I remember going listening to the Panchavadhyam ( concert of five instruments) as a kid when my Father took me to the festival at the Ernakulathappan temple in Cochin. There were a score of drummers in dhotis had chenda's tied to their waists or hung from their shoulders and were slowly drumming up a rhythm with sticks and plastered fingers,behind them were men in similar costumes keeping time with cymbals and yet others waiting with semi-circular trumpets. As this orchestra worked up a tempo, there was growing number of devotees who stopped to listen and nearly all of them were keeping time by nodding their heads. Some were holding up their hands and marking time with their hands like self appointed conductors of this philarmonic! It seemed as if the music had hypnotized the whole crowd as eyes became glazed and more heads and hands were found to rock with the rhythm divine! It continued till the drums and the cymbals clashed in a climax and the end was marked in a gentle descent of notes. People then dispersed and there was a silence in the temple courtyard that was serene and spiritual. My father's tone as he asked me was also somehow calm and soft, even reflective as the effect of this musical ritual wore off.
I came across this ritual many years later at the Trichur Pooram and it resembled a rave party at mid noon.Yhe crowds were mammoth and the drummers seemed to be lost in a frenzy of their own.. but the sight of almost a hundred drums,cymbals and trumpets in metronome like precision was simply to use a cliche' "awesome" if not divine!! This time around however, I was a teenager and soon found myself rocking to the rhythm and waving my hands in time and feeling the thrill as the venjarams were swung up up in a flourish by the mahouts on the caparisoned pachyderms, while these gentle beasts incidentally seemed to be swaying their ears as if in appreciation to the music and festivities on display.
The Trichur Pooram Festival.. the music starts from the 50th second of this video :)
If you wish to experience this and you are in Mumbai.. well you are lucky! The details of a live performance being arranged by Keli an organisation that promotes folk arts from Kerala has a performance near Horniman Circle
Click Here for the TOI article
Click Here
Components and variations of these forms include the Shingerimelam, the Theyambakam,the Pandimelam, the Ilinjithara and I may upload this on a later date..:)
Showing posts with label Festivals of India. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Festivals of India. Show all posts
Monday, January 10, 2011
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Saturday, March 13, 2010
FESTIVALS OF INDIA: GUDI PADWA, UGADI, CHETI CHAND,
Gudi Padwa falls in the first month of Chaitra and is the New Year of Maharashtrians. Maharashtra is a state in the Indian Republic and has Mumbai (previously Bombay) as its capital.
Some links about this spring festivals and the rituals involved. In this year 2010 it falls on the 16th of March heralding the arrival of spring.
http://www.indianholiday.com/best-of-india/festivals/gudi-pawda.html
In the states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, this festival is called Ugadi. Sindhi's celebrate this as Cheti Chand.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gudi_Padwa
Some links about this spring festivals and the rituals involved. In this year 2010 it falls on the 16th of March heralding the arrival of spring.
http://www.indianholiday.com/best-of-india/festivals/gudi-pawda.html
In the states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, this festival is called Ugadi. Sindhi's celebrate this as Cheti Chand.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gudi_Padwa
Monday, March 1, 2010
Festivals of India: HOLI
For those who believe Indians are conservative, and boring in terms of outlook Holi provides a pleasant surprise. Even as the sobriety of the Lent is in progress in the Western World after the carnival celebrations to do with the Mardi Gras, the Indian sub-continent plays catch up by celebrating the arrival of spring with its own carnival and possibly, the start of activities to prepare the summer crop. Holi is celebrated on the full moon day in the month of March (Phalgun).
Legend has it that Prahlad, a devotee of Lord Vishnu, was saved from a burning fire into which his father, the demon King Hira,nyakashyap had cast him with the help of Holika. Holika was burnt to ashes and to commemorate the victory of good over evil, people light a bonfire, called “Holika Dahan” on the eve of the Holi .
Another legend says that there was once an ogress Dhundhi, who used to trouble children in the kingdom of Prithu. She was chased away by children on the day of Holi. Yet others say, that Lord Krishna, when an infant, killed an ogress who tried to poison him while suckling him, on this day.
Elsewhere, it is believed that the God of Love, Kamadeva, was restored to life this day, at his consort, the Goddess of Sex, Ratidevi’s request, by Lord Shiva, after being burnt to death with his third eye. It is therefore seen as an occasion for romance and merry making. It is therefore common for lovers to frolic with their beloved in this festival by splashing colours and dancing to “hori” songs.
Another legend has it that a mischievous Lord Krishna applied colour on his beloved Radha, so that her fair complexion would not contrast with his dark skin. This has led to the practice of throwing coloured powders (gulal, abeer) and water on each other. Idols of Radha and Krishna are placed on a decorated palanquin and taken out in a procession in Bengal and is called Dol Yatra/ Dol Purnima. At Mathura, Vrindavan, Barsana and Nandgaon, Holi is celebrated with vigour as these are places associated with Radha and Krishna. At Barsana, “Lathimaar Holi” involves men teasing women by singing mischievous songs. Women in turn, beat them with sticks in mock fashion, while men use shields to protect themselves. Dulandi Holi is observed in Haryana, where women use sticks on their younger brother in laws (devars) in mock fashion, for all the mischief they do.
Holi delicacies include gujia, malpuas, mathri, puran poli, among others. Thandai is a drink which is mixed with “bhang”(cannabis) and is drunk during the revelries.
Sikhs, display their physical strength and military prowess as they gather at Anandpur Sahib a day after Holi to celebrate Hola Mohalla. The tradition was started by the tenth and last guru of Sikh religion, Guru Gobind Singhji
Manipuris celebrate the festival for six continuous days. The highlight of the festival here is a dance, called 'Thabal Chongba'.
For more details, go to
http://www.holifestival.org/
Legend has it that Prahlad, a devotee of Lord Vishnu, was saved from a burning fire into which his father, the demon King Hira,nyakashyap had cast him with the help of Holika. Holika was burnt to ashes and to commemorate the victory of good over evil, people light a bonfire, called “Holika Dahan” on the eve of the Holi .
Another legend says that there was once an ogress Dhundhi, who used to trouble children in the kingdom of Prithu. She was chased away by children on the day of Holi. Yet others say, that Lord Krishna, when an infant, killed an ogress who tried to poison him while suckling him, on this day.
Elsewhere, it is believed that the God of Love, Kamadeva, was restored to life this day, at his consort, the Goddess of Sex, Ratidevi’s request, by Lord Shiva, after being burnt to death with his third eye. It is therefore seen as an occasion for romance and merry making. It is therefore common for lovers to frolic with their beloved in this festival by splashing colours and dancing to “hori” songs.
Another legend has it that a mischievous Lord Krishna applied colour on his beloved Radha, so that her fair complexion would not contrast with his dark skin. This has led to the practice of throwing coloured powders (gulal, abeer) and water on each other. Idols of Radha and Krishna are placed on a decorated palanquin and taken out in a procession in Bengal and is called Dol Yatra/ Dol Purnima. At Mathura, Vrindavan, Barsana and Nandgaon, Holi is celebrated with vigour as these are places associated with Radha and Krishna. At Barsana, “Lathimaar Holi” involves men teasing women by singing mischievous songs. Women in turn, beat them with sticks in mock fashion, while men use shields to protect themselves. Dulandi Holi is observed in Haryana, where women use sticks on their younger brother in laws (devars) in mock fashion, for all the mischief they do.
Holi delicacies include gujia, malpuas, mathri, puran poli, among others. Thandai is a drink which is mixed with “bhang”(cannabis) and is drunk during the revelries.
Sikhs, display their physical strength and military prowess as they gather at Anandpur Sahib a day after Holi to celebrate Hola Mohalla. The tradition was started by the tenth and last guru of Sikh religion, Guru Gobind Singhji
Manipuris celebrate the festival for six continuous days. The highlight of the festival here is a dance, called 'Thabal Chongba'.
For more details, go to
http://www.holifestival.org/
Thursday, February 4, 2010
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