A Chola dynasty special (Coimbatore)

Attend a two-day seminar on the grand heritage of the Cholas by historians, researchers and writers.

Standing testimony to a glorious era -- The big temple at Thanjavur.

Rotary Club of Coimbatore Metropolis organises a two-day seminar on the great heritage of the Cholas on June 2. Eminent historians, researchers and writers will address the gathering on the history of the grand temples built by the Chola dynasty, some of which still stand today in all their glory.
 

The event will be inaugurated by Swami Sri Dayanadi Saraswathi and Dr. R. Nagaswamy will deliver the keynote address on Concept-Image-Evolution of Anandathandava Nataraja. The lectures will continue till 6 p.m. A valedictory function will be held on June 3 at 4 p.m. The Chief Guest for the event is Babaji Raja Bonsle, Prince of Tanjore and Ravi Sam, Chairman, REACH Foundation.

The talks on June 2 include: 

History of the Cholas by R. Gopu
Early Chola Temples by Chitra Madhavan
Shilpa Sastra and its appreciation in Chola Temples by K.P. Umapathy Acharya
Sacred Bronzes of the Cholas by Avind Venkatraman
Chidambaram and the Bhakti Movement during the Cholas by Marabin Mainthan Muthiya

The talks on June 3 (from 10 a.m) 

Concept of Temples in South India by S. Swaminathan
Brihadeeswarar Temple of Rajaraja Chola and Rajendra Chola by Chitra Madhavan
Chola paintings of Brihadeeswarar Temple by Sriraman
Engineering aspects of the Chola Temples by S. Rajendran
Darasuram - a marvel of the Cholas by Kudavil Balasubramaniyam
Artistic Expressions of Chola Miniatures by Sivaramakrishnan

The two-day Seminar will be inaugurated on June 2 at the GKD Auditorium, GKNM Hospital at 10 a.m and will conclude on June 3. All are welcome. For more details call 98422-51510 or mail rapidcure@gmail.com .

Relevance of traditional construction techniques - S. Rajendran

தமிழ் பாரம்பரியம்

(Tamil Heritage Trust)

presents

Relevance of traditional construction techniques in the modern context

 by Er. S. Rajendran

at 5.30pm on June 2nd, 2012

at Vinobha Hall, Thakkar Bapa Vidyalaya, T Nagar.

Synopsis:

In an era of technological advancement and innovations where there are innumerable ways of building monuments and other structures, the age old techniques practiced by our ancestors are still a major source of inspiration and information.

Sadly somewhere in the past the continuity of this knowledge system has been lost so we are blindly searching for a new perspective of “engineering-understanding” which would cater to our transforming environments and lifestyle. Our perspective in the present context has lots of avenues of thoughts like the socio cultural, economical, eco friendliness, sustainability etc. But the outcome never seems to match the engineering feats that were achieved long back. So this lecture is an attempt to look back into our past for solutions and inspirations for our present needs.

This lecture will try to elaborate the techniques and the materials used in the ancient times starting with the foundation of a building up to the roof.

The inferences are notified are their relevance in our present context are pointed out.

Speaker:

S. Rajendran, a civil engineering graduate from Regional Engineering College, Tiruchirapalli, with a post graduate diploma in valuation and now doing Doctorate in “Valuation of Heritage Buildings and Heritage Monuments”  Having wide experience of 37 years in the field of civil engineering, specialist in cost effective techniques, repairs and renovations of heritage buildings and monuments visiting faculty in many universities, a resource person for All India Council Of Technical Education since 1990.  Owning a consulting firm, Adhiparasakthi and Associates, where his only son Ar.R.Sakthi Murugan a post graduate in conservation from school of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi is working as his managing partner. His Firm specializes in conservation works in heritage monuments and heritage structures, cost effective buildings and special homes.

Awards:

Member of design team headed by Ar.Bejoy Ramachandran of Hundred hands, Bangalore, which won a commendation award from Architectural review UK, for the vaulted design in a project done for Hope at Trichy.  Cost effective consultant for a house designed by Ar.Dhanasekar of ADG which won the First prize, Best Home in Tamil Nadu, Home Sweet Home by Dalmia Cements for the year 2011.

----

Please note the following forthcoming events:

1. 7^th of July: Laltharam will speak on S.Rajam - Musician, Painter, Actor and the Man

2. 4^th August: Pradeep Chakravarthy will speak on A leader for today? Serfoji II

RSVP:

A. Annamalai: Gandhi Study Centre - gandhicentre@gmail.com; 94441-83198

Badri Seshadri: Kizhakku-p-padippakam - badri@nhm.in; 98840-66566

S. Kannan: Bank of Baroda - 2498 5836

S. Swaminathan - sswami99@gmail.com; 2467 1501

R. Gopu, writergopu@yahoo.com, 98417-24641

T. Sivasubramanian, siva.durasoft@gmail.com, 98842-94494

கேரள பாரம்பரிய நடனம் கூடியாட்டம் பற்றி பி.எஸ்.ஞானபிரகாஷ் (விடியோ)

Tags - Koodiyattam - Sanskrit theatre of Kerala, PS Gnanaprakash, May, 5th, 2012, Video

Summer camp photos

Making a Thoranam from paper - Kirigami artist J. Ramesh

You can view the summer camp (19, 20 May 2012) photos from the following location:

Summer camp photo album

Summer camp for Children: 19, 20 May 2012

Like last year, this year too, Tamil heritage Trust conducted a summer camp on 19th and 20th May 2012. We will post some photos and an edited video shortly. In the meantime here is an article from The Hindu, covering the event.

We had the six sessions spread over two days at Ragha Sudha Hall near Nageswara Rao Park. The camp started with MS Subbulakshmi's rendering of Bharathiyar's Tamil translation of Bankim Chandra Chatterji's Vade Mataram.

On Day 1, we had three sessions:

1. Life of Srinivasa Ramanujan by Badri Seshadri.

2. Kirigami by Kagitha Chirpi Ramesh. Ramesh taught children how to make thoranam, and couple of stars by folding and cutting sheets of paper.

3. A stroll in the park to learn about plants by Prof. Swaminathan and Udayakumar. We could cover only around 15 plants are so before the failing light and exhaustion stopped us.

While the camp was only meant for children between 10-15, there were a few kids aged 6-10 as well. Also, many parents stayed on and participated along with the children.

Prof. Swaminathan and Udayakumar in Nageswara Rao Park

On Day 2,

1. Ramanujan's Math by Balasubramanian. This covered Nested surds, Infinite fractions, Partitions and a bit. Since we felt the session could be a little too technical for younger kids, a parallel session was organized at Arkay Convention Centre, where Isaikkavi Ramanan presented Bharathiyar's story through his poems.

2. Astronomy before the invention of Telescopes by R. Gopu.

3. Hindu Iconography by Prof. Sivaramakrishnan and Badri Seshadri. This was to be followed by a trip to Kapaleeswarar Temple, but unfortunately, we were running out of time and hence this trip was postponed.

Gopu explaining the zodiacs and moon's position

Koodiyattam - Sanskrit theatre of Kerala - by PS Gnanaprakash

தமிழ் பாரம்பரியம்

(Tamil Heritage Trust)

presents

"Koodiyattam - Sanskrit theatre of Kerala"

by 

PS Gnanaprakash

at 5.30pm on May, 5th, 2012

at Vinobha Hall, Thakkar Bapa Vidyalaya, T Nagar.

Synopsis:

Koodiyattam is one of the most ancient living theatrical traditions using Sanskrit plays for its production. Koodiyattam finds its expression in 'Koottambalam'  (auditorium), an inseparable part of temples in Kerala. This art is practiced and propagated by the Chakkiar community. Hence it is also known by the name – Chakkiar Kootu.  Both men and women participate in this tradition and they generally adopt the classics of Kalidasa, Bhasa, Sriharsha, Pallava Mahendra Varma, Kulasekhara, Saktibhadra etc. The stage adoption is elaborate and highly stylized. They follow the stage manuals which is known as Attaprakaram. Their costume is semi realistic and the stage mannerisms are highly stylized. Cymbals, idakka and a unique percussion instrument called 'milavu' are used in the orchestra.

Generally the Nangyars (women) sing while the Nambiyars (male) play the instruments. Nangyars also play the female roles.  Language changes from Sanskrit to Prakrit and even to classical Malayalam.

The vachikam of Koodiyattam resembles the Vedic chanting tradition of Kerala. The songs are set to several ancient ragas. The antiquity of Koodiyattam goes to 10th century A.D.  It is said that King Kulasekhara Varma structured this art and employed his own Sanskrit plays Tapatisamvaranam and Subhadradhananjayam for the repertory.

Speaker: 

Gnanaprakash is a passionate art and cultural enthusiast. He graduated from Anna University and is now working as a systems engineer in CSS Corp Pvt Ltd in Coimbatore. He has documented the profile of nearly 500 carnatic musicians who were born before 1950 in a website with thousands of photographs and audio clippings. He has also archived numerous photographs, audio and video clippings related to the cultural heritage of Kerala. Apart from this he is keenly interested in collecting and archiving 78 RPM gramophone recordings, particularly of the South Indian music.

RSVP:

A. Annamalai: Gandhi Study Centre - gandhicentre@gmail.com; 94441-83198

Badri Seshadri: Kizhakku-p-padippakam - badri@nhm.in; 98840-66566

S. Kannan: Bank of Baroda - 2498 5836

S. Swaminathan - sswami99@gmail.com; 2467 1501

R. Gopu, writergopu@yahoo.com, 98417-24641

T. Sivasubramanian, siva.durasoft@gmail.com, 98842-94494

கரு. இராசேந்திரன் - புதுக்கோட்டைக் கல்வெட்டுகளில் நீர்ப்பாசனம் (விடியோ)

Tags - Irrigation in Pudukkottai epigraphs, Karu. Rajendran, April, 7th, 2012, Video, Pudukottai