Thursday 2 May 2013

Peringavu temple festival gearing up for a grand finale

All set for a grand finale of the festival at Peringavu Mahavishnu temple. This is the 10th and final day of the festival. There will be usual temple rituals as well as poojas. A massive crowd is expected today. Kuriyedathu Thaathri, a professional drama by Karthika Theaters, Thrissur will be the hallmark of the day.

Monday 29 April 2013

Day 7 @ Peringavu Mahavishnu Temple festival



Seethankan Thullal graced the seventh deay of Peringavu Mahavishnu Temple festival festival. Thamarakkudi Karunakaran Master, a veteran of a thousand performances, dusted out another sterling performance of Kalyana Souganthikam to take the viewers to the mythical age of Bheemasenan and Hanuman. The performance was an amalgam of humour, emotions, and philosophy. Here are some photos of the memorable performance for those devotees who could not make it to the temple yesterday.








Sunday 28 April 2013

Festival @ Peringavu Mahavishnu Temple - Day 6

At the festival yesterday, Sri. Rathan Kumar R. Kammath, the District Judge, MACT, Attingal, formally inaugurated the website of Peringavu Mahavishnu temple (www.peringavutemple.com). It is a bilingual website (in Malayalam and English) that provides a detailed history and other information about the temple. In his inaugural speech, Sri. Kammath dealt with various aspects of the Hindu religion and what makes it distinctive from the other religions.


Sri. Rathan Kumar R. Kammath






Sri. Naduvattom Gopalakrishnan also spoke on the occasion. He said a website is essential for temples in this age of communication revolution. He pointed out that the people residing in the village might not understand the significance of the website. However, the non-resident devotees would highly appreciate the online presence of the temple. He said the temple would make the diaspora more nostalgic and pious.
Sri. Naduvattom Gopalakrishnan

The president of the temple administration committee, Sri. G. Kunjhukrishna Pillai expressed their thanks to the team that created the website. He singled out Mr. Tundik Zoltan for special thanks for designing and hosting the website all the way from Romania. 

After the inauguration, a dance program was held, by the students and teachers of Umamukhi Nritha Vidyalayam, Kudavoor. All the performers gave a disciplined performance of classical as well as folk dance items.

On the seventh day today, the marquee event of the day is Seethankan Thullal. Thamarakkudi Karunakaran Master is the performer. And the story is Kalyana Sougandhikam. It is the story in which Bheeman, the second Pandava, goes in pursuit of the Kalyana Sougandhikam flower after learning about Droupanthi's fancy for the flower. On the way he meets an old monkey, his own paternal brother Hanuman in disguise. The story narrates the humorous but philosophical events that unfold during the journey.

Seethankan thullal is a form of thullal, like Ottan thullal.It is slower and more rhythmic than Ottan thullal. There are slight differences in content and mode of performance across various thullal forms. The Seethankan thullal performance involves reciting the verses (written mostly by Kunchan Nambiar) and dancing and gesturing to match the verses. The verses and performance radiate fun, humour and satire.

Saturday 27 April 2013

Day 5 @ Peringavu Mahavishnu Temple festival: A Kathakali night

The most anticipated item of the day was Thorana Yudham, a Kathakali performance by Navarasa, a troupe from Mulakkalathukavu, near Kilimanoor. It lived up to its bill and the not-so-reputable performers produced a dazzling display of colours, mudras, bhavas and manodharma. The story revolved around Hanuman, who stormed into Lanka for the first time in search of Seetha Devi. The performers depicted his entry and the resultant war in the most sophisticated artistic manner possible.

Those who missed out can see glimpses of the performances in the following pictures.















 


Long before the event started, the preparations had started in the right earnest. You must see it to believe the time taken for the putting up the make-up for the various characters of Kathakali and the effort behind applying the make-up. The following pictures show the artists meticulously preparing for the stage performance.



Earlier in the day, there was a spiritual oration conducted by Brahmkumaris, Attingal. The orator (seen in the picture below) touched up on a number of aspects of leading a spiritual life.

 


Amidst all these speeches and performances, the Mahavishnu temple stood in its spiritual glow as well as in the illumination of chuttuvilakku, as you can see from the following photo.


Kathakali @ Peringavu Mahavishnu Temple

The fifth day of the festival at Peringavu Mahavishnu temple has perhaps the most prestigious item of the festival: a kathakali performance. Navarasa Kathakaliyogam from Mulakkalathukavu, KIlimanoor, is going to perform tonight. The story is Thorana Yudham, adapted from Ramayana. It narrates the tale of Hanuman entering Lanka in search of Seetha Devi.

Here is the synopsis in Malayalam.




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Friday 26 April 2013

Festival @ Peringavu Mahavishnu Temple - Day 4

The main attraction of the day 4 of the festival in Peringavu Mahavishnu Temple was Padakam, performed by the noted artist, Sri. Pallippad Kesavadev. Padakam (or Pathakam, the correct Malayalam word is പാഠകം) is a traditional temple art which tells mythological stories of Hindu gods. Yesterday, Sri. Kesavadev narrated Parasuramavatharam (the story of Parasurama, the sixth incarnation of the Lord Mahavishnu).

The art form involves recital of Sanskrit verses about mythological characters and situations. The artist then explains the situations and actions in Malayalam with heavy doses of Manodharma. Sri. Kesavadev produced an enlightening, though abridged, performance that took the audience through the story of Parasurama.



The festivities went on as usual and the daily rituals were performed. We need to say a big thanks to the committee members who are working tirelessly to make all these happen.

 







Festival @ Peringavu Mahavishnu temple:Three noteworthy events

Of the last three days of festival at Peringavu Mahavishnu temple, three events appeared special. Ottan thullal by Haritha Hari, Samhooha Vishnu Sahasranamam, and a speech on spiritual matters by Sri. N. Gopalakrishnan.

Ottan Thullal

 We got to see have about an hour of the art form created by Kunchan Nambiar when Haritha Hari performed Kiratham.Kiratham depicts the events some crucial moments in Mahabharatham, of Arjuna getting a coveted Pasupathasthram (a special kind of arrow with destructive capabilities) from the Lord Paramasiva. The arrow would help Arjuna to wreak havoc later in the battle of Kurukshethra.



Samhooha Vishnu Sahasranamam

Vishnu Sahasranama or the recital by a singer of a thousand names and virtues of Lord Mahavishnu is a standard event in all temples. At Peringavu temple yesterday, we witnessed a not so common ritual: Samooha Vishnu Sahasranamam. A whole group of  people, singers and audience alike, recite the virtues of Lord Mahavishnu.



Spiritual speech

Sri. N. Gopalkrishnan, noted orator specializing on Hindu mythology and myths, gave an excellent speech at Peringavu Mahavishnu temple. He provided new information on temple activities and rituals. He also corrected many false beliefs that are prevalent in many temples. He lauded the temple for its cleanliness.




We hope to see many new programs like these three in the coming days too. Keep coming to this page.