Kapali!

Learning About Trees:

Rajani's Learning Tree school has three spaces - all named after trees: the tall Ashoka, the broad Banyan, and the flowering Gul-Mohar. She now knows the first two well, as we often spot them on our drive to the IIT campus. Here she is, on the left, under the Ashoka tree, just outside Ramesh's department, DoMS.

Below is the majestic Banyan. Its vines drop to the ground, take root, and grow in to broad stems, widening the girth of the tree each year. We see several monkeys on these trees.

















The annual Chariot Festival at the Kapali Temple in Mylapore:

Ramesh's neighborhood, Mylapore, is home to the ancient Kapaleeshwarar Temple, said to have been around since atleast 1250 CE. The lore is that Parvathi, Shiva's wife, in the form of a peacock, worshipped him here. Thus the name Mayila-pore (pronounced mayeela-pour), meaning city of peacocks. Every year, Lord Shiva, here known as Kapali, has a day out on the town, in his 100-foot tall chariot. Hundreds of devotees draw the chariot, and it is altogether a great experience, for the spiritually inclined, the mechanically inclined, and for the fun festival atmosphere. He is preceded by his first son, Ganesha, followed by his wife, in her own separate chariot, who is followed by her other son, Murga. Here are a few pictures from the festival, taken on the morning of Friday, the 27th. We were there between 6:00 a.m. and 8:30 a.m.
On the left, the chariot is ready and waiting for Lord Shiva to arrive. Below: wonderful hand made toys are sold at the festival. I have memories of being bought some neat wooden toys. Today, limited choice among very poorly made toys are the norm.

















Left: a glimpse of the replendent Lord, adorned in garlands inside the chariot, guarded by gana-boodhams or dwara-balas.













Left: while the task of pulling the chariot falls to the devotees, (it is considered a great privilege), the mechanics of turning the chariot as it travers around the temple is the responsibility of these young men with sticks. No motorized or mechanical device is used. It is good old-fashioned laws of physics, wooden wedges, and man (yes, only men) power.






Left: Decorations on the chariot.













A Rare Treat!

On Tuesday, the 27th, Rajani's music teacher, Usha Padmanabhan, (and as of Monday, mine!) performed at the Music Academy Mini Hall, upon having received an endowment award. She sang select Sanskrit krithis composed by Sri Thayagaraja:

After warming up with
Devathi deva sadashiva - Sindhu ramakriya - Adhi, and Janaki ramana - Sudha seemandhini - Adhi,
she took off with Sri Naradha natha in Kaanada - Roopakam.
A very nice Panthuvarali followed with Shambo Mahadeva, with neraval and swarams at Amboruha padhambhuja. A brisk Mamava raghunatha in Jaganmohini followed, as did Bhajare Bhaja Maanasa in ragam Kannada. Another rare krithi (to my ears) was Varashiki vagana vaarija lochana in Supradheepam. A most excellent and expansive Kamboji was the prelude to the Sri Raghu varaaprameya maamava, sung like a swarajithi, with swaras preceeding the anupallavi, and each of the three charanams. She concluded the concert with Thavadha soham in Punnagavarali, and followed it up with a Madhyamavathi mangalam and Srutti slokam. It was altogether a very solid performance for 2 hours and 15 minutes and she had great support in Nellai Balaji on the mridangam.

I also heard Vasundara Rajagopal (Nisha Rajagopal's mother), who also sang pretty well, and tackled Janaranjani for about 30 minutes.

Savitha Narasimhan's was another excellent concert. She is said to be a child prodigy, having identified ragas at age 3 (wouldn't that make Swathi a prodigy too? I remember her calling out "Behag!" at 2 and 1/2 in Sydney!) She learns from RaviKiran and sings sampradhaya music. Her main pieces were Varali and Mohanam (Kapali!).

After years of listening to Sriram Gangadharan on tapes and cds, I finally got to hear him live at Hamsadhwani last Friday. It was a treat indeed! His voice is his strength and it does whatever he wants it to do. But alas, his lack of thronging audience as for Sanjay, is his literal copying of the GNB style, they say, and not developing one of his own. He sang a rare SruthiRanjani, the famous Thamadhamen Swami in, Thodi. He also served up a couple of compositions from his repetoire of Nandhanar Charithram.


Goodbye until the next post, if I have survived the painters who take over the house tomorrow! Posted on April 4th, 2007