After a night long journey from Bangalore, one lands into Sringeri which is filled with festive gaiety. Devotees from all parts of the country throng in for a darshan of Sri Sharadamba during the auspicious time of Navarathri. Music is an inseparable part of the Dasara celebrations here. Concerts have been organized for years, and stalwarts like MSS have performed here.
This year, the concerts are held at the newly constructed Sri Jagadguru Chandrashekharabharathi Sabha Bhavana, an open air auditorium. The festival features artistes from all over Karnataka and the neighbourhood Tamil Nadu: A Kanyakumari, A Nagesh, Bellary Raghavendra, Mysore Ambaprasad, T V Gopalakrishnan, Geetha Ramanand, Padma Narayanaswamy and Kadri Gopalnath. On the seventh day, which is celebrated as Saraswathi pooja, was the aptly scheduled veena concert by Banaglore based artiste Geetha Ramanand, who played devi krithis to suit the occasion. The next day saw Padma Narayanaswamy showcasing popular compositions like Vathapi Ganapathim and Endaro Mahanubhavulu.
Artistes consider it a privilege to perform at the famed temple, says Naibhi Prabhakar. He along with his wife Savithri and a couple of other music enthusiasts has set out to
keep music alive in Sringeri through Sri Sharada Shastriya Sangeetha Sabha. With the help of the Mutt authorities, they conduct monthly concerts at the Mutt.
Music concerts are also held for over a week at the Mutt during Ramanavami. Agumbe, Kollur and Horanadu are some of the nearby places that could be combined with a visit to Sringeri. Kigga and the Uluve bird sanctuary are within 10 km radius that could be covered in a day. The Mutt offers modest accommodation at nominal charges. It is advisable to make advance reservations during the peak season.
For more info, visit: www.sringeri.org.
Showcase of dolls and music / Bangalore
With Bangalore turning more and more yuppy, festivals are being reduced to just another day off. An effort to keep alive the traditional way of celebrating Dasara was Ananya’s ‘Geetha Putthali’ held for three days from 7 to 9 October, 2005. The festival combined the traditional doll display with talks by experts.
Nestled in the beautiful surroundings of Malleshwaram, Ananya looked cuter donning the colours of Dasara. Beautiful dolls from Ms Manorama’s collection took old timers for a walk down the memory lane.
The festival opened with a talk by Dr U R Ananthamurthy on festivals of India. After this young disciples of M. S. Sheela presented Krithis on Goddess Lakshmi. Next day, there was a talk by Dr P S Geetha on cultural and social relevance of Dasara, followed by rendition of kritis on Goddess Parvathi by the disciples of R. K. Padmanabha. On the Final day, Dr B N Sumithra Bai spoke on the religio-mythical background of Dasara, which was followed by the release of a cassette on Devi Kritis by Vimala Ranagachar. The celebrations concluded with a rendition of Kritis on Goddess Saraswathi by disciples of R. S. Ramakanth.
An added attraction to the fest was the 'bombe baagina' - miniature goodies given to all the visitors in the traditional way!
