Sri Ranganatha BrahmOthsavam Concluded Yesterday .

[Guest guest]

SrI:

 

Dear BhakthAs :

 

adiyEn attended yesterday an event filled concluding

day of the First BrahmOthsavam for Lord Ranganatha at

the Pomona , NY Temple . It is a Memorable day

by every measure of excellence and authenticity .

Many days and nights of intensive preparatory work

by the Religious Committee , the Board Members and

Shrama DhAnam by many , many volunteers over untold

hours rewarded the BhakthAs of Sri RanganAtha ,

who had assembled from near and far .

 

adiyEn will share with You all a small portion

of adiyEn's blissful anubhavam .

 

MangaLa Vaadhyam

*************************

The sound of Naadhaswaram ( MangaLa Vaadhyam)

Music accompanied all the important functions during

the different stages of the day . These Naadhswara

and Tavil VidhvAns are from the rich Cauvery delta

in TanjAvur district known for its great families of

Naathaswara VidhvAns , who took part over the years

at many BrahmOthsavams of one or more of the 40

dhivya dEsams of ChOLa Naadu . Besides their own

vast repertory of Krithis of Saint ThyagarAja , they

responded with lightning speed to the commands

from the PradhAna Archakar Swamy to fit with the instructions

of Ghana Raagams as well as apoorva Janya Raagams

( Kannada GouLai,Raama Priya , MukhAri , DevaghAndhAri ,

KalyANa Vasantham , GambheerA Nattai , Mallari and many more ) .

 

This Naadhaswaram group took part in all the six days of

the Uthsavam , stayed up late and enchanted the throngs of

devotees with NeelAmburi for SayanOthsavam and

PunnAgavarALi (Magudi) during the different gathis that

Lord Ranganatha is famous for during His PuRappAdu

( Processions inside and outside His saptha PrAkArams ) .

adiyEn will write more later about the dance ITEMS and

musical accompaniments during the Navasandhi Nruthyam ,

Nava Sandhi Kautthuvam , the varieties of 35 TaaLams (7 X 5)

used and thier 140 other derivatives as well as the additional

rare Taalams ( Megha Nandhana Taalam for VaruNan etc )

used according to the Sri Prasna Samhithai of Pancha Raathra

Aagamam later .

 

Other Naadha NaivEdhyams & PrasAdhams

****************************************************

The VeNu GhAnam by Smt.Bhavani Rao and Vocal concerts

added to the Naadha NaivEdhyams for the Lord and competed

for attention from the MadapaLLi Kaimkaryam Swamy , Sriman

MuraLi KrishNan , who created so many authentic PrasAdhams

for the Lord (aRum chuvai Virundhu) .

 

NruthyAnjali

*****************

NrutthAnjalis particularly on the final day of BrahmOthsavam

during the SapthAvaraNam stage of the Uthsavam are fresh in

adiyEn's memory . One of the seven AavaraNams is

Nruthyam and the others are Geetham , VeNu etc and the final

AavaraNam is MOUNAM (Stunning silence associated

with deep meditation , where one hears only AnAhatha

PraNava Naadham) .

 

Jathisvaram

*****************

Before the SapthAvaraNam , NruthyAnjali by young

and talented dancers were offered . Jathiswaram

(rhythmic beats and MudhrAs joined the Jathis to

SwarAs /Musical notes); this dance item is devoid of

any abhinayam and was offered to the Lord by Kumari

Pramoda Bapatla .Jathiswaram is also known as

Sollukkattu . Sri ShyAmaa SaasthrigaL and Tanjore Quartet

have composed many of these Sollukkattus and Svarajathis

( Saahithyam added to Jathisvaram) .

 

Shabdham ( RaamAyaNam)

********************************

The classical Shabdam ( another core item of Bhatatha Naatyam

tradition) was presented to the Lord at His arangam by

Kumari Saroja Kolluru . Sabdham belongs to the other items of

Bharata Naatyam like ThOdaya MangaLam ( Ranga Poojai) ,

Jathisvaram , VarNam , Padham , JaavaLi and TillAna .

Jathisvaram and Sabdham follow one another . Sabdham

is the First item in the hierarchy of Bharatha Naatyam Uruppadis ,

where Abhinayam is introduced after pure Nrutthams ( Pure

foot works and Hastha Mudhrais ) . The shabdam chosen was

RaamAyaNa Sabdham . Uthsavar Ranganathar is known as

Raamachandran , where as Moolvar is DhAmOdhara KrishNan

with His three welt marks for Navaneetha chOram , a present

from His " Mother " , YasOdhA .The episodes of Raama

as the Portector of the Yaj~nams of the Sages ( Yaj~na Rakshakan) ,

SitA KalyAnam , chasing of the Maayaa Mrugham and RaavaNa

SamhAram were beautifully brought before our eyes

by the talented dancer .

 

Abhinayam

*************

Sri Anvesh Tanuku danced two more delightful items : (1) Lord RanganaathA's

dhivya soundharyam in DharbhAr with Sri RanganAyaki ( Kolu-Vaithiva

Rangasaayee ). There was significant opportunity for him to display

his skills in abhinayam and Nruthyam . It was a Saathvika abhinayam

piece filled with BhAvam and Rasam . The second item by Sri Avinesh

Tanuku dealt with the DasAvathAram bringing to mind the DasAvathAra

Sannidhi at Srirangam built by Thirumangai AzhwAr and Sri DasAvathAra

SthOthram by Swamy Desikan. Sri Anvesh took Sri Jaya DevA's famous

DasAvathAra SlOkam and intrepreted it with various Sthaayee BhAvams .

 

Pushpa Yaagam

**********************

Pushpa Yaagam concluded the elaborate DhvAdasa AarAdhanam .

Multicolored Pushpams , some unique to India (AraLi) and KrishNa

( dark) TuLasi had been flown in from India for this special occasion .

The PushpAnajali was done with the recitation of the Mantram:

" Phalam bhavathu mE Pushpai: Nama: " and Purusha Soktha ,

SrI sooktha and BhU sooktha Mantrams to the Lord and

His two Devis( Ubahaya NaacchiyArkaL) .

 

The pictures of Pushpa Yaagam and the Videos in the Temple

web site will help you to enjoy the soundharyam and Thrupthi of

the Lord at the successful conclusion of His BrahmOthsavam .

He was beaming with Joy and blessed all His BhakthAs with

Theertham and SaThAri . It was already 1.00 AM , when we had

to leave so that the Lord can enjoy His sayanOthsavam .

 

Our Prayers ******************

Our Prayers are for this BrahmOthsavam tradition to continue

--as long as there is the Sun and the Moon-- at this unique Temple

for Lord Ranganatha and perhaps another Uthsavam for

Sri Lakshmi Narasimhan as at Ahobilam and ThiruvallikkENi

in another quarter /ayanam of the year !

 

Our Prayers are for additional Vaahanams be ready for

the Next BrahmOthsavam !

 

Our Prayers are for the SampradhAyic ( Paancha Raathra

Saasthram based) AarAdhanams and the Uthsavams to

continue forever !

 

In conclusion , adiyEn is pleased to share with You the good news

given by the Chairman Swamy , Dr,Venakt Kanumaslla that

Sri Ranganathan's anugraham made it possible to have a revenue-neutral

Uthsavam , Which had many expenditures . Volunteers and devotees

came forward to meet all the expenses of the BrahmOthsavam .

 

Few Tasks ahead

***********************

Many tasks remain to be attended to such as taking care of

the Flat Roof for the next tweny years atleast and many other

items identified by the Board of the Temple . Please donate

liberally to the Roof Repair as the immediate item needing attention

and for the various Kaimkaryams to maintain SampradhAya

Parisuddhi at the temple at the highest level !

 

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan

Fund Raising Chair Person m Sri Ranganatha Temple Board