BENGALURU: Saint Thyagaraja (1767-1847) is remembered and his life celebrated each year on Pushya Bahula Panchami in the sleepy town of Thiruvaiyaru, in Tamil Nadu. Year after year, thousands of music lovers and devotees flock to Thiruvaiyaru on the banks of the placid Cauvery River, and spend five continuous days revelling in the songs composed by the saint himself. This musical aradhana (or remembrance for the soul of a saint) closes with famous artistes singing and playing instruments at Thyagaraja’s samadhi, which gets a wide publicity and is even televised.
There is a lesser-known Vedic aradhana that is done annually in Thyagaraja’s honour, much like the shraddha ceremony observed for the saints. This, called the Guruvandana, involves religious ceremonies guided by scriptures, mass feeding of the poor and honouring scholars and priests. This tradition, which started a 170 years ago by the saint’s disciples, is now being kept alive by a Bengaluru-based Vedic scholar Radhakrishna G Seshappa.
School Teacher Started It
Radhakrishna was handed over the management of the Sadguru Sri Thyagarajabrahma Kainkarya Trust, which has been organising the Vedic ceremonies to honour the saint, in 2011. The Trust, which today has offices in Thiruvaiyaru, Chennai and Bengaluru, was set up in 1984 by a school teacher K Lakshminarayanan or Chellam Iyer as he is popularly known.
Chellam Iyer had started conducting the annual ceremonies forty years prior to that, in 1940. The trust, every year, organises for the chanting from all four Vedas, readings from the Ramayana, performance of ceremonies such as Dampati Puja, Kanya Puja, Brahmachari Puja, homas and mass feeding. Affiliated to the Dakshinmnaya Sri Sharada Peetham in Sringeri, it also honours scholars from all the eleven shakhas of the four Vedas.
Festival Ends Tomorrow
Each year, one scholar is selected for the prestigious Bharathiteertha Thyagaraja Samman award by his Sri Sri Jagadguru Bharathi Theerta Mahaswamiji, who has been a mentor to the trust. The recipient this year is Br. Sr. Chintapalli Anjaneya Sastry, ghanaapathi. He will receive a cash purse of `1 lakh, a citation and a shawl.
This year, the musical aradhana and Guruvandana is being held simultaneously, from January 13 to 17 on the banks of the river Cauvery. Managing trustee, Radhakrishna G Seshappa says, “We urge devotees and music lovers to attend the Guruvandana and contribute to our activities in cash or kind.”
For more information and details log on to www. thyagabrahmatrust.org