A thousand years have gone by but the teachings of Ramanujar are still relevant.
To highlight the contributions of this great thinker, who was much ahead of his time, Sri Bhagawat Ramanuja Siddantha Prachar Sabha organised ‘Sri Ramanuja Sama Darshanam,’ a grand finale of the year-long events at the Sivaswamy Auditorium, Chembur, recently.
Velukkudi Krishnan, who inaugurated the event, outlined the story of Ramanujar.
“Velukkudi Swami’s inimitable narration added to the bhakti quotient of our celebration,” says Kulashekar Varadan, secretary of the Sabha. P. Sundarrajan, president of the sabha, and others rendered songs and a few danced. A child was also dressed up as Ramanuja.
A play on the life and teachings of Ramanuja was staged with children and youth eloquently delivering the dialogue in Tamil. The focus was more on his tutelage under various gurus.
The presentation dealt with Ramanujar’s animosity with Yadava Prakasa, his first guru, due to difference of opinions; his disapproval of caste discrimination ; Ramanuja’s promise to fulfil three tasks of Yamunacharya; his initiation into Pancha Samskaram by Periya Nambi; the revealing of the mahamantra to the people much against the wishes of Thirukoshtiyur Nambi and how he propagated Sharanagati doctrine and recital of Divya Prabhandam by men and women in Tamil.
Scenes where Ramanujar (enacted by Sudarshan Srinivasan) cures the princess afflicted by Brahma Ratchas, Koorathazhwan blinding himself and Araiyar singing in the lord’s presence, received appreciation. Anand Satchitanandam as Araiyar gave a stellar performance.
The projection of locations such as Kanchi streets, temple of Varadaraja, the forest, the river, Madurantakam temple, throng of people, the divine cavalcade etc. served as a backdrop.
The narration by Kalyani Ramanujam and voice-over of Varadaraja and Sriranga Perumal by Ramanujam added to the clarity and continuity of the story.
The play was followed by a dance performance. Supported by an orchestra, Jayashree Rajagopalan’s disciples from Nrityodaya, Aishwarya Harish, Savita Subramanian, Jyoti Narayan and Aarthi Balasubramaniam presented pasurams from Ramanujar Nootrandhadhi.
Velukkudi explained the meanings of the pasurams in English.
Young boys and girls mono-acted as disciples of Ramanujar. Seven-year-old Avanija Senesh, clad in a madisar spoke lucidly in Tamil about the purpose of Ramanujar’s birth.
A well-coordinated Kummi and Kolattam in Telugu praised Ramanujar. Bhajan rendition concluded the celebrations.