CHENNAI: More than 11,000 girl students across the city sang together in a ‘ganathon’, a thematic singing event on Saturday and 25 Swami Vivekananda rathas began a journey on Sunday to spread the core messages of the Hindu Spiritual and Service fair.
The core messages were to conserve forest and protect wild life, preserve ecology, sustain environment, inculcate family and human values, foster women’s honour and instil patriotism.
The ‘bharatheeya ganathon’ and the ‘rathyatra’ were jointly conducted by Initiative for Moral and Cultural Training Foundation (IMCTF) and Hindu Spiritual and Service Foundation (HSSF). While the school and college students sang songs based on the themes in eight languages, the rathas were sent out to spread the themes among school students in Chennai, Kancheepuram and Thiruvallur to foster unity and harmony.
“It is the celebration of culture and we are revising the traditions,” said S Gurumurthy, a noted columnist and commentator. He also said that it is purely a voluntary event.
“Hindu ethos and culture is a way of life in India and it is not the narrowing religion,” he added. According to Aruna Sayeeram, a classical vocalist, who came as a guest of honor to the ganathon, it was the moment of creation of unprecedented history.
“A month-long preparation was being made for the ganathon,” said Rajalakshmi, Managing Trustee, Initiative for Moral and Cultural Training Foundation. The songs, sung by the students, were recorded in CDs and the CDs were distributed to the schools and colleges across the city, a month ago, she added.
The events were conducted as a curtain-raiser programmes to create awareness about the 8th Hindu Spiritual and Service Fair, 2016 which is scheduled for six days starting from August 2 at the college ground.
The fair demonstrates the Hindu spiritualism and life style based on their principles.
While the ganathon, which was dedicated to M S Subbulaksmi, a legendary Carnatic vocalist, to celebrate her centennial birthday was conducted at the A M Jain College and the rathas was sent out from Kabaleeswarar temple.