend by the company
No of shares = Average outstanding shares.. i.e if the company has 10 billion shares in first half of the year and if it has 15 billion shares in the second half of the year, we need to take average number of shares as 12.5 billion.
Three types of EPS -
Trailing EPS - Company's last year's number.
Current EPS - Company's this year's number. But are still projections.
Forward EPS - Future projections of the company's number.
2. Price to Earning ratio (P/E)
P/E = Stock Price / EPS
If P/E is high, that stock is called an over priced stock.
If P/E is low, then that stock loses the confidence among the investors.
P/E tells us, what the market thinks of a stock.
3. Price to future growth ratio (PEG)
PEG = (P/E) / (projected growth in earnings)
A stock with low projected growth in earnings has a high PEG ratio. So its not a good stock. But a stock with higher projected growth will have lower PEG. So we are in favour of low PEG numbers. This ratio helps us in deciding our stand for a public issue.
All these ratios are theoritical one. These can serve its purpose to some extent. But share market is subject to people's mind set. Its all completely in the hands of the investors to bring the share prices up or to pull it down. For example if all investors start selling a share as it has reached a price level where they can get a good amount of profit, eventually the price will come down. On the other hand, if the investors start buying a company's shares as it got quoted very low, but future projections has been very good, then the price of the shares will increase.
These ratios can be used to take the initial decision.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Why Rama seeked the help of monkeys during his search for Sita?
King Ambareesh was the ruler of Sripuram. He had a beautiful daughter, Srimathi. He wished to get her married to anyone of her wish. Srimathi prayed to Lord Vishnu to marry her.
The king announced the date for swayamvara ceremony (ceremony that allows a bride to choose her groom).
Saint Narada and one other saint (name not sure) were also tempted by the announcement. Both went in person to Maha Vishnu and seeked his blessings. But both were unaware of the other's visit to Vaikuntam (the holy abode of vishnu). They prayed to Vishnu for his blessings and also asked the other person's face to get changed to a monkey's face at the time of swayamvara. Vishnu granted the boons to them.
The swayamvara started. Both Narada and the other person's face transformed to a monkey face. Srimathi saw Lord Vishnu at the swayamvara and selected Him as her husband. The marriage ceremony was over. Vishnu granted salvation to the devotee Srimathi. Both the saints were having grudge on Vishnu as he failed their attempts. They went to Vaikuntam and cursed Vishnu that one day or the other, He will suffer from the separation from His wife and will need to seek the help of monkeys.
Vishnu told them why he did like that. He said to them that being a saint, they should not get desires like marrying. He transformed their face to make them realise its wrong on their part to get married.
The saints realised their mistakes and told Vishnu that they had cursed him and it is impossible to get that curse back. Vishnu said, "Let it be one of the reason for the rAmA avatAr".
The king announced the date for swayamvara ceremony (ceremony that allows a bride to choose her groom).
Saint Narada and one other saint (name not sure) were also tempted by the announcement. Both went in person to Maha Vishnu and seeked his blessings. But both were unaware of the other's visit to Vaikuntam (the holy abode of vishnu). They prayed to Vishnu for his blessings and also asked the other person's face to get changed to a monkey's face at the time of swayamvara. Vishnu granted the boons to them.
The swayamvara started. Both Narada and the other person's face transformed to a monkey face. Srimathi saw Lord Vishnu at the swayamvara and selected Him as her husband. The marriage ceremony was over. Vishnu granted salvation to the devotee Srimathi. Both the saints were having grudge on Vishnu as he failed their attempts. They went to Vaikuntam and cursed Vishnu that one day or the other, He will suffer from the separation from His wife and will need to seek the help of monkeys.
Vishnu told them why he did like that. He said to them that being a saint, they should not get desires like marrying. He transformed their face to make them realise its wrong on their part to get married.
The saints realised their mistakes and told Vishnu that they had cursed him and it is impossible to get that curse back. Vishnu said, "Let it be one of the reason for the rAmA avatAr".
Friday, April 11, 2008
Srirangam
This is the first among the 108 divya dEsams or sacred temples dedicated to Lord Vishnu. The shrines here are Sri RanganAtha, Ranga nAchiyAr or AranganAyaki thaayaar and Andal nAchiyAr. The history of srirangam was given by me in my earlier blog dedicated to Uchi pillayar temple
Out of the 12 AzhwArs (poigaiAzhwAr, boodhathAzhwAr, pEyAzhwAr, periyAzhwAr, tondaradipodiAzhwar, nammAzhwAr, AndAL, kulasEkarAzhwAr, thirumangaiAzhwAr, madhurakavi AzhwAr, thiruppanAzhwAr, thirumazhisaiAzhwAr), 11 (except madhurakavi AzhwAr) have sung pAsurams on this temple. Saint TyAgaraja has sung the sriranga pacharatna (collection of 5 songs) and Muthuswamy dikshithar has song another 5 songs on various deities over here.
This ksetrA is described as bhoolokha vaikundam. Saint tyagaraja has mentioned this in his kamboji raga composition O ranga Sayee. In his todi composition raju vedala juda murare, he has mentioned about the purity and divinity of the river kAvEri.
Dikshithar has mentioned the structure of the vimanam in the song RanganAyakam in the rAga nAyaki as "pranavAkAra divya vimAnam". He has also sung on the mEla pattAbhirama present in the west side of the temple in his brindAvana sArangA song - sri rangapura vihArA.
Tanjore Ponnaiyah pillai has also composed a song - RanganathudE in the rAga sourashtram.
There are 7 prakArAs in the temple. The name of the seven prakArAs are given below:
1. Garbagriha
2. Trivikrama chozhan suttru
3. Kili chozhan suttru
4. Thirumangai aazhwar suttru
5. Kulasekara aazhwar suttru
6. Rajamahendra chozhan suttru
7. Dharmavarma chozhan suttru
But these have another name also. The other names in the same order as above -
1. Bhoolokham
2. Buvarlokham
3. Suvarlokham
4. Maharlokham
5. Janoolokham
6. Thapolokham
7. Sathyalokham
The vimanam of the temple is called - pranavaakaara vimanam. (It will be in the shape of Omkaaram)
Aren't these 7 names identical to one of the mantra - Om bhoohu, Om buvaha, oohum suvaha, om mahaha, om janaha, om thapaha and oohum sathyam that will come during sandya vandanam?
So the 7 prakaaraas are the form of these 7 mantras with Omkaaram (main vimanam) at the centre.
Out of the 12 AzhwArs (poigaiAzhwAr, boodhathAzhwAr, pEyAzhwAr, periyAzhwAr, tondaradipodiAzhwar, nammAzhwAr, AndAL, kulasEkarAzhwAr, thirumangaiAzhwAr, madhurakavi AzhwAr, thiruppanAzhwAr, thirumazhisaiAzhwAr), 11 (except madhurakavi AzhwAr) have sung pAsurams on this temple. Saint TyAgaraja has sung the sriranga pacharatna (collection of 5 songs) and Muthuswamy dikshithar has song another 5 songs on various deities over here.
This ksetrA is described as bhoolokha vaikundam. Saint tyagaraja has mentioned this in his kamboji raga composition O ranga Sayee. In his todi composition raju vedala juda murare, he has mentioned about the purity and divinity of the river kAvEri.
Dikshithar has mentioned the structure of the vimanam in the song RanganAyakam in the rAga nAyaki as "pranavAkAra divya vimAnam". He has also sung on the mEla pattAbhirama present in the west side of the temple in his brindAvana sArangA song - sri rangapura vihArA.
Tanjore Ponnaiyah pillai has also composed a song - RanganathudE in the rAga sourashtram.
There are 7 prakArAs in the temple. The name of the seven prakArAs are given below:
1. Garbagriha
2. Trivikrama chozhan suttru
3. Kili chozhan suttru
4. Thirumangai aazhwar suttru
5. Kulasekara aazhwar suttru
6. Rajamahendra chozhan suttru
7. Dharmavarma chozhan suttru
But these have another name also. The other names in the same order as above -
1. Bhoolokham
2. Buvarlokham
3. Suvarlokham
4. Maharlokham
5. Janoolokham
6. Thapolokham
7. Sathyalokham
The vimanam of the temple is called - pranavaakaara vimanam. (It will be in the shape of Omkaaram)
Aren't these 7 names identical to one of the mantra - Om bhoohu, Om buvaha, oohum suvaha, om mahaha, om janaha, om thapaha and oohum sathyam that will come during sandya vandanam?
So the 7 prakaaraas are the form of these 7 mantras with Omkaaram (main vimanam) at the centre.
AgrahAram
Heard of this term? This word may be used in many places. But my article focusses on the south indian village where Brahmins use to live. The entire street is called by this name - agrahAram.
I have not visited many villages, but of course a few in the places in and around kumbakOnam or mayilAduthurai. All the agrahAram in these places will be having an identical structure.
There will be houses on both the sides of the street. Usually the houses will be facing north and south directions. In some villages like AnandatAndavapuram there are east and west facing houses in addition to south facing houses.
There will be a Vinayaka temple in the east. This is optional. But mandatory is a PerumAl (vishnu) temple in the west and a temple for Lord Shiva in the north west (also called as sani moolai or the corner for saturn). Presence of Shiva temple in the north west direction gives prosperity.
I have spent most of the vacation times during my school days at a place called "tEdiyUr" which is my mother's native. It is situated at 22km to the east of Kumbakonam. There are direct buses as well as route buses (from kumbakOnam to mayilAduthurai via a place called poonthOttam). It is a beautiful village. One can feel relived if they just have a look over the agrahAram roads.
A distributory of the river kAvEri, by the name Arasal aaru (history of this river is explained in my blog about "Sri Abheeshta varadaraja Perumal" at the following link - here flows in the northern side of the village. Around this river there are gardens flourishing with mango trees and coconut trees.
Near this river there is a shiva temple - popularly called "aathaangarai kovil". This is in the north western corner of the village. Closer to the temple there is a samAdhi of two saints who have lived in the village before several years. Between the river and the agrahAram runs the national highway through which buses to this village runs. Now a days one can find several shops on either sides of the road.
Coming to the agrahAram, there are three streets - east street (keezha theru), middle street (nadu theru) and west street (mEla theru). In the eastern side there is a varasiddhi vinayakar temple. It is a small temple. Poojaas are performed to the lord twice a day by a priest who resides in the agrahAram. In the north western end of the east street there is meenAkshi sundarEswarar temple dedicated to lord shivA. There is a tank associated with this temple, situated on the other side of the main road.
Houses in the East and middle street are north south facing. Coming to the west street, where the houses are east west facing, there is a vishnu temple (sri bhoomi neelA dEvi sametha Varadaraja PerumAl) at the centre. Further to the right side of the temple in the south western direction there is another vishnu temple called "karugamAnicka perumAl" temple.
There is a middle school in the east street of the agrahAram. It was built by a noble man, kanchi paramAchArya bhaktha Vanchi Iyer prior to Indian independence and now its a government aided school - sri sankara middle school. The school is offering education to all for a nominal fee. Indeed a service.
Moving a little apart from the agrahAram there comes the lands where paddy is grown. One can reach that place by moving along the path adjacent to the school mentioned above. There is another shiva temple - "prathyaksha parameswarar" temple, also called as the big temple in the village. This temple also has a tank associated with it in its proximity.
There are other temples - AyyanAr temple (at the outer limits of the village. That place is called "manavAlanallur"), mAriyamman temple, selliamman temple (near the agricultural lands, who is none other than chAmundi, a form of goddess Durga who killed chanda mundAsuras and is belived to protect the farms). These deities who are placed at the outer limits are believed to guard the village. They are also called as kAval deivam or the protecting God.
If summer vacation starts, the school will be closed. But our grand pa who is the correspondent of the school has the key and we will use the school ground to do all sort of activities. Some use to play cricket, some use to learn cycling and some others will play some domestic games like pallAnkuzhi or sOzhi or kallAngAi(play comprising of catching 4 stones in a particular order) etc. We will forget food, sleep and only if our mothers or other elders in our home comes to school to drag us to home, we will descend down to Earth. Till then we will be separated from this materialistic world and will be ruling our own world.
Those are the times that can never be forgotten and will be ever in our minds without fading. Wish to go back to that stage. But.......
I have not visited many villages, but of course a few in the places in and around kumbakOnam or mayilAduthurai. All the agrahAram in these places will be having an identical structure.
There will be houses on both the sides of the street. Usually the houses will be facing north and south directions. In some villages like AnandatAndavapuram there are east and west facing houses in addition to south facing houses.
There will be a Vinayaka temple in the east. This is optional. But mandatory is a PerumAl (vishnu) temple in the west and a temple for Lord Shiva in the north west (also called as sani moolai or the corner for saturn). Presence of Shiva temple in the north west direction gives prosperity.
I have spent most of the vacation times during my school days at a place called "tEdiyUr" which is my mother's native. It is situated at 22km to the east of Kumbakonam. There are direct buses as well as route buses (from kumbakOnam to mayilAduthurai via a place called poonthOttam). It is a beautiful village. One can feel relived if they just have a look over the agrahAram roads.
A distributory of the river kAvEri, by the name Arasal aaru (history of this river is explained in my blog about "Sri Abheeshta varadaraja Perumal" at the following link - here flows in the northern side of the village. Around this river there are gardens flourishing with mango trees and coconut trees.
Near this river there is a shiva temple - popularly called "aathaangarai kovil". This is in the north western corner of the village. Closer to the temple there is a samAdhi of two saints who have lived in the village before several years. Between the river and the agrahAram runs the national highway through which buses to this village runs. Now a days one can find several shops on either sides of the road.
Coming to the agrahAram, there are three streets - east street (keezha theru), middle street (nadu theru) and west street (mEla theru). In the eastern side there is a varasiddhi vinayakar temple. It is a small temple. Poojaas are performed to the lord twice a day by a priest who resides in the agrahAram. In the north western end of the east street there is meenAkshi sundarEswarar temple dedicated to lord shivA. There is a tank associated with this temple, situated on the other side of the main road.
Houses in the East and middle street are north south facing. Coming to the west street, where the houses are east west facing, there is a vishnu temple (sri bhoomi neelA dEvi sametha Varadaraja PerumAl) at the centre. Further to the right side of the temple in the south western direction there is another vishnu temple called "karugamAnicka perumAl" temple.
There is a middle school in the east street of the agrahAram. It was built by a noble man, kanchi paramAchArya bhaktha Vanchi Iyer prior to Indian independence and now its a government aided school - sri sankara middle school. The school is offering education to all for a nominal fee. Indeed a service.
Moving a little apart from the agrahAram there comes the lands where paddy is grown. One can reach that place by moving along the path adjacent to the school mentioned above. There is another shiva temple - "prathyaksha parameswarar" temple, also called as the big temple in the village. This temple also has a tank associated with it in its proximity.
There are other temples - AyyanAr temple (at the outer limits of the village. That place is called "manavAlanallur"), mAriyamman temple, selliamman temple (near the agricultural lands, who is none other than chAmundi, a form of goddess Durga who killed chanda mundAsuras and is belived to protect the farms). These deities who are placed at the outer limits are believed to guard the village. They are also called as kAval deivam or the protecting God.
If summer vacation starts, the school will be closed. But our grand pa who is the correspondent of the school has the key and we will use the school ground to do all sort of activities. Some use to play cricket, some use to learn cycling and some others will play some domestic games like pallAnkuzhi or sOzhi or kallAngAi(play comprising of catching 4 stones in a particular order) etc. We will forget food, sleep and only if our mothers or other elders in our home comes to school to drag us to home, we will descend down to Earth. Till then we will be separated from this materialistic world and will be ruling our own world.
Those are the times that can never be forgotten and will be ever in our minds without fading. Wish to go back to that stage. But.......
Thursday, April 03, 2008
War against Bandasuran
Bandasuran, a devil who use to give lot of troubles to the good people was killed by dEvi upon the requests that came from the dEvAs, saints and others. This episode has been well described by the following slokas.
Devi came to the rescue of her bhakthAs when they are troubled by bandasuran. She killed him with the help of her 6 shakthis -
1. Sampathkaree headed the elephant army
2. Ashwarooda headed the crores of horses
3. Manthrini - Lalitha's minister
4. Dhandini or vaaraahi - Lalitha's army chief
5. Jwaalaamaalini - One who created fire fortress to protect Lalitha's army.
6. Bala - A nine year old, ever young girl who is very dear to Lalitha.
Sampathkaree and Ashwarooda headed the elephants and horses army respectively. All the weapons that are needed are placed in a chariot called chakra raja ratham that has 9 plates.
Manthrini came on the chariot - geyachakra ratham that has 7 plates and Dhandinee came on the kirichakra ratham that has 5 plates.
To protect Lalitha's army from the enemies, Jwaalaamaalini created a fire fortress.
Manthrini killed vishangan, Bandasuran's minister while Dhandinee killed visukran, Bandasuran's army chief. Baalaa killed the 30 sons of Bandasuran and got the appreciation from Lalitha. All these people made Bandasuran to run away from the war field due to the fear of getting killed by Lalitha's weapons. Suddenly, Bandasuran placed an yantra called "vigna yantra" that gave a state of sleep to all by the side of Lalitha. To overcome that, Lalitha gave a smile by seeing lord Kameshwara's face and created, Maha Ganapati who neutralised the effect of vigna yantra. So Lalitha's army proceeded towards the victory.
This victory against Bandasuran was praised by Brahmma, Vishnu (upendra) and Indran and others under them. They all worshipped devi sri Lalitha.
This is narrated in the following slokas.
dEvarshikana sangAtptha sthUyamAnAthma vaibhavA
bandasura vadhOthyuktha sakthi sEnA samanvitha
sampathkaree samArooda sindhoora vraja sEvitha
ashwAroodAthishtithA ashwakOti kOti birAvrutha
chakrarAja rathArooda sarvAyutha parishkruthA
gEyachakra rathArooda manthrini parisEvithA
kirichakra rathArooda dhandanAtha puraskruthA
jwAlAmAlini kAkshiptha vahnni prAkAramadhyakA
bandasainya vadhOthyuktha sakthi vikramaharshithA
nithyA parAkramAtopa nireekshana samudhsukhA
banda puthra vadhOthyuktha bAlA vikramananditA
manthrinyambA virachitha vishanga vadha thoshithA
vishukra prAna haraNa vArAhee veerya nandithA
kAmEshwara mukhAlokhA kalpithasree ganEshwarA
mahA ganEsha nirbinna vignayantra praharshithA
bandAsurEndra nirmuktha sashtraprathyasthra varshini
karAngulinakothpanna nArAyana dasAkruthi
mahApAsupathAsthrAgni nirdakthasura sainikA
kAmeshwarAsthra nirdaktha sabandAsura soonyaka
brahmmOpendra mahEndrAdi dEvasamsthutha vaibhava
Let us all pray Lalitha to kill all our enemies and grant us a peaceful life.
Devi came to the rescue of her bhakthAs when they are troubled by bandasuran. She killed him with the help of her 6 shakthis -
1. Sampathkaree headed the elephant army
2. Ashwarooda headed the crores of horses
3. Manthrini - Lalitha's minister
4. Dhandini or vaaraahi - Lalitha's army chief
5. Jwaalaamaalini - One who created fire fortress to protect Lalitha's army.
6. Bala - A nine year old, ever young girl who is very dear to Lalitha.
Sampathkaree and Ashwarooda headed the elephants and horses army respectively. All the weapons that are needed are placed in a chariot called chakra raja ratham that has 9 plates.
Manthrini came on the chariot - geyachakra ratham that has 7 plates and Dhandinee came on the kirichakra ratham that has 5 plates.
To protect Lalitha's army from the enemies, Jwaalaamaalini created a fire fortress.
Manthrini killed vishangan, Bandasuran's minister while Dhandinee killed visukran, Bandasuran's army chief. Baalaa killed the 30 sons of Bandasuran and got the appreciation from Lalitha. All these people made Bandasuran to run away from the war field due to the fear of getting killed by Lalitha's weapons. Suddenly, Bandasuran placed an yantra called "vigna yantra" that gave a state of sleep to all by the side of Lalitha. To overcome that, Lalitha gave a smile by seeing lord Kameshwara's face and created, Maha Ganapati who neutralised the effect of vigna yantra. So Lalitha's army proceeded towards the victory.
This victory against Bandasuran was praised by Brahmma, Vishnu (upendra) and Indran and others under them. They all worshipped devi sri Lalitha.
This is narrated in the following slokas.
dEvarshikana sangAtptha sthUyamAnAthma vaibhavA
bandasura vadhOthyuktha sakthi sEnA samanvitha
sampathkaree samArooda sindhoora vraja sEvitha
ashwAroodAthishtithA ashwakOti kOti birAvrutha
chakrarAja rathArooda sarvAyutha parishkruthA
gEyachakra rathArooda manthrini parisEvithA
kirichakra rathArooda dhandanAtha puraskruthA
jwAlAmAlini kAkshiptha vahnni prAkAramadhyakA
bandasainya vadhOthyuktha sakthi vikramaharshithA
nithyA parAkramAtopa nireekshana samudhsukhA
banda puthra vadhOthyuktha bAlA vikramananditA
manthrinyambA virachitha vishanga vadha thoshithA
vishukra prAna haraNa vArAhee veerya nandithA
kAmEshwara mukhAlokhA kalpithasree ganEshwarA
mahA ganEsha nirbinna vignayantra praharshithA
bandAsurEndra nirmuktha sashtraprathyasthra varshini
karAngulinakothpanna nArAyana dasAkruthi
mahApAsupathAsthrAgni nirdakthasura sainikA
kAmeshwarAsthra nirdaktha sabandAsura soonyaka
brahmmOpendra mahEndrAdi dEvasamsthutha vaibhava
Let us all pray Lalitha to kill all our enemies and grant us a peaceful life.
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Most memorable concert
I love carnatic music a lot. I have heard many concerts - some at the sabhas, some in TV, some in radio and a lot in CDs and cassettes. There are many concerts that had left a divine experience within me. I am going to write about one concert that I relished a lot and cant be moved to a lower rank in future.
It gives me immense pleasure in writing this blog regarding Sudha Ragunathan's concert at Narada Gana Sabha, on Feb 3,2008. It was a shraddhaanjali to the divine saint, Sri Tyagaraja swami. I enjoyed each and every song that was sung. The tempo of the concert was uniform throughout. Written below are the songs that were sung in the concert and my comments for them.
1. Shobillu saptha swara in jaganmohini was a good start. The kalpana swaras that were sung for the word, saptha swara, was awesome. While finishing, the swaras depicting the aarohana and avarohana of the raga jagan mohini (S G M P N S - S N P M G R S) was very educative.
2. Andariki vandanamu - Endaro Mahanu bhavulu - in Sri ragam was very smooth and it was embedded with her pure imagination in the sangathis. Hats off. I loved this song very much.
3. Mokshamu galada in saramathi was simply superb. "saakshaath kaarani sath bhakthi yani" - still ringing in my ears.
4. Yela nee daya rathu - Bala kanaka maya in ataana was very sweet. And that too in the charanam - "Ra Ra devathi deva" - What a timing when she sung the words "Ra Ra" and stopped for a while and Aruna Sairam entered the hall. A perfect timing!! :)
Also the lines - "Parivara Jalathi Gambhira" was recited with a "gambhiram".
5. She again proved that she is an adept in handling the raga "Subapantuvarali". The true bhaavam of that raga moved me a lot. The song that was sung was Ennaadu by Tyagaraja.
6. Nagumo mu ganle in Abheri was a change after the slow and steady subhapantuvarali. It rekindled the spirits of the audience and made them ready to listen to another majestic raga - Mohanam.
7. Mohanam - Nannu palimpa : I love this song. I have heard that kriti sung by her guru MLV in a radio concert. When she started the mohana alapana, I thought it would be good if she sings "Nannu palimpa". And oh god!! she sung the same song. My happieness knew no bounds on listening that song. Mohanam - my favourite raga!
The tisra nadai kalpana swaras was a rare attempt. Not many will do that.
8. Karuna jalathe - nadanamakriya was soul stirring. A good atmaanubhavam.
9. Gandhamu puyyaruga - punnagavarali : superb! Swift rendering of that song made the audiences to clap for that song while she was singing. This shows how effectively she can take the audience along with her.
10. Namo Namo raghavaya - Desiya thodi . I heard the song for the first time. This was Tyagaraja's first kriti!!
11. Mangalam in saurashtram, but the transformation to surutti at the end was a good end for the concert.
In short the concert was a shraddhanjali to saint tyagaraja and to Sudha's guru MLV.
It gives me immense pleasure in writing this blog regarding Sudha Ragunathan's concert at Narada Gana Sabha, on Feb 3,2008. It was a shraddhaanjali to the divine saint, Sri Tyagaraja swami. I enjoyed each and every song that was sung. The tempo of the concert was uniform throughout. Written below are the songs that were sung in the concert and my comments for them.
1. Shobillu saptha swara in jaganmohini was a good start. The kalpana swaras that were sung for the word, saptha swara, was awesome. While finishing, the swaras depicting the aarohana and avarohana of the raga jagan mohini (S G M P N S - S N P M G R S) was very educative.
2. Andariki vandanamu - Endaro Mahanu bhavulu - in Sri ragam was very smooth and it was embedded with her pure imagination in the sangathis. Hats off. I loved this song very much.
3. Mokshamu galada in saramathi was simply superb. "saakshaath kaarani sath bhakthi yani" - still ringing in my ears.
4. Yela nee daya rathu - Bala kanaka maya in ataana was very sweet. And that too in the charanam - "Ra Ra devathi deva" - What a timing when she sung the words "Ra Ra" and stopped for a while and Aruna Sairam entered the hall. A perfect timing!! :)
Also the lines - "Parivara Jalathi Gambhira" was recited with a "gambhiram".
5. She again proved that she is an adept in handling the raga "Subapantuvarali". The true bhaavam of that raga moved me a lot. The song that was sung was Ennaadu by Tyagaraja.
6. Nagumo mu ganle in Abheri was a change after the slow and steady subhapantuvarali. It rekindled the spirits of the audience and made them ready to listen to another majestic raga - Mohanam.
7. Mohanam - Nannu palimpa : I love this song. I have heard that kriti sung by her guru MLV in a radio concert. When she started the mohana alapana, I thought it would be good if she sings "Nannu palimpa". And oh god!! she sung the same song. My happieness knew no bounds on listening that song. Mohanam - my favourite raga!
The tisra nadai kalpana swaras was a rare attempt. Not many will do that.
8. Karuna jalathe - nadanamakriya was soul stirring. A good atmaanubhavam.
9. Gandhamu puyyaruga - punnagavarali : superb! Swift rendering of that song made the audiences to clap for that song while she was singing. This shows how effectively she can take the audience along with her.
10. Namo Namo raghavaya - Desiya thodi . I heard the song for the first time. This was Tyagaraja's first kriti!!
11. Mangalam in saurashtram, but the transformation to surutti at the end was a good end for the concert.
In short the concert was a shraddhanjali to saint tyagaraja and to Sudha's guru MLV.
Sri Abheeshta Varadharaja perumal
Sri Abheeshta Varadharaja perumal temple is located at Vishnupuram in Tiruvarur district.
This temple has its reference in the puranas. The Lord in this temple is holding the "Chakra" which is some what special when compared to the other temples. The history goes as follows:
Maha Vishnu after killing asuras, found that his chakra has lost its power. So to reinstantiate the lost power in his chakra, He went to Kalish, the abode of Lord Shiva and prayed to Him. Shiva asked Vishnu to go to Bhoolokha (the Earth) and offer pooja to shiva at a place called "Thiruveezhimizhalai" (located very near to Vishnupuram mentioned above). So Vishnu went there. He called the river Kaveri to help him in pooja, by giving water. Since kaveri came on the request of Vishnu (Hari) the river running on the side of thiruveezhimizhalai and other near by places is called by the name "Hari sol aaru" or the river that heeded to the words of Hari. It is now known as Arasal aaru after several transformations to the name by People.
Vishnu made the kaveri water to flow to the temple tank and he performed abhishekams to the deity (shiva) using that water and the 1008 lotus flowers that use to bloom on the temple tank daily. One day, Vishnu when he was about to complete his offerings, found that there was a shortage of 1 lotus flower. But he want to complete his pooja at any cost. So he plucked one of his eye from his face and offered it as a compensation to the flower that was found to be missing. Shiva became very happy with Vishnu. In no time he appeared before Vishnu and gave the sudharsana chakra back to him, now with more power and tejas than it was before.
The shiva at thiruveezhimizhalai who was offered the lotus eye of Vishnu came to be known as Nethrarpaneswarar or veezhinatha swami in Tamil. The place where Vishnu stayed and worshipped Shiva came to be known as Vishnupuram.
The Varadharaja perumal at Vishnupuram is known to cure eye related disorders and grant a happy and peaceful life to all the devotees who surrender themselves to his lotus feet. Also one will get all good things that they wish for from the Perumal as he is holding the powerful chakra that he got after praying.
This temple has its reference in the puranas. The Lord in this temple is holding the "Chakra" which is some what special when compared to the other temples. The history goes as follows:
Maha Vishnu after killing asuras, found that his chakra has lost its power. So to reinstantiate the lost power in his chakra, He went to Kalish, the abode of Lord Shiva and prayed to Him. Shiva asked Vishnu to go to Bhoolokha (the Earth) and offer pooja to shiva at a place called "Thiruveezhimizhalai" (located very near to Vishnupuram mentioned above). So Vishnu went there. He called the river Kaveri to help him in pooja, by giving water. Since kaveri came on the request of Vishnu (Hari) the river running on the side of thiruveezhimizhalai and other near by places is called by the name "Hari sol aaru" or the river that heeded to the words of Hari. It is now known as Arasal aaru after several transformations to the name by People.
Vishnu made the kaveri water to flow to the temple tank and he performed abhishekams to the deity (shiva) using that water and the 1008 lotus flowers that use to bloom on the temple tank daily. One day, Vishnu when he was about to complete his offerings, found that there was a shortage of 1 lotus flower. But he want to complete his pooja at any cost. So he plucked one of his eye from his face and offered it as a compensation to the flower that was found to be missing. Shiva became very happy with Vishnu. In no time he appeared before Vishnu and gave the sudharsana chakra back to him, now with more power and tejas than it was before.
The shiva at thiruveezhimizhalai who was offered the lotus eye of Vishnu came to be known as Nethrarpaneswarar or veezhinatha swami in Tamil. The place where Vishnu stayed and worshipped Shiva came to be known as Vishnupuram.
The Varadharaja perumal at Vishnupuram is known to cure eye related disorders and grant a happy and peaceful life to all the devotees who surrender themselves to his lotus feet. Also one will get all good things that they wish for from the Perumal as he is holding the powerful chakra that he got after praying.
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Thiruvaanaikkoil - Sthala puraanam
Thiruvaanaikka, also referred as Jambukeswaram or Gajaaranya kshetram is located in Trichy, near the banks of the sacred river Kaveri.
Its a famous Shiva temple. Few info about the kshetra:
Presiding deities - Jambukeswara and Akilandeswari
Sthala vriksham - Jambu tree or naaval (in Tamil)
There lived an elephant and a spider in a forest, without knowing each other. Both were born there as a result of some cursings that they got from an ascetic in their previous birth. To overcome the curse, they came to the forest on the banks of the river kaveri. They found a lingam (form of shiva on the earth) under a naaval tree.
Each started worshipping the lord in their own way without noticing each other.
The spider use to build a web to protect the lingam from dust. After completing it, the spider use to fly away somewhere and the elephant use to come to that place. Everyday the elephant use to take water from the river kaveri, fill it in its trunk and it will perform abhishekam (pour water on the lingam) and offer flowers. As a result of this the spider web will be destroyed.
This was happening every day. One day both the spider and the elephant met each other. On seeing the spider building the web over the lingam, the elephant became angry. Also on seeing the elephant spraying water on the lingam, the spider became angry. So the spider advanced itself towards the elephant and intruded inside the elephant's trunk. Elephant was unable to breathe and eventually died. The spider was also unable to come out from the deceased elephant's trunk and it also breathed its last.
Suddenly Lord Shiva, appeared and granted salvation to the Elephant. The spider was given another birth and it was commanded to be born as a Chola king, "senkot chozhan". It was this chola king, who built the present day thiruvaanaikka temple. He built several temples for Lord Shiva, on the banks of river Kaveri. In these temples, the shiva sannidhi will be at a lower level and there will be a window with nine openings in front of linga. Why so? Because of his previous birth vasanas, He built in a way that elephants could not worship Shiva easily. Elephants could not enter the sannidhi as it will be very small and at a lower level.
The image above and those below is that of the east side gopuram, which is the rajagopuram of this temple. This tower is built by Pandya king - Sundara Pandiyan. Hence it carries his name Sundara Pandiyan gopuram.
Its a famous Shiva temple. Few info about the kshetra:
Presiding deities - Jambukeswara and Akilandeswari
Sthala vriksham - Jambu tree or naaval (in Tamil)
There lived an elephant and a spider in a forest, without knowing each other. Both were born there as a result of some cursings that they got from an ascetic in their previous birth. To overcome the curse, they came to the forest on the banks of the river kaveri. They found a lingam (form of shiva on the earth) under a naaval tree.
Each started worshipping the lord in their own way without noticing each other.
The spider use to build a web to protect the lingam from dust. After completing it, the spider use to fly away somewhere and the elephant use to come to that place. Everyday the elephant use to take water from the river kaveri, fill it in its trunk and it will perform abhishekam (pour water on the lingam) and offer flowers. As a result of this the spider web will be destroyed.
This was happening every day. One day both the spider and the elephant met each other. On seeing the spider building the web over the lingam, the elephant became angry. Also on seeing the elephant spraying water on the lingam, the spider became angry. So the spider advanced itself towards the elephant and intruded inside the elephant's trunk. Elephant was unable to breathe and eventually died. The spider was also unable to come out from the deceased elephant's trunk and it also breathed its last.
Suddenly Lord Shiva, appeared and granted salvation to the Elephant. The spider was given another birth and it was commanded to be born as a Chola king, "senkot chozhan". It was this chola king, who built the present day thiruvaanaikka temple. He built several temples for Lord Shiva, on the banks of river Kaveri. In these temples, the shiva sannidhi will be at a lower level and there will be a window with nine openings in front of linga. Why so? Because of his previous birth vasanas, He built in a way that elephants could not worship Shiva easily. Elephants could not enter the sannidhi as it will be very small and at a lower level.
The image above and those below is that of the east side gopuram, which is the rajagopuram of this temple. This tower is built by Pandya king - Sundara Pandiyan. Hence it carries his name Sundara Pandiyan gopuram.
Appu sthalam
Thiruvaanaikka is one of the five sthalam that fall under the category - pancha bhootha sthalam. This temple is the "Appu sthalam". Appu means water.
It was belived that the Jambukeswarar in the temple was built by Akilandeswari using the water from the kaveri river.
Parvati meditated strongly on Shiva to marry him. Shiva, satisfied by her prayers, appeared before parvati and asked her to go to a place on the Earth, near the kaveri river and worship him from there. Parvati arrived at the place which is famous for the royal elephants which are referred to as "Maha Padmam". Due to the abundance of the royal elephants, the place was known as "Gajaaranyam" (Gaja - Elephant, aaranyam - forest) or forest full of royal elephants.
Parvati took handful of water from the river and left them on the ground, thinking about Shiva. The water stood in the place where she left them on the ground in the form of a shiva lingam. She then performed pooja for the same. Shiva became happy and he made parvati to stay in the kshetra as Akilandeswari and bless the devotees who come to worship them.
Since she created the lingam using water, the temple is designated as appu sthalam among the panch bhootha sthalaas.
Even today to comemorate the event of Akilandeswari worshipping Jambukeswara, everyday, one of the temple priest use to decorate himself in a saree (signifying Parvati) and offer pooja to Jambukeswara during the uchi kaala (afternoon time). The garba griha (sanctum) of Jambukeswara use to be wet always. It is belived that the water from the river kaveri use to be there always.
It was belived that the Jambukeswarar in the temple was built by Akilandeswari using the water from the kaveri river.
Parvati meditated strongly on Shiva to marry him. Shiva, satisfied by her prayers, appeared before parvati and asked her to go to a place on the Earth, near the kaveri river and worship him from there. Parvati arrived at the place which is famous for the royal elephants which are referred to as "Maha Padmam". Due to the abundance of the royal elephants, the place was known as "Gajaaranyam" (Gaja - Elephant, aaranyam - forest) or forest full of royal elephants.
Parvati took handful of water from the river and left them on the ground, thinking about Shiva. The water stood in the place where she left them on the ground in the form of a shiva lingam. She then performed pooja for the same. Shiva became happy and he made parvati to stay in the kshetra as Akilandeswari and bless the devotees who come to worship them.
Since she created the lingam using water, the temple is designated as appu sthalam among the panch bhootha sthalaas.
Even today to comemorate the event of Akilandeswari worshipping Jambukeswara, everyday, one of the temple priest use to decorate himself in a saree (signifying Parvati) and offer pooja to Jambukeswara during the uchi kaala (afternoon time). The garba griha (sanctum) of Jambukeswara use to be wet always. It is belived that the water from the river kaveri use to be there always.
Thaadangam on the ears of Akilandeswari
The goddess Akilandeswari is considered to be rowdra swaroopini (one with lots of anger) in the past. So everyone use to worship her from outside. No one dare to go inside her sanctum sanctorum (sannidhi).
Adhi shankara was unhappy with it. He felt so sad on people fearing to go inside the sannidhi of the great mother (sree mAthA). So he designed a "Sri chakram" and "Siva Chakram" and pleaded the mother to let her anger to be flown inside the chakraas as a shakthi and let it be used for the welfare of the living beings. The gracious mother heeded to the words of shankara and shed all her angers and became Shaantha swaroopini (peace and grace showering). Akilandeswari wears the chakras as thadangam on her ears.
Also Adhi shankara, constructed a sannidhi of Lord Ganesha, opposite to Akilandeswari sannidhi. He firmly belived that on seeing her son infront of her, she will forget her old short temperment and will continue to be filled with grace forever. The Ganesha is known as "Prasanna Vinayaka" or Vinayaka who gives smile on everyone's face.
People use to say, while having a darshan of Akilandeswari, if we imagine her face without the thaadangam, we can see the rowdra swaroopam. If we see her face with the thaadangam, we can see the shantha swaroopam.
Adhi shankara was unhappy with it. He felt so sad on people fearing to go inside the sannidhi of the great mother (sree mAthA). So he designed a "Sri chakram" and "Siva Chakram" and pleaded the mother to let her anger to be flown inside the chakraas as a shakthi and let it be used for the welfare of the living beings. The gracious mother heeded to the words of shankara and shed all her angers and became Shaantha swaroopini (peace and grace showering). Akilandeswari wears the chakras as thadangam on her ears.
Also Adhi shankara, constructed a sannidhi of Lord Ganesha, opposite to Akilandeswari sannidhi. He firmly belived that on seeing her son infront of her, she will forget her old short temperment and will continue to be filled with grace forever. The Ganesha is known as "Prasanna Vinayaka" or Vinayaka who gives smile on everyone's face.
People use to say, while having a darshan of Akilandeswari, if we imagine her face without the thaadangam, we can see the rowdra swaroopam. If we see her face with the thaadangam, we can see the shantha swaroopam.
Kavi Kaalamegam
Kaalamegam was a dull person without any knowledge. But he was an ardent devotee of the goddess Akilandeswari. People use to make fun of him. Dejected by the behaviour of the people around him, Kaalamegam went to the temple and prayed to Akilandeswari to grant him knowledge.
Understanding the difficulty of her son, Akilandeswari disguised herself as an ordinary woman, wearing a white coloured saree. The woman appeared before Kaalamegam. She was chewing betel leaves. She asked Kaalamegam to open his mouth and transferred the betel leaves in her mouth to his mouth. Immediately the woman disappeared. Kaalamegam felt asleep on the sannidhi of Akilandeswari. The temple authorities didnt notice him and they locked the temple and went to their home.
On the next day, when kaalamegam woke up, he was frightened to see the temple authorites in front of him. They started beating him, suspecting he has come inside with an intention to steal the jewels of Akilandeswari.
Then came the surprise. No sooner did the authorities started beating him, than he came up with awesome songs in the praise of the goddess Akilandeswari. All were stunned up with this incident. Kaalamegam, beleived to be a dull person is now surprising all with beautiful songs. They patiently inquired what happened. He narrated the incident. All came to a conclusion that the goddess has granted him the knowledge. Kaalamegam was then called "Kavi Kaalamegam", "Kaalamega Pulavar". He is famous for a type of poem called - "slEdai" - A word will imply two meanings. This type of poem is used to compare two objects with a single word.
Since she gave vidya (knowledge) to Kaalamega kavi during the evening time, Akilandeswari is worshipped as Saraswathi in the evening time. Akilandeswari is the collection of three shakthis (Iccha, Kriya, Gnana). She is worshipped as Lakshmi (Iccha shakthi) in the morning, Parvati (Kriya shakthi) in the noon and as Saraswathi (Gnana shakthi) in the evening.
Understanding the difficulty of her son, Akilandeswari disguised herself as an ordinary woman, wearing a white coloured saree. The woman appeared before Kaalamegam. She was chewing betel leaves. She asked Kaalamegam to open his mouth and transferred the betel leaves in her mouth to his mouth. Immediately the woman disappeared. Kaalamegam felt asleep on the sannidhi of Akilandeswari. The temple authorities didnt notice him and they locked the temple and went to their home.
On the next day, when kaalamegam woke up, he was frightened to see the temple authorites in front of him. They started beating him, suspecting he has come inside with an intention to steal the jewels of Akilandeswari.
Then came the surprise. No sooner did the authorities started beating him, than he came up with awesome songs in the praise of the goddess Akilandeswari. All were stunned up with this incident. Kaalamegam, beleived to be a dull person is now surprising all with beautiful songs. They patiently inquired what happened. He narrated the incident. All came to a conclusion that the goddess has granted him the knowledge. Kaalamegam was then called "Kavi Kaalamegam", "Kaalamega Pulavar". He is famous for a type of poem called - "slEdai" - A word will imply two meanings. This type of poem is used to compare two objects with a single word.
Since she gave vidya (knowledge) to Kaalamega kavi during the evening time, Akilandeswari is worshipped as Saraswathi in the evening time. Akilandeswari is the collection of three shakthis (Iccha, Kriya, Gnana). She is worshipped as Lakshmi (Iccha shakthi) in the morning, Parvati (Kriya shakthi) in the noon and as Saraswathi (Gnana shakthi) in the evening.
Uchi Pillayar Temple
Rockfort - My native place.
Located in Trichy, the central district of Tamil Nadu, has reference to several historical events.
River Kaveri flows through the city and makes agriculture one of the key sector here.
The rockfort temple is a famous temple. It is built out of rocks by the chola kings. The pallava kings (Mahendra varman especially) added new sculptures to the areas in and around the temple. There will be a rock cut cave near the temple, that was created by the pallavas. There are two temples - Uchi pillayar temple and Thaayumaanava swami temple.
Origin of Uchi pillayar temple dates back to the Ramayana period. Vibheeshana, the younger brother of Ravana, who won the favour of Lord Rama, after surrendering to Him, was returning from Ayodhya, after the enthronement ceremony of Rama, as the king. He was carrying an idol of Lord Vishnu who was lying on the serpant - Aadhi sesha to Lanka. This idol was given to him by Rama as a gift. Rama warned Vibheeshana that if he place the idol down some where then he would not be in a position to take it out and asked him to be careful about that. Vibheeshana agreed and he was on the way to Lanka with the idol in his hand and he was crossing Trichy (also known as Tiruchirapalli).
The river Kaveri attracted him by its beautiful course. He was tempted to take a bath in the river. But alas! He dont have anyone near by to hold the idol in their hand. Then came a boy by his side. Vibheeshana requested the boy to hold the idol in his hand so that he can have a bath in the river. The boy agreed, but with a condition that Vibheeshana should return before he counts 10, otherwise the idol will be kept down. Just 10 seconds was given for Vibheeshana to have a bath. Vibheeshana agreed. He went down the river and took a dip. The boy was almost to count 10. Still Vibheeshana didnt reach the boy. He was completely lost in the comfort that the river water provided. The boy counted 10 and placed the idol down with it's face facing the direction of Lanka, i.e, south.
Vibheeshana, struck by the memory of idol, realised that it was late and hurriedly advanced towards the boy. But all in vain. He had kept the idol down. It got fixed in that place. Vibheeshana tried to move it. But he couldnt. Vibheeshana became very angry and he chased the boy who had kept the idol down. The boy ran and climbed up the rock that was at a distance and settled on a small stone. Vibheeshana after reaching the hill top, hit the boy hard on his forehead.
Then came the surprise. The boy before him turned into Lord Vinayaka. It was a divine plan that was made to retain the idol in India itself and not to let it go outside India. Vibheeshana offered his prayers, got the blessings of Vinayaka and left for Lanka. He ruled Lanka with fairness.
The rocky place got converted to Uchi pillayar temple. The vinayakar was known by the name "Uchi vinayakar" (Vinayaka who sat on the top). The place near river Kaveri where the idol was kept is known by the name "Srirangam", with the idol - known by the name - Sri Ranganatha swamy as the presiding deity.
Since Vibheeshana hit the boy on his forehead, one could see the cavity on the right side of the forehead of Uchi vinayakar, even today.
One need to climb more than 700 steps to reach the Uchi Pillayar temple.
Thaayumanava swamy temple
This temple was built by the chola kings. This is a famous siva temple and the lord has been praised by Appar, Sundarar, Manickavasagar and Thirugnanasambandar in their poem collections - Devaram, Thiruvachagam. Lord shiva is known by the name - Thaayumaanava swamy or Maathrubhootheswarar (in sanskrit). His consort, Parvati devi is known by the name Mattuvaar kuzhalammai or Suganthi kondalambal (in sanskrit). Devi got this name as her hair will be having a pleasant smell.
Initially, the lord was facing East, the direction where Woraiyur (the then capital of cholas). Once a chola king, punished a shiva devotee in his reign though the devotee was innocent, because of wrong investigation. Shiva became angry and he turned his face to the opposite direction, west. As a result of this, Vekkaliamman, the protecting deity of Woraiyur who was staying patient till then, despite of the wrong doings committed by the king, as shiva was looking woraiyur, now lost her temper and destroyed woraiyur by pouring sands over that place. It was after this incident, the chola capital was shifted to Pazhayaarai and then to Tanjore.
Why the lord was called "Thaayumaanava swamy"?
Thaayumaanavar - Like a mother.
There was a family living by the side of the temple. Every member of that family was an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva. Once every one, except for the two, left for a distant place. The two members were a grand mother and her grandson's wife, Rathnaavathi. Since the latter was pregnant and is expecting a child soon, she didnt go and to look after her, the grand mother also stayed back.
It was raining heavily outside. River Kaveri was about to overflow. The grandma went outside to get some medicines for Rathnaavathi. Rathnaavathi was alone in the house. No sooner did the grandma went outside, than it rained more. The grandma was compelled to stay at the medicine shop itself as there was huge amount of water on the streets.
Rathnavathi was suffering from labour pain and it kept on increasing. She didnt know what to do, than to pray Lord shiva at Rockfort, her favourite deity. Then came Lord shiva, disguised as the grandma and helped Rathnaavathi to deliver a boy child. The rain stopped and grandma suddenly disappeared.
The original grandma, came hurried from the medicine shop and was surprised to see Rathnavathi who had given birth to a boy child. Rathnavathi thanked grandma for helping her. Grandma was confused and said to Rathnaavathi, "How can I help you by being here when I was there at the shop?". This surprised Rathnaavathi and even the grandma. Their surprises and questions were answered by the "Rishabaarooda darshan" (Shiva, seated on the bull (rishabam) along with Parvati). After this incident, shiva at the rockfort temple was known by the name "Thaayumaanava swamy".
To mark this incident, every year during the month of April or May, a function called "Chettippen maruthuvam" - Medical attention paid to a girl of chettiyar class is conducted. This function is organised before the thiru kalyana utsavam (Sacred marriage ceremony between shiva and parvati) during the chithirai festival. Chithirai festival concludes with the car festival.
Every year, float festival (theppotsavam) use to happen during the month of March [Panguni uthira vizha]. Other festivals include the car festival during April or May (chithirai thiruvizha), vaikasi visakham, thiruvadhirai during december (maargazhi), thai poosam etc.
Since the lord eased the girl's delivery strain, it is belived that if we perform pooja to the Lord Mathrubhootheswarar and distribute bananas to the devotees who are coming to the temple, complications that may arise during delivery will be annulled.
Dakshinaamoorthy at the Thaayumaanavar temple
Dakshinaamoorthy (meaning,South facing god) is an important deity in any Shiva temple. He will be in a sitting posture, meditating with a mudra (Making a circle with the help of the index finger and the thumb and leaving the other three fingers straight). Usually 4 disciples will be seated around the guru - DakshinAmoorthy. They are sanakar,sanandanar,sanAthanar,sanath kumArar.
At the Maathrubhootheswara temple, 4 more disciples along with the above 4 will be present. They are Patanjali,VyAgrapAdhar, Siva Yoga muni and Tirumoolar. This is the only temple where there are 8 disciples to the guru - mEdhA dakshinAmoorthy.
At the Maathrubhootheswara temple, 4 more disciples along with the above 4 will be present. They are Patanjali,VyAgrapAdhar, Siva Yoga muni and Tirumoolar. This is the only temple where there are 8 disciples to the guru - mEdhA dakshinAmoorthy.
Kundalini sakthi
Kundalini is dEvi's sookshma sareeram (non physical form). It is present in the moolaadhara chakram in a coiled fashion. The coil or the concentric circle has three and half rounds.
The sakthi when induced properly by yOga, starts to flow from the moolAdhAra chakram into the swAdhishtAna chakram through a gap called Brahmmagranthi. From there to the manipoorachakram. From manipooram it flows through the vishnugranthi into the anAhata chakram and then to the vishuddhi chakram, Aagya chakram. From Agya chakram to the sahasraara chakram through the rudragranthi. Siva resides on the sahasraara chakram. Siva is immovable. So sakthi who is movable, in the form of kundalini flows from moolaadhaaram to sahasraaram and makes siva to bathe in the ocean of happiness (sudha saarabhi varshini).
This is given in the following lines of the lalita sahasranama.
moolAdhAraika nilayA brahmmagranthi vibEdini
manipoorAbja nilayA vishnugranthi vibEdini
aagyAchakrAntharAlastha rudragranthi vibEdini
sahasrArAmbujAroodA sudhA sArAbhivarshini
thatillatha samaruchi shatchakrO parisamsthitha
mahAsakthihi kundalini bisathanthu dhaneeyasi
The sakthi when induced properly by yOga, starts to flow from the moolAdhAra chakram into the swAdhishtAna chakram through a gap called Brahmmagranthi. From there to the manipoorachakram. From manipooram it flows through the vishnugranthi into the anAhata chakram and then to the vishuddhi chakram, Aagya chakram. From Agya chakram to the sahasraara chakram through the rudragranthi. Siva resides on the sahasraara chakram. Siva is immovable. So sakthi who is movable, in the form of kundalini flows from moolaadhaaram to sahasraaram and makes siva to bathe in the ocean of happiness (sudha saarabhi varshini).
This is given in the following lines of the lalita sahasranama.
moolAdhAraika nilayA brahmmagranthi vibEdini
manipoorAbja nilayA vishnugranthi vibEdini
aagyAchakrAntharAlastha rudragranthi vibEdini
sahasrArAmbujAroodA sudhA sArAbhivarshini
thatillatha samaruchi shatchakrO parisamsthitha
mahAsakthihi kundalini bisathanthu dhaneeyasi
7 yoginis
There are 7 chakraas in our body. They are moolAdharam (end of the vertebral column), swAdhishtAnam (Above the moolaadhaaram), manipooram (At the back of the stomach in the navel region), vishuddhi (At the back of the throat), anAhatham (in the heart), aagyA (between eye brows), sahasrAram (on the central part of the head).
Lalitha sahasranamam says in each of these chakram, a yogini is sitting and governing the functioning of the parts associated with it. The detailed description is given below.
1. TAkini
vishuddhi chakra nilayA ArakthavarnA thrilOchana
katvAngAthi praharanA vadhanaikka samanvidha
pAyasAnna priyA thwakshtha pashu lOkha bayankari
amruthAdhi mahAsakthi samvruthA tAkineeswari
TAkini resides on the vishuddhi chakram. She is red coloured (Arakthavarna). She has three eyes. She holds weapons starting from katvaangam. She is one headed (vadhanaikka). Payasam (sweetened milk) is her favourite. She destroys the fear of samsaara sagaram (or re births). She is surrounded by sakthis with Amrutha as the first one.
2. RAkini
anAhatAbja nilayA shyAmAba vadhanadwayA
dhamshtrojwala akshamAlA ditharA rudira samsthitha
kAlarAdryAdhi sakthyowga vrudhA snikdhowdhanapriya
mahA veerendra varadhA rAkinyamba swaroopini
RAkini resides in the anaahatha chakram. She is black coloured with two heads. She holds an akshamaala (garland). Kaalaraadhri leads the shakthis pertaining to her. She likes ghee rice. She is worshipped by great warriors.
3. LAkini
manipoorAbja nilayA vadhanathryaya samyutha
vajrAdhikAyudhopedha dAmaryAdhi birAvradha
rakthavarna mAmsanishta kutAnna preetha mAnasa
samastha bhaktha sukhatha lAkinyambA swaroopini
LAkini resides in the manipoora chakram. She has 3 heads. She holds weapons like vajraayudham. Her shakthis include daamari and others. She likes flesh and other fatty items (kutaanna preetha maanasa). She gives comfort to the devotees.
4. KAkini
swAdhishtAnAmbjakatha chatur vakthra manOharA
shoolAdhyAyutha sampannA peethavarnA athigarvitha
mEdhonishta madhupreetha bandhinyAdhi samanvidha
dhadhyanna saktha hrudaya kAkini roopadhArini
KAkini resides in the swadhishtaana chakram. She is 4 headed. She holds weapons like the trishoolam. She is yellow complexioned (peetha varna). She is very much proud about herself (athi garvitha). She likes honey. Curd rice is her favourite. She has sakthis starting from bandhini.
5. SAkini
moolAdhArAmbujarooda panchavakthrAdhi samsthitha
angushAdhipraharana varadhAdhi nishEvithA
muthgowdhanA sakthachitthA sAkinyambA swaroopini
SAkini lives at the moolaadhaara chakram with 5 heads. She holds angusham and some more weapons. Her sakthis start from varadha. She likes rice prepared out of grams and dal.
6. HAkini
AagyA chakrAbjanilayA shuklavarnA shadAnana
majja samstha hamsavathee mukhya sakthi samanvidha
haridrAnnaika rasika hAkini roopadhArini
HAkini lives at the AgyA chakram. She is white complexioned and has 6 heads. She resides in the tissues. Her shakthis are hamsavathi and kshamaavathi. She likes turmeric rice.
7. YAkini
sahasradhala padmasthA sarvavarnOpa shObhitha
sarvAyudhadarA shukla samsthitha sarvathOmukhi
sarvowdhanA preetha chittha yAkinyambA swaroopini
YAkini resides at the sahasrAra chakram. She is multi coloured and has all the weapons. She has many faces. She likes all food items.
Lalitha sahasranamam says in each of these chakram, a yogini is sitting and governing the functioning of the parts associated with it. The detailed description is given below.
1. TAkini
vishuddhi chakra nilayA ArakthavarnA thrilOchana
katvAngAthi praharanA vadhanaikka samanvidha
pAyasAnna priyA thwakshtha pashu lOkha bayankari
amruthAdhi mahAsakthi samvruthA tAkineeswari
TAkini resides on the vishuddhi chakram. She is red coloured (Arakthavarna). She has three eyes. She holds weapons starting from katvaangam. She is one headed (vadhanaikka). Payasam (sweetened milk) is her favourite. She destroys the fear of samsaara sagaram (or re births). She is surrounded by sakthis with Amrutha as the first one.
2. RAkini
anAhatAbja nilayA shyAmAba vadhanadwayA
dhamshtrojwala akshamAlA ditharA rudira samsthitha
kAlarAdryAdhi sakthyowga vrudhA snikdhowdhanapriya
mahA veerendra varadhA rAkinyamba swaroopini
RAkini resides in the anaahatha chakram. She is black coloured with two heads. She holds an akshamaala (garland). Kaalaraadhri leads the shakthis pertaining to her. She likes ghee rice. She is worshipped by great warriors.
3. LAkini
manipoorAbja nilayA vadhanathryaya samyutha
vajrAdhikAyudhopedha dAmaryAdhi birAvradha
rakthavarna mAmsanishta kutAnna preetha mAnasa
samastha bhaktha sukhatha lAkinyambA swaroopini
LAkini resides in the manipoora chakram. She has 3 heads. She holds weapons like vajraayudham. Her shakthis include daamari and others. She likes flesh and other fatty items (kutaanna preetha maanasa). She gives comfort to the devotees.
4. KAkini
swAdhishtAnAmbjakatha chatur vakthra manOharA
shoolAdhyAyutha sampannA peethavarnA athigarvitha
mEdhonishta madhupreetha bandhinyAdhi samanvidha
dhadhyanna saktha hrudaya kAkini roopadhArini
KAkini resides in the swadhishtaana chakram. She is 4 headed. She holds weapons like the trishoolam. She is yellow complexioned (peetha varna). She is very much proud about herself (athi garvitha). She likes honey. Curd rice is her favourite. She has sakthis starting from bandhini.
5. SAkini
moolAdhArAmbujarooda panchavakthrAdhi samsthitha
angushAdhipraharana varadhAdhi nishEvithA
muthgowdhanA sakthachitthA sAkinyambA swaroopini
SAkini lives at the moolaadhaara chakram with 5 heads. She holds angusham and some more weapons. Her sakthis start from varadha. She likes rice prepared out of grams and dal.
6. HAkini
AagyA chakrAbjanilayA shuklavarnA shadAnana
majja samstha hamsavathee mukhya sakthi samanvidha
haridrAnnaika rasika hAkini roopadhArini
HAkini lives at the AgyA chakram. She is white complexioned and has 6 heads. She resides in the tissues. Her shakthis are hamsavathi and kshamaavathi. She likes turmeric rice.
7. YAkini
sahasradhala padmasthA sarvavarnOpa shObhitha
sarvAyudhadarA shukla samsthitha sarvathOmukhi
sarvowdhanA preetha chittha yAkinyambA swaroopini
YAkini resides at the sahasrAra chakram. She is multi coloured and has all the weapons. She has many faces. She likes all food items.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Sree Vidya Ramayanam
Introduction
Sree Vidya Ramayanam is a version of Ramayana (the story of Lord Rama) that is based out of Devi Sree Lalitha. This says, Lalitha rules the world and all the happenings in Ramayana are also by the orders of Lalitha.
Overview
The story of Ramayana as per Srividya ramayanam is as follows.
This starts with the conversation between Agastya and Hayagreeva. Agastya asks Hayagreeva to explain him the Guhya thathvam (secret philosophy) of Brahmmanda purana. Hayagreeva explains it to Agastya as follows.
Once Indra wanted to test the lovely couple (Agalya - Gauthama). So Indra disguised himself as a cock and went to Gauthama's ashram before the day dawned. By making sound like a cock, Indra tricked Gauthama and the latter went out to the river bank for having bath thinking that the day had dawned. At the ashram Agalya was left alone. Indra appeared as Gauthama and tried to misbehave with Agalya. Agalya being a pathi vrathai (one who never thinks of a man other than her husband) and a Devi bhakthai (devotee), found out the intention that Indra was having in his mind and prayed to Devi to save her and make Indra realise his mistake.
Initially before starting for execution of this task, Indra (also a devi devotee) prayed to Devi to protect him in case of any trouble. So after listening to Agalya's plea to save her, Devi turned Agalya into a stone. Now neither Indra nor Agalya would get a bad name.
Indra realised his mistake on seeing Agalya turning into a stone. Gauthama on seeing Indra at his ashram and agalya turned into a stone, judged what could have happened with the prowess of his tapas (meditation).
Origin of Sree vidya ramayanam
To kill the asuras Lalitha originated from the "chith agni kundam" and after killing asuras she married Lord Kameshwara (form of Lord shiva, adorned with jewels). Every body was happy. but Gauthama was still thinking of Agalya. On seeing this, Lalitha announced that everyone including herself will suffer for not helping Agalya at the time of her difficulty in the Ramayana time.
So she said "My form Narayanee will be born as Rama and Narayanan will be born as Lakshman. Form of Parameswara and Brahmma will be born as Bharatha and Chatruguna.
Indra who troubled Agalya is similar to monkey. So he was borne as Sugreeva, the monkey king.
Like Gowthama who suffered a lot from being separated from his wife, Rama, Sugreeva will also need to pay their debt. (Rama and sita wil part and similarly sugreeva and Tara)
Relation to Ramayana
Kausalya, Kaikeyi and Sumitra, wives of King Dasaratha of Ayodhya were ardent devotees of Sree Lalitha, Parameswara and Brahmma,Vishnu respectively. They prayed to their favourite deities and got child(ren) of their choice. Kausalya gave birth to Rama (Devi's form), Kaikeyi to Bharatha (Parameswara's form) and sumitra gave birth to Lakshmana (Vishnu's form) and Chathruguna (Brahmma's form).
The rest are similar to Ramayana by Valmiki. But all happenings are centered at Devi's command.
End Notes
Many versions of Ramayana exists. We cant say this is the right one or so. All are aimed at increasing one's faith towards God. If we take the situation where all including Devi herself are suffering the punishment for not helping Agalya, we can conclude that even God need to repay his debts. This is the wonderful principle of equality.
This Sree vidya ramayana, enforces optimism. If one thinks positively
1. All that happened will seem to be good
2. All that is happening will be good.
3. All that will happen will also be good.
Sree Vidya Ramayanam is a version of Ramayana (the story of Lord Rama) that is based out of Devi Sree Lalitha. This says, Lalitha rules the world and all the happenings in Ramayana are also by the orders of Lalitha.
Overview
The story of Ramayana as per Srividya ramayanam is as follows.
This starts with the conversation between Agastya and Hayagreeva. Agastya asks Hayagreeva to explain him the Guhya thathvam (secret philosophy) of Brahmmanda purana. Hayagreeva explains it to Agastya as follows.
Once Indra wanted to test the lovely couple (Agalya - Gauthama). So Indra disguised himself as a cock and went to Gauthama's ashram before the day dawned. By making sound like a cock, Indra tricked Gauthama and the latter went out to the river bank for having bath thinking that the day had dawned. At the ashram Agalya was left alone. Indra appeared as Gauthama and tried to misbehave with Agalya. Agalya being a pathi vrathai (one who never thinks of a man other than her husband) and a Devi bhakthai (devotee), found out the intention that Indra was having in his mind and prayed to Devi to save her and make Indra realise his mistake.
Initially before starting for execution of this task, Indra (also a devi devotee) prayed to Devi to protect him in case of any trouble. So after listening to Agalya's plea to save her, Devi turned Agalya into a stone. Now neither Indra nor Agalya would get a bad name.
Indra realised his mistake on seeing Agalya turning into a stone. Gauthama on seeing Indra at his ashram and agalya turned into a stone, judged what could have happened with the prowess of his tapas (meditation).
Origin of Sree vidya ramayanam
To kill the asuras Lalitha originated from the "chith agni kundam" and after killing asuras she married Lord Kameshwara (form of Lord shiva, adorned with jewels). Every body was happy. but Gauthama was still thinking of Agalya. On seeing this, Lalitha announced that everyone including herself will suffer for not helping Agalya at the time of her difficulty in the Ramayana time.
So she said "My form Narayanee will be born as Rama and Narayanan will be born as Lakshman. Form of Parameswara and Brahmma will be born as Bharatha and Chatruguna.
Indra who troubled Agalya is similar to monkey. So he was borne as Sugreeva, the monkey king.
Like Gowthama who suffered a lot from being separated from his wife, Rama, Sugreeva will also need to pay their debt. (Rama and sita wil part and similarly sugreeva and Tara)
Relation to Ramayana
Kausalya, Kaikeyi and Sumitra, wives of King Dasaratha of Ayodhya were ardent devotees of Sree Lalitha, Parameswara and Brahmma,Vishnu respectively. They prayed to their favourite deities and got child(ren) of their choice. Kausalya gave birth to Rama (Devi's form), Kaikeyi to Bharatha (Parameswara's form) and sumitra gave birth to Lakshmana (Vishnu's form) and Chathruguna (Brahmma's form).
The rest are similar to Ramayana by Valmiki. But all happenings are centered at Devi's command.
End Notes
Many versions of Ramayana exists. We cant say this is the right one or so. All are aimed at increasing one's faith towards God. If we take the situation where all including Devi herself are suffering the punishment for not helping Agalya, we can conclude that even God need to repay his debts. This is the wonderful principle of equality.
This Sree vidya ramayana, enforces optimism. If one thinks positively
1. All that happened will seem to be good
2. All that is happening will be good.
3. All that will happen will also be good.
Sri chakram - description
Sri chakram has 9 levels. The description of each level from external to internal is given below.
1. Bhoopuram
This is also called TrilokyamOhana chakram. This chakram enchants the three worlds. The type of yogini in this stage is Prakata yogini. There are totally 28 sakthis - 10 starting with AnimA, 8 starting with Brahmya and 10 mudra sakthis. Tripura is the head for this stage.
2. Shodasa Dalam
The second stage, called as sarvAsa paripUraka chakram fulfills all expectations. Yogini at this stage is Gupta yogini. Tripuresi heads this chakra. There are 16 sakthis starting from kAmAkarshini.
3. Ashta Dalam
This stage is known by the name sarva samkshObana chakram. This agitates all. The gupta tara yoginis are headed by Tripurasundari. There are 8 sakthis starting from ananga, kusuma.
4. Chaturdasaram
The 14 sakthis starting from samkshobini is headed by tripuravAsini. They are the sampradAya yoginis who grants excellence. This stage is also called sarva saubhAgyadAyaka chakram.
5. Bahirdasaram - 10 outer sakthis
The sarvArtha sAdhaka chakram that has 10 sakthis starting from sarva siddhi prada allows one to accomplish all tasks. This stage is headed by tripurasri. They are kulOtheerna yoginis.
6. Antardasaram - 10 inner sakthis
The sarva rakshAkara chakram that has 10 sakthis starting from sarvagyA protects all. This stage is headed by Tripura Malini. They are Nigarba yoginis.
7. Ashtakonam
The 8 sakthis starting from vasini is headed by tripurasiddhA. They are the rahasya yoginis who cures all ailments. This stage is also called sarva rOgahara chakram.
8. Trikonam
The eighth stage, called as sarva siddhiprada chakram grants all perfection. Yogini at this stage is athi rahasya yogini. Tripuramba heads this chakra. There are 3 sakthis starting from kAmeswari.
9. Bindu
The ninth stage, called as sarvAnandamaya chakram grants bliss. Yogini at this stage is parA parAthi yogini. Maha Tripura Sundari is the sakthi in this chakra.
One of the greatest composer sri Muthuswamy dikshithar has written a set of nine kritis - one for each level of the sri chakram under the name - kamalAmba navA varna kritis.
1. Bhoopuram
This is also called TrilokyamOhana chakram. This chakram enchants the three worlds. The type of yogini in this stage is Prakata yogini. There are totally 28 sakthis - 10 starting with AnimA, 8 starting with Brahmya and 10 mudra sakthis. Tripura is the head for this stage.
2. Shodasa Dalam
The second stage, called as sarvAsa paripUraka chakram fulfills all expectations. Yogini at this stage is Gupta yogini. Tripuresi heads this chakra. There are 16 sakthis starting from kAmAkarshini.
3. Ashta Dalam
This stage is known by the name sarva samkshObana chakram. This agitates all. The gupta tara yoginis are headed by Tripurasundari. There are 8 sakthis starting from ananga, kusuma.
4. Chaturdasaram
The 14 sakthis starting from samkshobini is headed by tripuravAsini. They are the sampradAya yoginis who grants excellence. This stage is also called sarva saubhAgyadAyaka chakram.
5. Bahirdasaram - 10 outer sakthis
The sarvArtha sAdhaka chakram that has 10 sakthis starting from sarva siddhi prada allows one to accomplish all tasks. This stage is headed by tripurasri. They are kulOtheerna yoginis.
6. Antardasaram - 10 inner sakthis
The sarva rakshAkara chakram that has 10 sakthis starting from sarvagyA protects all. This stage is headed by Tripura Malini. They are Nigarba yoginis.
7. Ashtakonam
The 8 sakthis starting from vasini is headed by tripurasiddhA. They are the rahasya yoginis who cures all ailments. This stage is also called sarva rOgahara chakram.
8. Trikonam
The eighth stage, called as sarva siddhiprada chakram grants all perfection. Yogini at this stage is athi rahasya yogini. Tripuramba heads this chakra. There are 3 sakthis starting from kAmeswari.
9. Bindu
The ninth stage, called as sarvAnandamaya chakram grants bliss. Yogini at this stage is parA parAthi yogini. Maha Tripura Sundari is the sakthi in this chakra.
One of the greatest composer sri Muthuswamy dikshithar has written a set of nine kritis - one for each level of the sri chakram under the name - kamalAmba navA varna kritis.
Lalitha Sahasranamam
Origin of LalithA SahasranAmam
LalithA sahasranAmam is a powerful mantra pertaining to Devi worship. It is a hymn that is belived to be originated by the divine order from sree lalithAmbika. This hymn is a collection of thousand names of lalithA. They had been arranged in such a way, describing devi from her head to foot (also called as 'kesAdhi pAdham'). Following this description, comes the description of the sri puram which is located at the centre of the sumEru mountains - the place where lalithAmba resides. Then comes the description of her throne, war against bandAsuran, sookshma swaroopam (or to be imagined) as the kundalini sakthi and some more.
At the 7th level, Ashtagonam or sarva rOgahara chakram of the 9 level sri chakram, the 8 vAg dEvathAs or speech influencing powers reside. They are vasini,kAmeswari,arunA,vimalA,jayinee,modhinee,sarvEswari,kowlini. These 8 saktis compiled this sahasranAmam.
How the sahasranAmam was made available to humans?
Saint AgastyA, who accepted lord Hayagreeva (form of vishnu with a horse face) who is very brilliant as his guru. One day when Hayagreeva came to Agastya's house, the latter asked the former to enlighten him on the divine lalithA sahasranAmA. HayagreevA became happy and taught AgastyA the sahasranAmA. Thus it was made accessible to humans.
Power of LalithA sahasranAmA
LalithA sahasranAmA grants good health and prosperity to all who recites it. The slOkA prevents early death due to ailments and grants long life.
LalithA sahasranAmam is a powerful mantra pertaining to Devi worship. It is a hymn that is belived to be originated by the divine order from sree lalithAmbika. This hymn is a collection of thousand names of lalithA. They had been arranged in such a way, describing devi from her head to foot (also called as 'kesAdhi pAdham'). Following this description, comes the description of the sri puram which is located at the centre of the sumEru mountains - the place where lalithAmba resides. Then comes the description of her throne, war against bandAsuran, sookshma swaroopam (or to be imagined) as the kundalini sakthi and some more.
At the 7th level, Ashtagonam or sarva rOgahara chakram of the 9 level sri chakram, the 8 vAg dEvathAs or speech influencing powers reside. They are vasini,kAmeswari,arunA,vimalA,jayinee,modhinee,sarvEswari,kowlini. These 8 saktis compiled this sahasranAmam.
How the sahasranAmam was made available to humans?
Saint AgastyA, who accepted lord Hayagreeva (form of vishnu with a horse face) who is very brilliant as his guru. One day when Hayagreeva came to Agastya's house, the latter asked the former to enlighten him on the divine lalithA sahasranAmA. HayagreevA became happy and taught AgastyA the sahasranAmA. Thus it was made accessible to humans.
Power of LalithA sahasranAmA
LalithA sahasranAmA grants good health and prosperity to all who recites it. The slOkA prevents early death due to ailments and grants long life.
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