Ramya Ranganathan: A Bharatanatyam Dancer

Ramya Ranganathan: 

A Bharatanatyam Dancer

Bharatanatyam is a form of classical Indian dance, popularly seen in South India. One of the popular schools of bharatanatyam dance in Arizona is the Ponnambalam Golden Temple of Fine Arts.

“Ponn” means gold in Tamil and “ambalam” means temple. Both of these together create the synonym for “Kanaka Sabha” in Sanskrit, the place where Lord Natraja, the Hindu God of dance, which is an avatar of Lord Shiva, performed at the holy place Chidambaram in Tamil Nadu.

The Ponnambalam Golden Temple of Fine Arts, which has centers in Bangalore and Mumbai, is a non-profitable organization formed by artists, art lovers and art critics with the sole aim of propagating and promoting the Indian classical art forms of music and dance, according to a flyer about the dance school.

Under the guidance of Guru Ranjani Ganesan Ramesh of Kalakshetra, a student of this dance school moved to Arizona and is teaching young girls and adults in the Valley to dance bharatanatyam.

Ramya Ranganathan is a popular bharatanatyam dance teacher in the Valley. She commenced to PGTFA’s Arizona chapter in 2014. She and her students have since then performed in many venues in Arizona and let her branch of the dance school to success.

Ramya Ranganathan

Ranganathan said she was only a newborn baby when her maternal grandmother saw her and decided that she should be a dancer.

“She said I have the face and feet of a dancer,” Ranganathan said.

Ranganathan started learning dance at the age of eight under Guru Malathy Thothatri. After eight years under Thothadri’s tutelage, she performed her arangetram, which is a debut on stage performance for an Indian classical dancer, after which she “performed in different dance festivals and sabhas in Chennai." Ranganathan studied for a total of 12 years under Guru Thothadri.

Ramya Ranganathan (center) performing with two other dancers at Pima Hall at the Memorial Union on Arizona State University's Tempe campus on April 8th, 2017

Ranganathan started her advanced training under Guru Ramesh after she got a job at Intel in Bangalore.

“I took advanced training under her and performed in Bangalore and Bombay crowd because her school is based in Bangalore but her family is from Bombay,” Ranganathan said. “I had to travel quite a bit, shuttling between the two.”

Ranganathan said Guru Ramesh taught her the Kalakshetra style of bharatanatyam dance and how to take dance to the spiritual level.

“She taught me that dance is for everybody,” Ranganathan said.

When Ranganathan moved to the US, she took a break from dance due to having children and doing her Masters at the University of Southern California majoring in multimedia creative art technologies. However, her teacher Guru Ramesh guided her to start the Ponnambalam Golden Temple of Fine Arts Arizona chapter in 2014.

Every year, Ranganathan hosts the Jagadananda Karaka, which is a “platform to promote the youth talent, encouraging and showcasing the youth talent within Arizona.”

“This was the second year we conducted the Jagadananda Karaka and we plan to continue doing it every year,” Ranganathan said.

Through Jagadananda Karaka, Ranganathan is currently trying to raise funds to build a temple called a Ramashramam for an auspicious idol of Lord Rama in Selaiyur in Chennai, Tamil Nadu in India.

This particular idol of Rama is that of his “pattabhishekam” or crowning ceremony after returning to Ayodhya after his 14-year exile.

The key aspects of the idol are shown in the picture of the flyer below.

A description of the auspicious features and symbolism of the particular idol of Rama that Ramya Ranganathan is raising funds to build a temple for in Selaiyur, Chennai.

“I want to request all the noble hearts of Arizona and worldwide to provide financial support to be able to consecrate permanently this Sri Ananda Rama in the Ramashramam,” Ranganathan said.

Ranganathan said that donations can be sent to the Thirunamacharyan Trust, the details of which are included in the flyer she provided.

Details of where to send the donations to build the temple

Ranganathan said that you can also reach her for donations or ideas for funding via Facebook or her email.

Bowing after the performance

Rama Navami

Rama Navami

Millions of Hindus will spend the day chanting the name of the seventh avatar of Lord Vishnu. Devotees will make Paanagam at home as an offering to the king of Ayodhya, husband of the goddess Sita. Poojas will be performed at home as well as in Hindu temples across the world.

April 4th, 2017, will be celebrated as Rama Navami. Lord Rama was the seventh avatar of Lord Vishnu. He wielded a bow and arrow and is famous for one of the two great Indian epics, the Ramayana. His birthday is a part of the spring Navratri and falls on the ninth day of the bright half (Shukla Paksha) in the Hindu month of Chaithra. This day is celebrated as Rama Navami.

Rama with his wife Sita on the right and brother Lakshmana on the left and devotee Hanuman at his feet

  This year, on Rama Navami, the Bharatiya Ekta Mandir Temple of Arizona in Phoenix, Arizona, is hosting a celebration. There will be a pooja, a play, and a group Carnatic music performance. The Carnatic music performers will sing eight songs dedicated to Lord Rama. According to the temple's website, there will also be a celebration of Rama and Sita's marriage, during which devotees pretend to witness Rama and Sita's wedding and marry them off. The event is called Sree Sita Rama Kalyanam.

  Rama is the seventh avatar of Lord Vishnu. Vishnu, also called Narayana, is part of the great trinity of Hindu gods, alongside Shiva and Brahma. Brahma is the creator, Shiva is the protector and destroyer and Vishnu is the protector.

  It is said that Vishnu will take ten forms, or avatars, on Earth - the first nine to save humanity, and the 10th to destroy everything.

  The Ramayana is essentially the entire life story of Rama. However, a basic summary of the Indian epic goes like this. Dasharatha ruled over the kingdom of Ayodhya. He has three wives who, together, gave birth to four sons on the same day. These four sons, Rama, Laksmana, Bharatha and Shatrugna, were the princes of Ayodhya. Rama, the oldest and Dasharatha’s favorite, was set to be the crown prince. That's when disaster struck.

  One of the queens, Kaikeyi, was brainwashed into asking Dasharatha to banish prince Rama for 14 years and to make her own son the crown prince. Since Dasharatha had promised Kaikeyi two boons he would grant, he was obligated to fulfill her wishes. Prince Rama was banished to the forest for 14 years. His wife Sita, the avatar of the goddess Lakshmi, the god Vishnu’s wife in heaven, accompanied Rama to the forest. Rama’s brother Lakshmana also accompanied him.

  In the forest, the three lived happily until Sita was kidnapped by the demon king Ravana and taken to Lanka - now known as Sri Lanka. Rama and Lakshmana search everywhere for Sita. During the search, Rama befriends Hanuman, Sugreeva and a tribe of monkeys. Eventually, Rama, Lakshmana and an army of monkeys and bears realize Sita is held captive at Lanka.

  The army builds a bridge, known as the Rama Setu, which still exists today, from the southernmost tip of India to Sri Lanka. It is said that the name Rama has been inscribed on each stone used in this bridge. The Rama Setu, unfortunately, has long since been submerged in the Indian ocean due to rising sea levels.

Rama Setu bridge

  The army crosses over to Lanka and fights the ten-headed Ravana and his army of demons. Rama eventually chops off all of Ravana’s heads, killing him. Sita is rescued and reunited with Rama.

Rama fighting Ravana

  By the time Sita is rescued, 14 years have gone by since Rama was exiled, so they returned happily to Ayodhya. The day Rama returns is celebrated as Diwali in India.

Rama Navami is not a huge festival in India and is typically not a public holiday. However, schools and firms that wish to declare the day a holiday may do so.

Composers' Day

Composers’ Day

Compositions of great Indian classical music composers filled the ears of the audience at a lecture hall on the ASU Tempe campus last weekend. 
Young children beginning to learn Carnatic music (Indian classical music) as well as old, highly experienced singers and instrumental musicians took to the stage in Murdock Hall on Feb 10-12 at the three-day Composers’ Day program.
The event  was organized by the Fine Arts Association of Arizona.

“Composers’ Day is a tribute to all the great composers from India – Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar, Purandaradasa, and Syama Sastri. The event is usually held in the third week of February every year. We started Composers’ Day this year on Friday,” said Sowmya Srinivasan, a member of the organization.

Sowmya Srinivasan 

Composers’ Day is used as a platform for artists across the Valley to perform, Srinivasan said.

“The event starts off with a group of trained singers singing ‘Pancharatna Kritis’, which are a set of five songs in Carnatic music composed by Tyagaraja,” Srinivasan said. “We have slots for kids who learn Carnatic music to perform in throughout the day. The event usually goes on till 8 p.m. or 9 p.m.”

Phoenix Metro Carnatic Choir Team, who performed the Pancharatna Kritis 

Manas Subbaraman, 17, one of the singers, said, “I have been performing at Composers’ Day for the past four years, and I am grateful that it exists because it is a platform I can use to display my talents without feeling pressured by the audience’s expectations or by any competition.”

“This event gives people a taste of performing on a stage, and creates a welcoming environment for those who have never performed or who have stage fright,” Subbaraman said.

People of all ages perform at the event, and age is not a determinant of experience or expertise in Carnatic music. Anita Johari performed for the first time, but said, “My daughter has been singing for eight years.”

Anita Johari

She described the event as a learning experience, saying, “It gives the artists a forum to exhibit their talent and learn how to perform on stage. It also gives an exposure to how different people sing and different styles in which different teachers teach the same song.”

Besides singing, many artists also displayed their skills playing Carnatic music on their instruments like the mrithangam, the veena and the violin. The mrithangam is a percussion instrument and the veena is a string instrument.

A performance using four veenas and a violin

Lunch was provided for those present and the event came to a close at 6 p.m. on Sunday.

My group's performance

Song: Namaste Paradevathe; Ragam: Deva Ranji; Thalam: Rupaka; Composer: Muthuswamy Dikshitar

Chithra Vaidyanathan singing with Vaidyanathan Krishnamurthy accompanying on mrithangam

Sahana Sundaram's performance 

Republic Day - January 26th

India has two days of national patriotism - Independence Day (August 15th) and Republic Day (January 26th).

Republic Day is the day India's constitution came into force.

This January 26, 2017, India celebrated its 68th Republic Day!

SOME HISTORY:

After India gained Independence from the British in 1947, the constitution was drafted by the drafting committee at the national assembly on November 4, 1947. The final version of the constitution in both English and Hindi was signed by the national assembly on January 24, 1950, and the constitution came into effect on January 26, 1950.

Since then, January 26th has been celebrated as Republic Day, a day that marked India's full transition into an independent republic.

CELEBRATIONS:

On this day, many military parades are held in Delhi. It's a national holiday so schools, colleges and offices are not operating that day. Older school children are typically asked to compulsorily go to school in the morning to witness the flag hoisting and salute the Indian flag. Then they may go home.

Military parades, displays of military equipment and the Indian tricolor flag are all important symbols on this day.

View the full 68th Republic Day celebrations:

This year, the chief guest for India's Republic Day parade was the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. In celebration of India's 68th Republic Day the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, UAE, the tallest building in the world, was lit up in colors of the Indian flag! #INDIA-UAE ties!

THE INDIAN FLAG:

The Indian flag is a horizontal tricolor with saffron on top, white in the middle, and dark green on the bottom. In the center of the flag is a blue Ashoka chakra with 24 spokes. The flag is to be made of khadi material and the width to length dimensions of the flag are to be a 2:3 ratio.

Saffron is a symbol of courage and sacrifice.

White  is a symbol of honesty, peace, and purity.

Green is a symbol of faith, chivalry, prosperity, vibrancy and life.

The Ashoka Chakra or the Dharma Chakra (wheel of law) with 24 spokes appears on a number of the edicts of Ashoka.

For more on the flag and its history, read this.

ALSO, if you are on Facebook, go like the official page for my own new radio show called Desi Tunes! It's a radio show dedicated to playing Indian music of all genres, from all eras, in all Indian languages. You can suggest music too by messaging or posting to the show's Facebook page (I highly encourage it)! Be sure to tune in on Mondays 2-3pm MST on Blaze Radio 1330 AM for this show! You can tune in from across America and probably in other parts of the world too! Eventually I will try to do Facebook lives and/or upload a full audio recording of the show onto the page so those of you in different time zones can listen! What are you waiting for? Go follow us and like our page!

Pongal/ Sankaranthi

Pongal

Pongal, also called Sankaranthi, is the South Indian festival that is celebrated on the 14^th of January every year as the harvest festival of South India. It signals the end of the traditional farming season. 

The Pongal festival actually consists of four consecutive festivals:

Jan 13 is Bhogi, when old clothes and materials are thrown away and burnt, marking the beginning of a new life for the next year.

Jan 14 is Pongal. It is traditional to boil fresh milk in a pot and let it boil over (literal meaning of “Pongal”). People also make sweets and savories in celebration. Chakkara (Sweet) Pongal is a kind of sweet that is made on this day. A Pooja is usually done where vegetables, sugar cane and spices are offered to the gods.

Jan 15 is Maattu Pongal to thank the cows and bulls. Jallikattu is also played on this day in many places in Tamil Nadu. Jallikattu, an old tradition for the farmers, is a bull taming event. It is fundamentally different from bull fighting seen in Spanish culture. In Jallikattu, money is tied to the bull’s horns and participants are given a chance to tame the bull. Whoever tames it can get the money. But there is a time limit and if the bull wins, the bull is used to service numerous cows and in this way it preserves the native breed. No weapons are allowed and the bull must not be harmed in any way.

Jan 16 is Kanum Pongal or Thiruvalluvar Day. This day is dedicated to the sun god. This day is also a day when all the women, young and old, of a household pray for the welfare of their home and brothers. They go outside in the morning before bathing and place small banana leaves out. On each banana leaf, some Chakkara Pongal, curd rice, sugar cane cut into tiny pieces, and sometimes Ven Pongal, are kept for the birds while the women pray. After this aarti is performed. This ritual is also called “Kaaka Kuruvi Kalyanam” (marriage of crow and sparrow). After this, the women go inside and bathe with some turmeric.

FUN FACT: Many Hindus actually leave some food out for the birds (usually crows) every day. Whenever rice is cooked, a little bit is taken from the top (after offering it to the gods, of course) and set outside. It is only after this that they must eat.

The best thing about Pongal is the sugar cane and the chakkara Pongal, in my opinion. Also, sugar cane juice is amaaaazing!

IN THE NEWS: The sport of Jallikattu has been challenged by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and they have declared a ban on it for alleged violent treatment of the bulls and accusations of animal cruelty. (Read: All You Need to Know about the Jallikattu Uprising) The people of Tamil Nadu are outraged because this is an almost 2500 year old tradition and the bulls are raised just for Jallikattu now. Without Jallikattu, raising bulls would be for nothing (because everyone uses tractors in fields now). So what about the cows that produce milk? Without the native breed of bulls, the cows would have to be artificially inseminated and the native breed of cows would disappear altogether. Thousands of thousands of Tamilians have been gathered at Marina beach in Chennai in peaceful protest against the ban on Jallikattu for three days now, as of January 19, 2017. Schools, colleges, business establishments and civic agencies have declare a day off on Friday, January 20, 2017, due to the far reaching consequences of the protests.

Karthigai Deepam and Muruga

Karthigai Deepam and Muruga

December 12^th, 2016 was Karthigai Deepam (CAAR-thi-gay DEE-pum) a festival of lights celebrated in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Karthigai Deepam is a festival celebrated in the name of the god Muruga, son of Shiva and Parvathi.

The Story of Muruga:

Once upon a time, the devas came to Lord Shiva in the Himalayas to tell him about their troubles because the ashuras had made the devas their slaves. (Deva generally means god and Ashura generally means demon.) Shiva consoled them saying a child will be born who will win in the fight against the ashuras. Then Shiva’s head became six heads, and from each a divine spark was emitted. The devas could not stand the heat and ran away, but Shiva told them not to worry as the sparks would not harm them. Shiva then asked Vayu (god of wind) and Agni (god of fire) to take the six sparks to Ganga (the goddess of water and goddess of the river Ganga in India), who will in turn take the sparks to the Saravana river. Vayu carried the divine sparks for a while, until the heat became unbearable and Vayu took them from him and carried them to Ganga. When the sparks reached the Saravana river, they joined together as one spark, which then became a six headed baby boy. Then six Krithika women arrived there. Seeing the baby, they all wanted to take care of him. Not wanting to cause a fight, the baby split into six babies – one for each of the Krithikas. They took care of the baby until Parvathi arrived. When Parvathi held all six babies together, they rejoined and became one six headed baby boy, who was Muruga. Because he was born on the banks of the Saravana river, he is called Saravanan. Because he was taken care of by the Krithika women, he is called Karthikeya. He is also called Kandha, Kumara, and many other names. Muruga grew up and eventually led the devas to victory in the fight against the ashuras.

Muruga once defeated the ashura Surapadma with his spear, which is his weapon, called a vel (pronounced VALE). The Ashura begged for forgiveness. Muruga then converted the two portions of his slain enemy into a peacock, which will henceforth be his mode of transportation, and a rooster that adorns his flag.

There is another story I would like to share with you. Muruga is Ganesha’s younger brother (Ganesha is also a son of Shiva and Parvathi). Once, Shiva got hold of a divine mango. Apparently it was supposed to taste really good. As any parent would do, he brought the mango home to Mount Kailash, his abode in the Himalayas, and called his sons Ganesha and Muruga. However, Shiva was told that the fruit must not be split in two or its divine taste would be gone. So Shiva decided to hold a competition for his sons and present the fruit to the winner. He said whoever goes around the entire universe three times first would get the fruit. Muruga immediately set off on his peacock and circled the universe. Ganesha however had only a rat as his form of transportation. Ganesha thought of a plan to win. He mounted his rat and circled his parents three times. By the time Muruga finished circling the universe thrice, Ganesha had finished going around Shiva and Parvathi thrice. Shiva gave the mango to Ganesha because he completed the race first. Muruga, enraged, asked why. Shiva explained that to Ganesha, his parents were his whole world, so he circled his parents and in doing so circled the universe. Ganesha got the mango, but Muruga was still furious and stormed off to Palani Hill in South India, and it certainly took a great deal of convincing to calm him down and bring him back. This is why Muruga has yet another name, Palaniyappa.

On Karthigai Deepam, numerous diyas (lamps) are lit and placed outside the house. As usual, a sweet or something is made as an offering to the gods.

I hope you enjoyed reading about Muruga! I would also like to inform you guys that THIS WEEKEND is PONGAL or SANKARANTHI, the harvest festival of South India.

Jan 13 is celebrated as Bhogi

Jan 14 is Pongal

Jan 15 is Maatu Pongal

ALSO, JANUARY 26^TH IS REPUBLIC DAY IN INDIA!

So now you know the upcoming holidays.

Geetha Jayanthi

The Bhagavad-Gita is one of the holy scriptures in Hindu religion. The slokas in it are the advice Lord Krishna gives to Arjuna (or Arjun) right before the Kurukshetra War in the Mahabharatha epic. These slokas are not only advice to Arjuna, but to everyone who reads the Bhagavad-Gita and listens to the advice Krishna gives us. They are lessons for life.
In Arizona, a family of Krishna devotees take Bhagavad-Gita classes for people who wish to learn it. Indian parents send their children to these classes and they themselves sometimes attend classes.
Saturday, December 10th, 2016 (the date changes every year, according to the Tamil calendar, which follows the stars), marked the yearly anniversary of the day Krishna imparted this holy advice to Arjuna. This class of Bhagavad-Gita students celebrated Geetha Jayanthi by presenting some slokas from each chapter with their meanings to the parents present there.
(P.S. I went to this event because my cousins are in this class and they were presenting and I JUST got my driver's license so I wanted to drive and my aunt and uncle let me!)

I took videos of the presentations! Unfortunately, there was something wrong with my phone so i could only take about 3 minute long videos, and that caused me to skip some parts f the presentation. But I'm posting the 13 videos I did take with whatever I captured and I hope you enjoy learning a litle about the Bhagavad-Gita slokas and what they mean!