S.Aishwarya sings on 5th May 2015 at Irinjalakuda - Kerala

[cienu]

Date: 5th May 2015 - Tuesday
Time : 5.15 pm to 8.45 pm

On the occasion of the annual festival at the Koodalmanikyam Temple in Irinjalakuda - Kerala, there will be a Carnatic Music Concert by
S.Aishwarya - Vocal
Vidwan Sri V V Ravi - Violin
Vidwan Sri B Sivaraman - Mridangam
Vidwan Sri H Sivaramakrishnan - Ghatam.

All rasikas are welcome.

[rshankar]

Best wished to Aishwarya et al!

[VK RAMAN]

Koodalmanikyam Temple is the only temple in India dedicated to the worship of Bharata; the idol in the sanctum sanctorum is that of Vishnu. "Sangameshwara"(Lord of the Confluence) is another name associated with the deity at Koodalmanikyam. All the best to Aishwarya.

[cienu]

Thank you Ravi and Sri VKR
We are looking forward to this concert which will be a part of the temple festivities.
This will also be S.Aishwarya's debut concert in Kerala.

[thanjavooran]

Wishing her many more concerts in Kerala
With blessings
thanjavooran
23 04 2015

[arasi]

Cienu,
I was wondering if she had sung in Kerala before as I started reading your post, and you say it's her first concert there. Hope we get clips and photographs, especially of the BharathA sannidhi

Thanks VKR for that interesting bit of information

[cienu]

Dear Sri Thanjavooran and Arasi
Thank you so much for your kind wishes.
Will definitely post some pictures taken on this tour and some clips.
Also kindly find below the invitation printed by the Temple (in Malayalam)

[arasi]

Cienu,
Waiting for your post, clips and photos. When you were there, did you get to see the sannidhi for BharathA?

[cienu]

Dear Arasi,

Apologies for my delayed response.
Have been extremely busy in my official work and also with Aishwarya’s concerts
We had a wonderful time in Kerala.
The Koodalmanikyam temple is a unique temple where Lord Bharata is worshipped.
There are 4 temples within a 50 km radius from Trissur dedicated to the 4 sons of Dasharatha Maharaja,

Thriprayar – Rama Temple
Irinjalakuda – Bharata Temple
Muzhikkulam – Lakshmana Temple
Payammal – Shatrugnan Temple

We had a wonderful darshan of Lord Bharata at Koodalmanikyam temple. We prayed to Lord Sanghameshwara (as He is called) that rains do not interrupt the concert as this is held in an open air field and the pandal offers only nominal protection. True to His word, though there was thunder and lightning during the middle of Aishwarya’s concert, the rains stopped 500 metres away ! The audience was huge and there could have been around 10000 people. Extremely observant and knowledgable audience indeed. !
We also had darshan at Kodungallur (16kms from Irinjalakuda) where Goddess Bhagawati is the presiding deity and on the day after the concert we had darshan of Lord Sri Krishna at Guruvayur.
I have attached a few pictures taken during the visit.
During the concert

Picture of the audience

Elephants decorated before the procession (atleast 20)

A chilly bajji stall outside the temple. Look at the unique display of Chilies !

A tree full of ripe jackfruits but nobody to pluck them.

Also visit the link below for a wonderful snapshot of the celebrations this year at Koodalmanikyam
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DnOk-9R1lA
And the website of the temple below which has beautiful pictures in the gallery section
http://www.koodalmanikyam.com/gallery.html

[arasi]

Cienu,
Thank you for the concert picture (the unbelievable number of people assembled there!). The beautiful second tambura artiste (along with Manjunath) looks familiar

The jack fruit tree is a beauty...

Great to know about the temples for each of DasarathA's putrAs...

The concert review thread will bring a few clips from the concert, I guess...

[maduraimini]

Very happy to hear that Aishwarya's concert went off well and a big crowd of audience were there. This is a good start for her to sing many more concerts in Kerala. Kerala people are interested in good music. I am also glad that you could see all the Holy temples there. I did not know there were temples for Rama's three brothers anywhere ! Best wishes to Aishwarya for many more concerts in Kerala!

[RaviSri]

At the Koodalmanikyam Bharata temple, an important naivEdxyam (offering) is brinjal (katthirikkAi or vazhudanangA as they call it in Malayalam) which is offered to the Lord at night. Those who have stomach ache or stomach ailments offer brinjal to the Lord. It is of course made in the temple itself. Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar, sometime in the 1960s was suffering from severe stomach ache. He offered this brinjal naivEdyam to the Lord at Irinjalakkuda and was cured of his ailment. He has written a letter to the temple about this and the temple office is preserving that letter. This is the biggest temple complex in Kerala, about 25 acres.

The Bhagavati at Kodangallur is supposed to be Kannagi who, it is said, came to Kodungallur after she burnt Madurai and sat here in penance. The Lakshmana temple at Moozhikkulam is a great centre of art, especially Kathakali, Koodiyattam, Chakkiyar Koothu etc. It has the biggest Koothambalam in Kerala

[cienu]

Thank you Arasi and Maduraimini for your kind comments
Aishwarya continues her Kerala soujourn with a concert at Kochi on May 22nd 2015
RaviSri
Thank you for the interesting bit of information

[arasi]

RaviSri,
Happy to see your post after a long while, and as always, interesting and illuminating...

[RaviSri]

Another connection of CM with Irinjalakkuda is that N.C.Vasantakokilam lived here for a few years during her childhood.