Mantra Jam

As promised here is additional information on earlier events at Tiruvannamalai; Ramana Rocks and Arunai Rocks, check out this posting. Both musical evenings featured rather unusual musical fusion by a group of contemporary musicians. One of the members of the musical ensemble is; J. Jayaraman who has been a resident of Ramana Ashram since 1985. He heads the Ramanashram Library and handles the Book Review column of the Ashram’s, ‘Mountain Path,’ magazine and has also served on its editorial board. He is an editorial advisor to the Tamil Journal, Ramanadhayam. J. Jayaraman’s interests range from afforestation and modern science to metrical chanting, mantras and movies.

To find out more about the group and events, read in the following in his own words.

Ramana Ashram Jam

“A month ago I left for Bangalore for a recording of 3 mantras for the Dances of Universal Peace's workshop at Sao Paulo, March 15-22nd. I am hoping to have at least one of them, if not all eventually, to be incorporated in a Dance designed around the sacred meaning exuding off each mantra.

My maternal cousin, is the founder and Lead guitarist of a trio, progrock band, which was rated the Best Band by World Space Radio for 2007. I had jammed with his group [Thermal and a Quarter] at some varied venues, and it had sounded and felt good on every occasion.

After completing the recording and mailing them off as .mp3 attachments to email, I got to witnessing the next act in the slick and simple Studio of my cousin's Band in downtown Bangalore. There was to be a rehearsal of ‘The Karthik Mani Fusion Group,’ [a motley group composed of skilled musicians from across genres]. There was Prakash Sontakke, a triple graduate from BHU [veena, vocal and guitar] and honoured with several awards [his website is worth a visit, vast and well endowed as he himself is]. He is a consummate artiste, and freely flows across cultures.

Ramana Ashram Jam

Karthik Mani, the leader of the Fusion Group, is a master percussionist facile in all types of Carnatic percussion as well as Jazz-Rock explorations, and can work up the instant magic of the blur of multiplying limbs that gives soul to skin and metal.

Rzhude's electric Bass can pack a mean rhythm and yet alternate with ethereal softness.

Adarsh on Tabla, youngest of them all, is a perspicacious player, providing exciting Northern foil to the Southern percussion,. and oozes romance in the rub.

President of Ramana Ashram with J Jayaraman

The Fusion Group conferred among themselves and didn't take long to decide on their 'starter' number for the concert the following evening. They started the rehearsal with Prakash's guitar 'sliding' into a raga [Naattai, perhaps, one of the few ragas reserved for primal invocation to] Ganesha. Then it was a roller-coaster ride into Fusion -land, what with Prakash's solo succeeded by solos from Bruce's guitar, Rzhude's bass and back to Prakash, and ending in a rush of flaming percussion in a Drums-Tabla dialogue that could only rightfully end in a Konnakkol Bol [verbal percussion duel]. But did it?

Arunai Hotel Jam

I couldn't help noticing how complete the whole thing would be if the Vedic mantra to Ganapati could be heard just at that juncture. When the Bol stopped on the 'samam', I was ready and chanted out the mantra for the rest to play along without break:

Arunai Hotel Jam

gaNAnAm tvA
gaNapati gam havAmahE
kaving kavInAm
upama sravastamam

Thou art the Lord of all groupings
To thee we offer Worship
O Poet of the poets
Whose fame is well-known

jyEshTha rAjam brhmaNAm
brhmaNaspata AnasruNvan nUtibhih sIda sAdhanam
mahA gaNapatayE namah

The Foremost thou art among the Great groupings
O thou Lord of the Chanters
Come to hear us
Heal the road by thy Presence!

It was an electric moment. When the chant got over, there was unanimous exclamation that the chant should start the song at the show.

Arunai Hotel Jam

As I got onto the bus after the show the following night, it was clear to me this group would serve as an admirable vehicle for my purposes of making mantra-jam. There was spontaneous acceptance all round by the members to come to Tiruvannamalai for a concert at the Ashram that I'd wanted focussed on selected verses from Bhagavan's ‘Monday Tamil Parayana’, the short poems of Sankara alongside their equivalent Tamil verses composed by Sri Ramana and sung at the Parayana.

As I returned, I was witness to a miracle in the form of an amazing coincidence ...A Concert video had been placed on my table at the Library by a friend on the day of my departure to Bangalore. When I returned I found it was the fusion concert of the group Khanda-5, with Karthik Mani's parents [both of whom are the founders of the Karnataka College of Percussion] jamming with Bulgarian and Irish musicians. What a coincidence that the parents of a person who was outside my domain of contacts had 'arrived' at my space in a DVD, weeks before I met the son incorporeal jam.

Arunai Hotel Jam

When I returned to the ashram and spoke about the concert and the rest of it, I found the President and Sri Mani very positive about having such a concert in the Ashram.

It was obvious that The Mantra-JJam Sextet would have to work out its game within the restriction of the impossibility of group practice before a concert, given the facts of location and careers. Pushing decision easily onwards to a focus on Spontaneous Unfoldment was the fact that the none of the five had ever been exposed to Ramana lore's poems while most of us here are well acquainted with their resonance. It was obvious it was a momentum intended to flow on its own powered by mantric vibratory presence amplified thru the manifested rhythm ornamenting the self-declared metric structures of the mantras.

The rest just flowed...and what followed as an unfolding flower was there for all to hear and see.”

THE MANTRA-JAM SEXTET
[Composed of]

Vocals: J Jayaraman [ashram]
Slide Guitar: pt. Prakash Sontakke [Bangalore]

www.prakashsontakke.com
Electric Guitar: Bruce Lee Mani [Bangalore]

www.ThermalAndAQuarter.com
Electric Bass: Rzhude [Bangalore] [Thermal and a Quarter]

Jazz & Carnatic Percussion: Kartik Mani [Karnataka College of

Percussion]
Tabla: Adarsh [Bangalore] "

The above narrative is all in the words of J Jayaraman. The Mantra-Jam Sextet hope to be performing soon in Chennai. Will post information as to venue and dates of their performance as soon as it is available.

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What the MJS hopes to present at its concert at Chennai under the auspices of the Chennai Ramana Kendra:

Excerpts highlighting metres and enunciation so that meaning flowers as experience as one sings along.

From:
[1] Arunachala Mahatmyam/Navamani Malai/Ashtakam

[2] excerpts from Sankara's small poems which Bhagavan had translated into Tamil verse

In original Sanskrit followed by Tamil

[3] Appalap-paattu/Anma Vidya Keertanam

[4] excerpts from 40-verses Anubandham

[5] excerpts from Kavya Kantha's Ramana Chatvarimsat, Guru Stuti, Ramana Gita and UMa Sahasram.

This is a Fusion which aims at manifesting the foot-tapping rhythms inherent to all metres. These lie hidden in most our metres since Indian metres are on hierarchical [binary] structure and so are very vast in their 'progeny'.

The duration allotted to a guru is twice that of laghu
The duration allotted to the gap at the end of each pada is more flexible, even a laghu could be uttered as laghu and the gap that follows before the start of the next pada, is solely a function of the filler needed to complete the counting of say a given number [say 32, or 16, or 8 or 4 for an even gait
OR
36, or 18, or 12, or 9, or 6 or 3 matras of matras per pada, for a Waltz-like gait [all Tamil venbas, for example].

Mysterious Neem Tree

On Tuesday this week was in Ramana Ashram bookshop when I overhead a couple of folk talk about the 'milk' from a Neem tree. A couple of hours later at Ramana Ashram Library, JJ (J. Jayaraman) the Librarian, asked me whether I had yet gone to visit the mysterious Neem Tree. Well it was all too fascinating and as soon as I had finished my work at the Library, headed of for the Gokulam at Ramana Ashram.

Arrived at the pretty Gokulam at the back of Ramana Ashram and headed for the much discussed Neem Tree.

And here it is, exuding some strange kind of white liquid - which is not the colour of Neem sap - and also the tree has been exuding for nearly three days. Frankly, people are rather perplexed by the strange phenomenon of this 20 year old tree. What is going on? Certainly ashramites are regularly visiting the tree and some are taking little drops of the exude, in the form of a kind of prasad.

In the next photograph the tree with Arunachala in the background.


And the last photograph of the series, the curious exuding Neem tree in closeup.

Speed of Development

The result of the last quiz on Arunachala Grace asking readers thoughts on the speed of development of the Tiruvannamalai area; 69% believe the area is developing too fast, 24% said that there were too many tourist concessions, 22% think tradition is being ignored. Interestingly NOT one person voted that the speed of development of Tiruvannamalai is a good thing. (readers were allowed to vote for more than one option)

Thiruvoodal Festival

An important festival connected with Arunachala occurs during the time of Pongal and is known as the Thiruvoodal Festival. This Festival is celebrated on January 16th and is ennacted inside the compound of Arunachaleswarar Temple, on the streets delineating the perimeter of the Temple, and on the girivalam pathway itself, by iconic representations of Shiva/Parvati in order to convey moral and social truths to their devotees.

The word 'Voodal,' means 'petty quarrel' or 'tiff' and emissaries are employed by both of the Divine Couple to convey messages between the deities and participate in ‘brokering a deal’ between them.

A variety of sagas (all listed below) concerning the Gods are used to create the scenario of the 'petty quarrel' that needs resolution.

And at the end of their quarrels, finally:

Returning to his residence at the Arunachaleswarar Temple, Shiva knocks at the door but it has been bolted by Parvati. As if he didn’t know, Lord Shiva asks,
‘Oh my darling why have you locked the door?’
‘Sir after we came to an understanding still you went without me. And see now look you have lost everything there is no ornament or clothes. Not, only that but you went and gave darshan to all kinds of people. So, I am now requesting you must establish your manliness to me and retrieve everything that is lost and give the special one-legged dance.’
Shiva starts the dance, Parvati forgets everything and opens the door.

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Thiruvoodal Sagas

Story of Ganga

Goddess Parvati is happy watching the one-legged dance of Lord Shiva, but on noticing Goddess Ganga in the matted locks of her Lord, Parvati becomes recalcitrant and withdrawn. Shiva asks his emissary Sundarar to;
‘Please go and tell her the reason. My dear friend Sundaram, I do not do anything for my own self-interest; Bhagavati did intense tapas to bring down the river of the Gods, the Ganga, in order to pacify the souls of the 1,000 ancestors that had been burnt by the look of Kapala Rishi. Because Bhagavati did tapas, the Ganga was brought down, I had nothing to do with it and when the water came down it was so forceful, everyone said it had to be stopped or it would destroy the earth. So, what was meant to be the medicine is turning out to be another story. So they asked me to do this thing, so please explain this to Parvati. Tell her that all the creatures of the world, her creatures would have been destroyed unless I had helped negate the power of the water cascading unto the Earth.’

Mohini and the Sages

Because the Rishis of Dwaraka got too proud in that they had technology that could yield anything and attain all fruits, they started to believe that there was no need for any divine person as they had the use of; ‘yagna’ technology. In addition they had wives of unquestionable chastity.
Shiva informs Sundarar to convey to Parvati that;
‘To show the Rishis, that they are born of you (i.e. Parvati) and me and are our progeny and shouldn’t think that power is coming to them on its own. If their activities bear fruits it is because we have laid down the laws for it.
To show this, I ordained that the enchantingly beautiful Mohini (a manifestation of Lord Vishnu) appeared to the Rishis, who were completely ensared by her, as too were the rishis’ wives to my own Form as an mouna ascetic. I did this to the reduce the ego of these rishis and also grace their wives by affording them darshan of my mouna ascetic manifestation.

Shiva’s ascetic manifestation

Shiva says in the course of the Thiruvoodal;
‘Don’t put your trust into anything, everything is reduced to bone – all is reduced to ashes. So this is the symbol of the final residue. So, that is the reason I am found with this skull, no other reason.’

Sage Bringi

In order to give darshan and blessings to the Sage Bringi, Shiva sets off to perform circumbulation of Arunachala, and thus enrages Parvati who is angry with the sage for his refusal to worship her.** Parvati’s anger, creates maya (Maya Swarupa), and from that maya emerge thieves who strip Shiva of his ornaments and clothes, whilst he is performing pradakshina. This stripping of Shiva is actually yearly enacted at the same spot (during Voodal Festival) upon the idol that is being carried around the Hill.
Shiva explains to Parvati (through his emissary Sundarar) that, to satisfy the desire of devotees, he has taken a vow to appear in the form in which he is worshipped. In accordance with that vow he has given darshan to Bringi. He further tells his emissary Sundarar to convey to Parvati;
‘My darling you know Sakti can never be separated from Shiva in just the way the mud pot can never be separated from the mud. You can’t say, “Give the pot without all that other stuff!” You cannot have the form just like that. You know it my dear that Shiva-Sakti can never be separated, so in accordance with the understanding of devotees, I am appearing in this form.’
‘Sundarar please explain to Parvati so that she will reduce this tiff.’
Returning to his residence at the Arunachaleswarar Temple, Shiva knocks at the door but it has been bolted by Parvati. As if he didn’t know, Lord Shiva asks,
‘Oh my darling why have you locked the door?’
‘Sir after we came to an understanding still you went without me. And see now look you have lost everything there is no ornament or clothes. Not, only that but you went and gave darshan to all kinds of people. So, I am now requesting you must establish your manliness to me and retrieve everything that is lost and give the special one-legged dance.’
Shiva starts the dance, Parvati forgets everything and opens the door.



Story of Bringi’s maya**

“Sage Bringi considered that Shiva’s Grace the ultimate source for existence. He was an ardent votary of Lord Shiva to the exclusion of any deity in the worship including Parvati! He refused to worship Shakti, a woman. Even during his daily worship, he would circumbulate only the Lord ignoring Mother Shakti, with a flashing spark of arrogance.

The divine couple wanted to enlighten the sage and hence assumed a unique form sharing his body with Parvati. The couple took the form of Ardhanareshwara and stood unified inseparable to every atom. Even then the egoistic sage took the form of a bee (Bringa is a Sanskrit for Bee and the sage came to be called Bringi because he once became a bee) and tried to pierce through the body of the Lord so that he could go around only the Shiva part.

In every human body the static force of Shiva constitutes the bone and the skin and the dynamic force of Shakti triggers the blood and flesh. Goddess Shakti, being the power as the name indicates, pulled out her energy from Bringi's body. Now he was a mere skeleton and was even unable to stand. The Lord pacified Parvati and gave the sage one more leg to stand. The sage soon realized his folly and understood that life becomes dynamic only by the blending of both grace and force which are not contradictory but complementary to each other.”

[Sage Bringi story with thanks to Aravind Venkatraman]

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In this month's Arunachala Grace News the 'Thiruvoodal' is examined in greater depth. So if you are not yet a subscriber to the Newsletter, please check out the subscribe facility at the left hand column of this page, under Newsletter.

The Nandis

Pongal, Harvest Festival is followed by Mattu Pongal; the Cow Festival and Thiruvoodal Festival. The below photograph is of a decorated Temple Nandi during the recently celebrated Pongal Festival.

click image to enlarge

During this time the five Nandis; Pradosha Nandi, in the Moolastanam, Ratha Vilaku Nandi in the Second Prakaram, Kodi Kampathu Nandi in the Third Prakaram, Chinna Nandi in the fourth prakaram and the Periyar Nandi that stands in front of the Vallala Gopuram in the Fifth Prakaram, are all decorated with garlands and foodstuff.

Big Temple Photographs

Am posting a series of beautiful photographs recently taken of Arunachaleswarar Temple. Click on the photographs to view enlarged version.

In the below the flagpole located directly infront of Siva Sannidhi, the sanctum sanctorum of the whole Arunachaleswarar Compound, and wherein is the Siva Lingam.



The next series of three photographs are taken from upstairs, a view not often seen by visitors as it is generally off limits.

Topsoil disappearing

I previously posted water problem which talks about farmers in Tamil Nadu, cultivating water-intensive crops and indiscriminately exploiting groundwater for irrigation, thus leading to a steep fall in the water table. In this respect it is only in comparatively recent times that such water intensive crops as paddy (rice) started to be cultivated in Tiruvannamalai District. The proliferation of 'bore-wells' allowing individual farms, independent water access, is responsible for the intensive, inappropriate crop cultivation in this area. When all is said and done this is just not the right climate for yearly rice cultivation! In the above mentioned posting, it was also stated that by the juidicious planting of less water intensive crops the area would achieve a 10% reduction in the agricultural sector, thereby considerably easing the impending water shortage situation. At this time agriculture accounts for 85-90% of the total use of water in Tamil Nadu.

The current easy access of existing groundwater is also encouraging farmers to indulge in continuous crop rotation, never allowing the soil to rest and revitalize and exacerbating the disappearance of topsoil. In ths respect, the below abridged article from the U.S. investigates problems faced there with the gradual disappearance of topsoil.

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“Call it the thin brown line. Dirt. On average, the planet is covered with little more than 3 feet of topsoil; the shallow skin of nutrient-rich matter that sustains most of our food and appears to play a critical role in supporting life on Earth.

The estimate is that we are now losing about 1% of topsoil every year to erosion mostly caused by intensive agriculture. To combat this some farmers in the U.S. are beginning to adopt ‘no-till’ methods, which involves not tilling the land between plantings, leaving crop stubble to reduce erosion and planting new seeds between the stubble rows.

David Montgomery has written a book entitled, "Dirt" to call public attention to what he believes is a neglected environmental catastrophe. A geomorphologist who studies how landscapes form, Montgomery describes modern agricultural practices as ‘soil mining’ to emphasize that we are rapidly outstripping the Earth's natural rate of restoring topsoil. The National Academy of Sciences has determined that cropland in the U.S. is being eroded at least 10 times faster than the time it takes for lost soil to be replaced.

Healthy topsoil is a biological matrix, a housing complex for an incredibly diverse community of organisms; billions of beneficial microbes per handful, nitrogen-fixing fungi, nutrients and earthworms whose digestive tracts transform the fine grains of sterile rock and plant detritus into the fertile excrement that gave rise to the word itself ("drit," in Old Norse).

As such, true living topsoil cannot be made overnight and grows back, very slowly, at a rate of an inch or two over hundreds of years. Erosion rates in some U.S. regions have recently improved because of better conservation farming practices, including leaving some natural ground cover in areas of high erosion. Another way of losing soil is by paving it over with regards to urban development. But while some land is lost to development, pollution or changing weather patterns, it is believed that global soil loss is a crisis mostly rooted in agriculture. Soil tilling also seriously exacerbates mud and muddy runoff.

Every year fields are tilled and rains come, washing away the soil - which is just powder, brown dust. It's dead. There's no worms, no life in it. However in no-till fields the dirt is coarsely textured, darker and full of roots, debris and bacteria.

Switching to ‘no-till’ farming requires investment and learning new techniques and also depends more on herbicides because weeds are no longer controllable by ploughing them into the soil. Organic farming methods also can reduce soil loss and has been shown to increase soil health, water retention and regrowth when organic methods are used rather than the traditional methods.”

[Abridged from a report by Tom Paulson)

Aerial View Arunachaleswarar Temple

Click photograph to enlarge

The above is a brilliant Google Map satellite view of the 25 acre Arunachaleswarar Temple Compound and some of the surrounding Tiruvannamalai.

Sowmyanath Temple

Nandalur is a village in Kadapa District, Andhra Pradesh and on the west bank of the Cheyyeru River. It was once a famous Buddhist Centre and in 1913 Buddhist caves were discovered there.

I read recently that at Nandalur there is the Temple of Lord Sowmyanath, which has been patronized by Kings and Rulers since ancient times, and is situated on nearly 10 acres. The interesting aspect of this Temple is that supposedly it is a replica of Arunachaleswarar Temple in Tiruvannamalai. If anyone has information on this Temple would be happy to hear from you.

Blessing Hand

The below are the idols, Annamalaiyar and Unnamlai, that are carried during processions. The idols in the shrine rooms (sannidhi i.e. sanctum sanctorum) always remain where they are. So it is these representative idols that participate in many festivals and also are carried on circumbulation of the streets around the perimeter of the 25 acre Arunachaleswarar Temple. The last time this happened was on the day of Thiruvoodal, 16th January during Pongal. The story of that occasion is really fascinating and I hope to be posting information about it within the next few days.

The same photograph but in more close up so you can see the beautiful detail of the jewels and dress of the idols.

And in even greater closeup the blessing hand of Arunachaleswarar (Annamalaiyar). Click the photograph to get an even closer view.

Normal Service Resumed!

Recently posted information on how a small number of Tamil language activists decided to change non-Tamil names into Tamil, regardless of tradition, history, common usage, or name recognition. In this respect they decided to jetison the name Arunachala in favour of Annamalai Hill. Well, normal service has been resumed and Wikipedia has the sacred Hill once again listed as Arunachala. You can get more information about this by going to this link on Wikpedia.

Bamboo Roof

Now that summer and the hot season is just about to start, took the precaution of getting my bamboo roofing, redone. A well made bamboo roof will last 2-3 years, at which time the leaves need to be replaced, but the bamboo itself can last up to 5 years before having to be dismantled and rotten pieces of wood discarded. Bamboo work is skilled and experienced artisans (like the bamboo crew chief Prem Mani) can create all sorts of ingenious structures.

A bamboo roof on top of a house will reduce the internal temperature of the home by about 5c degrees - so both ecofriendly and aesthically pleasing. The below is of a bamboo shelter around the sides of my little farmhouse. You can see papayas way up on the tree through the bamboo framework.

A couple of the crew tying the leaves to the bamboo framework.



A nice view of the bamboo structure around the sides of the house. Its really interesting watching the men create the bamboo structures. I've even seen little bamboo houses made with separate little rooms.

And the below is a photograph of the more complicated bamboo roof on top of the house. A big, heavy, complex cover that took several days to complete when I had it made two years ago.

It gets really windy close to the Hill, and often lightweight furniture can get blown right off a roof. But this roof is a solid and immovable. Two years ago someone wagered that if my roof lasted longer than 6 months he would pay me Rs.50 and take me for a lunch at one of our better hotels. Well two years later, I'm waiting for my cash and lunch! The roof did so well that it hasn't in fact been necessary to take down the bamboo, instead we only needed to replace the bamboo leaves.

And from the bamboo covered roof, a view of the prize, Arunachala.

Cow Pongal

Attended a very sweet cow worship over the Pongal Festival. Cow Pongal is always the third day of the January Festival and wherever celebrated in Tamil Nadu, follows much the same format. The whole cow area will be cleaned, cows bathed and their horns painted. Some cows may even get jewellery or trinklets put around their neck. In the below a kolam (auspicious drawing) is being made at the front of the cow shed.

In the below is Lakshmi, who is a young cow belonging to one of the ladies of the family. Already Lakshmi's future has been decided and she will be kept as a pet, no rigours of constant motherhood and commercial milk production. Artificial insemination is commonly used to impregnate cows. In this respect a visit to the Government Veterninary Centre in Tiruvannamalai is an interesting experience as that is where many of the local cows are artifically impregnated.

As to Lakshmi, as she is not a trained animal she definitely must have some kind of regal karma, notice over the next photographs, how she presents herself for her Pongal flower garland. What a diva!

The next photograph is of one of babies of the dairy. Its an interesting experience having a dairy so close to my home because I can reminded first hand of the business of 'milk production'. And I must admit to being guilty of perpetuating the whole dairy cycle, because my dogs and I, do get through alot of milk products. The neighouring dairy is wonderful compared to most, and the cows have a comparatively lucky, peaceful life, however its a constant reminder of just how badly we exploit our little bretherns.

Whatever it is - one thing is for sure the below calf is a 100% knockout - what a darling.

The below is the inside of the little rustic dairy. Happily most of these cows get to spend the days outside in the nice sun and peaceful surrounds.

In the below some goats, who don't actually have such a protected life as the dairy cows - as an animal activist from Andhra Pradesh once told me, 'Everytime you see a goat - you see meat on the hoof - they are all for slaughter.'

One of the ladies making last minute preparations for Pongal puja at the cow shed.

A worker at the dairy had prepared a lemon, by incising a cross on the top which is then filled with red kumkum powder and packed with camphor. The camphor will be lit and then waved as jyothi during the puja.

Once the lemon is used, then the same thing happens with a white pumpkin. After the camphor is burned off, the pumpkin will be smashed and broken on the ground to ward of evil and negative vibrations.

The smokey haze in the below, is that of frankincense which has been wafted as a purifying agent all around the cow shed. These little ones are just hanging out together in mutual companionship, wondering at all the madness of the day - well one big plus for all the cows is they had their fill of special treats including LOTS of bananas.

A Quiet Lull

Have not been posting regularly on Arunachala Grace mainly due to lots of work at home. Things finally seem to be settling down and hope to give lots of great 'new' information about whats happening at Arunachala and Tiruvannamalai. In this respect I still have photographs of Deepam to post and lots of fascinating material about Pongal and different Temple Festivities such as "Tiruvoodal" associated with the the fourth day of Pongal. Also nice photos of the cow worship performed at the dairy next to my home. The function of East-West Jazz Fusion entitled 'Ramana Rocks' and held at Ramanashram and 'Arunai Rocks' held at the Hotel Arunai Anantha were a HUGE SUCCESS. I have been promised video footage of parts of the performance, so hope to soon post that on the VideoPod on this Blog. Busy Times. So keep checking back. And HAPPY PONGAL TO YOU ALL.

Folk Arts

"The 20 or so members of Ramu’s troupe have already made their way to the bus that will take them to their performance venue. A shrill announcement on a loudspeaker nearby not so kindly urges him to hurry up. Before he can dig into his lunch, he drops everything, grabs his grand, flowing, bright red costume and hurries on his way.

That’s the life of a travelling folk artist in a nutshell: the needs of your troupe always come ahead of your own, and when the road calls, you have to answer.

Ramu who represents the last generation of a long line of stunt performers from Periyanelaikuzhu in Tiruvannamalai, is currently performing in Chennai. His troupe has travelled all over the country to perform at various events. They had recently been to New Delhi, Ahmedabad, Kolkata and several towns in Orissa.

The many events his troupe attended last year are a testament to the recent resurgence in patronage for folk art. Folk festivals in cities are becoming more common, and performers attract huge crowds when they perform during temple festivals in villages and towns across the south.

Twenty or thirty years ago, it was much harder for my father and grandfather to get by, but now there are many more opportunities with festivals. Despite growing patronage, many families still want their children to find more stable and settled source of livelihood.

"We love performing, we all do this full time and even make a good living out of it," Ramu says. "But it's a tough life. We spend most of our time on the road, away from home, as we have to go wherever we get the opportunity to perform."

Another factor that keeps the younger generation away is because of better access to education, they can find jobs that offer more security. Both of Ramu’s children are enrolled in local schools, and he believes education is a much better prospect.

"I am proud of the fact that they are both in school," he says. "I did not have that opportunity, so I want them to make a living using their education."

Although a good living wage is available to younger performers, there is no source of income after retirement. Some think that the need is to develop a system in which the Government pays a pension to older, retired folk artists."

[By Ananth Krishnan]

Books

If you haven't yet discovered the link vedicbooks.net at the left hand margin of this Arunachala Grace Blog, do please check it out. The organisation offers thousands of spiritual and newage books at discount prices. The categories include; Ayurveda, Yoga, Cooking, Jyotish, Healing, New Age, Best Sellers and Sale Books. The subjects vary from organic farming and history to Vedic mathematics and environment. As well as offering the books at discount prices, the organisation use book proceeds to fund many of their excellent programmes; which you can read about at their website.

Pongal Shopping

Pongal Festival which lasts over 4 days is rather like the post Christmas Sale in the West. Shops discount their wares and many local folk go on sprees spending their hard earned cash. As is often the case its almost compulsory to purchase new clothes at Festival time. In the below a clown is trying to amuse and entice folk into a garment shop on Thiruvoodal Street.

Most families adorn the front of their homes with kolam (rangoli drawings) each day, but during Pongal, the drawings are more elaborate and usually in colour.

Today I was off shopping for a new coir frontdoor mat, so I headed off to the bazaar.

To begin with I walked past provision stores and vegetable stalls.

Then by some interesting grinding mills. The below shows crushed and powdered turmeric - a necessary stable in all Indian homes as it is used in worship, cooking, as an ayurvedic remedy for cuts and wounds and also as an important beauty accessory for ladies.

The below is of the natural turmeric before processing.

On this day the openair market was really busy with lots of stall holders displaying fresh produce.

The below is off betel nut which is imported from North India.

And tobacco which is grown in Tamil Nadu.

As well as food, there were lots of fancy stores and shops all around the market area.

And vendors selling stacks of leaf plates which will be used for wrapping takeaway food at restaurants.

I stopped and watched a couple of ladies extracting the oil from coconut. Below is the residue; oil-less coconut which is regarded as waste and given to cows and livestock as feed.

In the next photograph the ladies are pouring the extracted oil from the coconuts into big containers. Pure, unprocessed coconut oil.

Next door to the coconut mill - a flour mission. It is here that locals bring their rice to be ground up into powder to be used for a myriad of purposes, including cooking.

And we finish off where we started at the fabric shop with yet another dressed up character joking and trying to entice customers into a fabric shop SALE.

Well it seems to be working all too well as some of the customers are looking back at the dressed-up, joking characters rather than going into the Sale Shop.