Dr.Vijayalakshmi Subramaniam-tiruveesanallur

[mridhangam]

Tiruveesanallur is a small town near Kumbakonam and is abt 12kms away from Kumbakonam Railway station on the Kumbakona-Pumpuhar road. A beautiful green hamlet where every year during the occasion of Karthigai Ammavasai a week long celebration is being organised in memory of Sridhara Ayyaval.

Yesterday, 11-12-2012 a concert was organised by the Trustees and it was Dr.Vijayalakshmi Subramaniam. I have not been to this place for nearly 15 years and my last concert was with Shri Sanjay Subramaniam at this venue and everyone seems to fondly remember this concert was a pleasant surprise to me.

Dr.Vijayalakshmi Subramaniam was accompanied by smt ushA rAjagOpAlan on the violin, myself on mridangam and Adambakkam Sri Shankar on the ghatam.

Bowli provided a grand start with Sri pArvati parameshwaram and she continued with sri sankara guruvaram in nAgaswarAvaLi and siva shiva in pantivarALi came as the submain with some good aesthetic neraval and breezy swaras followed very fittingly by Smt usha. MahAlingeswaram in lalithA on the deity of tiruvidaimarudur temple, which we visited in the morning and had darshan, was rendered very nicely. kapAli in mohanam followed suit with fantastic rAgA, neraval and swarams. Smt ushA rAjagOpAlan was fantastic in rAgA sketches and her swara patterns were appreciated by the discerning audience.

Thani was played for about 13 mins with tisram and short kuraippu.

After the customary speech by the secretary the concert ensued with a few thukkadas. The concert was for about 2 1/2hours and the atmosphere was divine and the air was filled with devotion.

Would like to visit again this great place.

Incidentally we also went to gOvindapuram, vittaldAs maharAj replica of paNdarpur temple and kAnchi sage's temple before going to tiruvidaimarudUr temple. In tiruvidaimarudaur temple there is a prakAram called praNava prakAram which is on the south side of the inner rectangle which echoes thrice whatever we say and when u proceed to the centre of that prakAram and if you clap it repeats 6 times and if you go to the end again it repeats thrice. There are two holes in the temple on the west wall of the main rectangle in which one hole is a mute hole and through the other whole you can hear veda ghOsha and could hear the sound of vIna. I was able to hear gOwLa raga. The myth goes like rAvaNa who is a siva bhakta plays the vIna there. There are lots of stories around this temple and also about sridhara ayyavAl.

A must visit belt of KumbakONam for any Astiga rasika.

mannArkOil j bAlAji

[rajeshnat]

Balaji
Nice to hear a review from tiruvisanallur. I think it is also close to suryanar koil all west of mayavaram - Kumbakonam road. Tiruvisanallur-udayalur-govindapuram hamlet belt is well known for their bhagavatha sampradaya tradition.Ofcourse there is a very famous krithi of tiruvisanallur venkataramana bhagavathar that semmangudi mama used to sing in kandachapu in sudda sAveri - Paripalimsumani.

On tiruvidaimarudhur ,I have not heard this krithi mahAlingEshwaram in lalita at all. I can recollect that big temple in tiruvidaimarudur (my leg still aches going around that big temple), but did not notice all that you have stated . It was quite early in the morning then , no one to guide us. I remember the echo and clap , but did not hear the gowla,may be I growled and lost the gowLa raga :tmi: or should I travel with a musician to hear a gowLa. Next time , will make it a point of hearing the gowLa (that mAyamAna gowla not mAyAmAlavagowla).

It is quite a task for you, Smt VS and Smt UshaRajagopal to travel during peak season to these belts , the commute would have been taxing , but I am sure you got the blessings of all the dieties there .

[mridhangam]

Rajesh sir ...i hear gowla thats all. Each one can hear each different raga. Te moment i kept my ears on the small hole i could hear veda ghosha and then vIna sound and could clearly recite the phrase played immediately. I m not a vocalist and i dont have much rAga gnAna. But certainly could repeat the phrase i heard. About the kriti in lalitha may be i am wrong will confirm with VS and get back to you.

[rajeshnat]

I just googled to find mahAlingEshwaram is in paras - not lalita.

shri balaji,
Thanks for your clarification on what you heard.

[mridhangam]

Oh paras okkk thank u ...sorry for the mix up.

[satyabalu]

As I may recall from the upanyasam of Brahmasri T Balaskrishna sastrigal, Sridhara iyyavazh was cursed of dosham (as he had fed the poor farmer- who was panting in acute hunger near the riverbed- with the preparations for the sradhdam besides giving away the vastras meant for the occasion without offering to the pithrus ).As the story goes the priests refused to the conduct the ceremony .The dosham would disappear only with Ganga sthanam .Ganga came inthe well (the well is guarded &kept in the house even now .it is also believed the Ganga flows in the well on that day every year).When the gurukal opened sanctum of the temple the next morning the aroma of athirasam/ellurundai came from the sanctum!)I am open for correction.
*Of course ,it is nice gesture of VS &the team to have visited village during Music season in Chennai.

[satyabalu]

*Read it as T.S.Balaskrishna Sastrigal.