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News Round UpSept 18, 2008
Navarathri Fest at Padmanabhaswamy Temple, Kerala
 

The Navarathri festival concerts at the Navarathri Mandapam in the Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple precincts in Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala has a heritage that is unique. This year, the fest starts on Sept.30 this year.

The classical music ( and dance) are an integral part of the celebrations held by the Travancore royalty in the past and is kept alive by the family of that lineage.

And the rituals and concerts, steeped in tradition, make them unique.

For Navaratri, the idol of Saraswathi is carried on a caparisoned elephant from a temple in Padmanabhapuram ( the erstwhile headquarters of the Travancore royals) and brought to the Navaratri Mantap where pujas are carried out every day for nine days.

The concerts are from 6.30 pm. Rasikas must settle down before that; late comers are discouraged.

Before the evening concert, there is a rendering the 'Thodaya Mangalam' and 'Ganapathy Sthuthi' composed by Swati Tirunal, by a set of bhagavathars who hail from an ancestry traced to musicians who performed during the era of Maharaja Swati Tirunal.

This compositions of the king have been preserved since those times because the bhagavathars have carried it down the ages faithfully through this oral rendition.

Since the 1920s, great Carnatic artistes were invited to perform for Navaratri. Maharani Sethu Parvathi Bayi, in her time, took immense interest in promoting music and concerts. Of late, Prince Rama Varma who also performs ( as a veena player and a vocalist ) has taken on the assignment of arranging the concerts and he has invited musicians too to perform.

Also, he broke tradition when he invited a woman - Parassala Ponnammal, a sishya of Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer - to perform in the mantap.

Since the mantap is part of the Padmanabhaswamy Temple, certain rules have to be followed - only Hindus are allowed here, men must be bare-chested, photography / and cellphones are not entertained.

Other rasikas can sit outside the mantap and enjoy the concert.

Below is the concert schedule :

30 Sep Tuesday
6pm to 8.30pm - Navarathri Keerthanam "Devi Jagath Janani" - Sankarabharanam
Vocal : Sri T.M.KRISHNA
Violin : Sri R.K.Sreeram Kumar
Mridangam : Sri Guruvayur Dorai
Ghatom : Sri V. Suresh

01 Oct Wednesday
6pm to 8.30pm - Navarathri Keerthanam "Pahimam Sri Vageeswari" - Kalyani
Vocal : Master BALAMURALIKRISHNA
Violin : Smt. Padma Sankar
Mridangam : Sri Nanjil Arul
Ghatom : Sri Manjoor Unnikrishnan

02 Oct Thursday
6pm to 8.30pm - Navarathri Keerthanam "Devi Pavanae" - Saveri
Vocal : Prof. Smt. PARASSALA B. PONNAMMAL
Violin : Smt Charulatha Ramanujam
Mridangam : Sri Mavelikara R. Rajesh
Ghatom : Sri Adichanallur Anil Kumar

03 Oct Friday
6pm to 8.30pm - Navarathri Keerthanam "Bharathi Mamava" - Thodi
Vocal : Sri M.K. SHANKARAN NAMBUTHIRI
Violin : Sri S. R. Mahadeva Sarma
Mridangam : Sri Cherthala S. Dinesh
Kanjira : Sri Uduppi S. Srikanth

04 Oct Saturday
6pm to 8.30pm - Navarathri Keerthanam "Janani Mamava" - Bhairavi
Vocal : Prof. T.V.GOPALAKRISHNAN
Violin : Sri S. Varadarajan
Mridangam : Sri Tiruvarur Bhaktavatsalam
Ghatom : Sri T.V.Vasan

05 Oct Sunday
6pm to 8.30pm - Navarathri Keerthanam "Saroruhasana" - Panthuvarali
Vocal : Prince RAMA VARMA
Violin : Sri S. Varadarajan
Mridangam : Sri B. Harikumar
Ghatom : Dr. S. Karthick
Morsing : Sri Payyannur Govindaprasad

06 Oct Monday
6pm to 8.30pm - Navarathri Keerthanam " Janani Pahi" - Sudhasaveri
Vocal : Padma Bhooshan Sri TRICHUR V. RAMACHANDRAN
Violin : Sri M.A.Sundaresan
Mridangam : Sri Bangalore Praveen
Ghatom : Dr. S.Karthick
Morsing : Sri Payyannur Govindaprasad

9.30pm - Mohiniyattam by Dr. Deepthi Omchery Bhalla ( entry restricted to invitees)

07 Oct Tuesday
6pm to 8.30pm - Navarathri Keerthanam " Pahi Janani " - Nattakurinji
Vocal : Ms. AMRITA VENKATESH
Violin : Sri R. Madhavan
Mridangam : Sri A. Balakrishna Kamath
Ghatom : Sri Perukavu P.L.Sudheer

08 Oct Wednesday
6pm to 8.30pm - Navarathri Keerthanam " Pahi Parvathanandini"- Arabhi
Vocal : Sri Thamarakkad GOVINDAN NAMBOOTHIRI
Violin : Sri Sampath
Mridangam : Sri Kuzhalmannam Ramakrishnan
Ghatom : Sri Uduppi Sridhar

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