Chaturvedamum Sapdaswaramaum

[hnbhagavan]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwlBgB-Rh7A

[CRama]

I was fortunate to attend the above function in the Music Academy on 3 March 2019 and really overwhelmed by the religious atmosphere that prevailed there, the devotion and commitment shown by thousands of devotees- mostly clad in traditional attire- All gents in veshti- some in panchakacham, many mamis in madisar who were much involved in the activities of the Mutt and their upcoming project in Sankarapuram. The stage was nicely decorated with a life size statue of Mahaperiyava and liberally garlanded with flowers. There were many Sangeeta vidwans and vidushis. To mention a few, T.K.Murthy, Umayalpuram Sivaraman, Neela Ramgopal, Bombay Sisters, R.S.Jayalakshmi, Neyveli Santhanagopalan, Papanasam Ashok Ramani, Suryaprakash, Radha Bhaskar, Subha Ganesan, etc. The attendees were provided breakfast and lunch packets. I reproduce below a message received by me regarding the project for the information of our fellow rasikas.

Sri Sankarapuram is, a vedic village under development in Kadiramangalam, a village, about 15km from Mayiladuthurai. Objective is to keep alive veda and dharma for loka kshemam. This is about 90+ acre site, containing housing for 108 agnihotris (agni samrakshanam, one of 40 samskarams for brahmins, it takes 2+ hours in morning and 2+ hours in evening, and lot of restrictions like should have a cow and calf next to you, a yagashala etc), and about 200 hourses for grahastas to help support agnihotris. There is also a huge temple for Kanchi Mahaswami (68th Pontiff, H.H. Sri Chandrashekarendra saraswathi swamiji who attained siddhi 25 years ago at age of 100), with 108 feet tall raja gopuram, temple for Kamakshi and Chandramouleeshwara. There will a pushkarani (temple pond) for temple. There is yagashala with another pond for conducting yagas like soma yagam (there is one coming up in March first week of 2019).

Once 108 agnihotris get into this village, they are not expected to step out of the village for their livelihood and all their needs will be taken care by trust. Their daily needs like grains and other groceries would be taken care, and also monthly dakshina would be provided to every agnihotri. Their duty is to do agnihotram twice a day and also teach veda to two vidhyarthis. Idea is to create similar atmosphere which existed 300+ years ago, where kings protected brahmins.

The project is being done by Sri Vaishnavi trust, headed by Sri Venkatasubramanian, who is a laywer by profession. He would be giving up his profession and moving to this village in 2020. He is the coordinator for the entire project.

Mahaperiava appeared in Sri Venkatasubramanian's dream (affectionately called Vakkil Anna by one and all) and gave orders to him to do bhoo dhaanam (land donation) to 108 agnihotris in 2011. Swamiji also has instructed him to only communicate about such a project coming up and not to ask for any donation or money.

A corpus fund has been setup to provide sambhavana to 108 agnihotris and 5000 members are to be inducted. Vakkil anna is going place to place to propagate dharmic values and to carry Mahaperiyava message to one and all. He had been to New Delhi earlier this month, and he carried life size murthy of Mahaperiava (sitting posture) in train and it was unforgettable and memorable journey.
By periava order, he intend to travel to kerala to places like palakadu, kochi, thiruvananthapuram.

There is a documentary by Smt Revathi Sankaran link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYJ-G8kL_ZQ&t=558s.

The seeds for this dream village came from a story written by Dalmia Ganesan in the Kalki magazine in the year 2009. The documentary was taken six months ago and there is much progress in the project now. Many devotees are planning a visit to Sankarapuram. The Kubhabhishekam of the Mahaperiyava temple is scheduled for next year. IN the end of the documentary, Revathi Sankaran mentions that there are many schemes in the project where we can also participate. But the details are not given in the film.

Advocate Venkatasubramaniam also called as Vakil Anna narrated his experiences with Mahaperiyava and explained the details about the project. Revathi Sankaran played the role of compeer in her characteristic style.

There was a musical offering by many esteemed vidwans and vidushis with due pakkavadyamas- each person sang one song for five minutes. Some of them are listed below. I attended only at 10 AM.
Tiruvarur Gireesh- Meenakshi me mudam dehi
M.A.Krishnaswamy and his children- Violin- Manavyala
R.S.Jayalakshmi, Mudikondan Ramesh, Charulatha- Veena- Sobillu Saptaswara.
Bombay Sisters- Ennapunniyam seydeno
P.B.Sreerangachary and Embar Kasturi- Swararagasudha
U.P.Raju, Nagamani and disciple- Mandolin-Pariyachakama
After individual sangeetarchana, there was a group singing of a few songs- Sree Ganapatinee, Endaro Mahanaubhavulu, Maithreem bhajatha, Pavamana.

The programme concluded at 12.45.

[hnbhagavan]

Thank you for details C.Rama

[pattamaa]

Ramakrishnan sir, as always you sum up everything well.

I attended in parts, and catching up rest in youtube.

Here is a brilliant shankarabharanam - swara ragha sudha - by Thirumalai brothers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAK4E6G ... ture=share

Heard through organizers that this was easily "THE BEST" and most seasoned vidwan/vidushi attending the event praised brother profusely.

Such a brilliant performance

Hoping for other performance to appear in short tracks.

Other renderings i heard online so far...
1. Neela Ramgopal - Mumurthylu in atana - accompanied by Dr Narmada & Mannarkovil J Balaji
2. Lalgudi Sibblings - Mokshamu galada
3. Sri subramanyaya - Guru Neyveli Anna and students

There were 125+ artists on stage for sri ganapathini, endaro mahanubhavulu, and maitreem bhajata

Entire program was conceived, co-ordinated and flawlessly executed by Vidwan Dr Umashankar, senior most sishya of Bombay sisters C Saroja and C Lalitha. He and his students presented a song composed on mahaperiyava in raga shankara as invocation.

Trustee (affectionately called as vakkil anna by one and all) speech is something worth listening to and eye opener to many, made many eyes wet. Must listen for about 45 minutes, a soul stirring, straight from the heart sambhashanai

https://youtu.be/AwlBgB-Rh7A?t=9886

ICING ON CAKE, Dr TK Murthy mama and Dr UKS mama playing mridhangam together, few pictures from Sri Sankarapuram FB Page. Arguably first instance in my memory - where these two jambhavan share stage and playing mrudangam !











I'm noticing regular updates in their FB page, do like if you want to follow sri sankarapuram

https://www.facebook.com/srisankarapuram

[CRama]

thanks pattamma for the supplementary information and lovely photos

[Govindaswamy]

Is it sabdaswaram or sapthswaram

[CRama]

No doubt, it was not sabdaswaram, it was only saptaswaram- at its best.