A note from Sri Chandrasekar

From the Bhakti List Archives

• April 14, 1998


Dear Friends : Sri Chandrasekharan ,who
is here on assignmnet for WIPRO will 
be returning home soon . I very 
much appreciate his initiative to pass 
on the news about the Temple Construction
project for Sri RanganAtha to the Music News group .
As per the suggestion of the other members ,
we should reach out to as many list groups,
news groups and cultural groups as possible .
I am sure that there are a lot of BhakthAs
with connections to the Lord of Srirangam there .

I am counting on Sri Sampath Rengarajan
to coordinate this activitiy and spread 
the word around .We are finalizing on
the format for an one page flier and
creation of the receipt books for 
all those , who want to reach out into
your communities to help create this 
extraordinarily unique temple adored by 
BhakthAs and kings over many centuries .
This would be in the spirit of suggestions
made by Srimathi Viji RaghunAthan of California .

Sri RanganathA's temple will be constructed in 
two phases .The target date fro Phase I is from 
April 15 ( BahudhAnya Samvathsara birth day , Today )
to December 31 , 1998 . The GopurAs , the decorative 
work will come under phase II .We have to wait on that phase .

During Phase I , completion of all that is necessary
to gain Certificate of Occupancy will be done.
The temple has access to $500 K today and anticipates that 
it will need $700K to complete Phase I . All of your
support becomes thus critical& Timely . Every bit helps .
Please help generously for this noble cause . 
I thank Sri Mani Varadarajan for his understanding 
to share the news about the constrcution of
this unique temple and the related postings on 
its glories and ancient history.
This PerumAL is indeed Periya perumAL and is central 
to  Bhakthi-SaraNAgathi traditions . Thanks .  

Those , who are interested to join in this
Kaimkaryam should send their contributions 
to Sri RanganathA temple , P.O Box 120 ,
Pomona , NY 10970 and NOT to me .Sending your 
contributions to me only delays the receipt 
of the checks by the Board .Thank you for your 
understanding . 

The chairman of the Board of Sri Ranganatha 
Temple , Srimathi Nagubandhi or one of the officers
of the Sri RanganathA Temple , Pomona  will send
receipts for your donations  that are 100%
tax free .

I have enclosed  my comments on Sri KshEthraj~nA ,
which I sent to Sri Chandrasekhar in response
to a question he had on the above composer .
This might be of interest to number of you .
KshEthrj~nA also spent some time at Srirangam 
and enjoyed the Lord as " GopAlA "
as many AzhwArs did . 
 

Daasan , V.Sadagopan 

   >From: Sadagopan 
>Subject: Re: hello
>
>>To: vcs@wipro.com (Chandrasekaran. V)
>>From: Sadagopan 
>>Subject: Re: hello
>>
>>At 02:41 PM 4/13/98 +0000, you wrote:
>>>Dear Sri Sadagopan,

>>>  I forgot to mention this in my earlier mail this morning. I
>>>had posted about the temple project in a music news group with
>>>your email id as contact and had mentioned the temple address
>>>for the cheques to be posted. So interested members in that
>>>news group may send mails to you.

>>>  I pray to the Almighty for giving you and other people involved
>>>in this sacred project, mental and physical strength for 
>>>accomplishing His command successfully.
>>>
>>>  adiyEn,
>>>  chandrasekaran.
>>>
>>>> 
>>>> Namaskarams , Dear Sri Chandrasekaran :
>>>> 
>>>> Sri Kshethraj~nA is the father of the  musical
>>>> form known as Padham . You might have heard a lot
>>>> of padhams from Smt.BrindhA and MukthA ,
>>>> the grand daughters of the legendary VeeNai
>>>> DhanammAL . The padham became a powerful tool 
>>>> in his hands to depict variegated aspects of 
>>>> RagA and rasA .
>>>> 
>>>> He seems to have taken his inspiration from 
>>>> Sri ANNamAchAryA's SringAra Sankeetrhtanamulu .
>>>> He lived in the 17th century , to centruies
>>>> later than Sri ANNa mAchAr .
>>>> 
>>>> He composed in Sanskritized Telegu like
>>>> Saint ThyagarAjA . He was a devotee of " GopAlA ".
>>>> His naama mudrA is Muvva GopalA . Sweetness of diction ,
>>>> artha pushti and the use of rare rAgAs are his 
>>>> hallmarks as a composer .In the song that you referred to 
>>>> he seems to be saluting the eyes of the Lord and 
>>>> is comparing them to a Kuvalaya Pushpam .I do not know the
>>>> Saahithya Vaakhyams to guess the meaningof the rest of the padham .
>>>> Gowlipanthu has been used by Saint ThyagarAja in a 
>>>> penitent mood in front of Sri VenkatEsA ( theratheeyaga 
>>>> RaadhA ) and by Sri ShyAma SaastrigaL twice . 
>>>> KshEthraj~nA has compsed another Gowlipanthu 
>>>> Padham called 'Eriti VegintunE " .
>>>> 
>>>> There is a belief that JayadEvA reincarnated himself as
>>>> Sri NarAyaNa TheerthA first and later as KshEthraj~nA .
>>>> He was named KshEthraj~nA because of the many 
>>>> kshEthrams he visited . He ahs composed more than 
>>>> 2,000 padhams .
>>>> 
>>>> Best wishes ,
>>>> V.Sadagopan  
>>>>    
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>>  
>>>> >   I have a question about a song I have on a CD. This is sung by MS. The
>>>> >composer is kshethraj~nar. The song begins as "kuvalayakshirO". I don't
>>>> >know what language this is in. Can you please tell me more about this
song? I
>>>> >liked the song's tune and I am sure the theme should also be great. The
>>>> >tune is close to our ancient tamizh music. I don't know the technical
>>>> >name of the tune. The ragam is gowlipantu.
>>>> >   The other songs in this classical CD are,
>>>> >   1. moyyar thadam (thiruvembavai)
>>>> >   2. karthikeya (p. sivan)
>>>> >   3. kaNbhadheppOdhu (ambujam krishna)
>>>> >   4. kuthagaiyai (doesn't list the composer). this is on Lord
parthasarathy
>>>> >                                               of thiruvallikeni..
>>>> >   5. kuvalyakshiro.
>>>> >
>>>> >   adiyEn,
>>>> >   chandrasekaran.
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>
>>>
>>>