RIKSHAW PULLER ANALYZED SANSKRIT SLOKA

Source: http://www.kalakendra.com/?p=128
MALARUM MAARGAZHI ( Musi c Season Speci al Edi ti on ) APPOLO TIMES..
One of Bangalores coldest seasons
The cosmopolitan city was not only in the grip of ferocious chill but also going through a bout of Kannadiga
Fanatic fever. The religious, cultural and entertainment centers of Tamilians were their focused target. A Series
of Musical Discourse by a Tamil Harikatha exponent drawing tumultuously huge crowds at the heart of the city
glared the fanatics eyes. The Ancient cultural Association which organized the discourse series was given an
ultimatum to stop the program or face violence. The organizers rushed to the Legend and pleaded for advice.
The Legend was calm and cool. He requested the organizers to wither the threat and assured that discourse
would continue uninterrupted..
The days discourse started on time. A group of hooligans with deadly weapons descended at the front gate.
They could distinctly hear the sole stirring Harikatha that permeated the ambience. The speech was in English
mixed with lilting songs in Kannada, and Telugu interspersed with vibrant rendering of slokas in Sanskrit. Not a
word of Tamil!
The clueless fanatics did not retreat but mingled with the audience quietly and got soaked themselves in the
waves of the Legends inimitable oratorical ocean. As waves do, they kept coming day after day, in the process,
unmindful of the fact that from the next day there was liberal mix of Tamil too in the discourse.
The self believing Legend who possessed such a depth of knowledge and repertoire was none other
than Brahmasri T.S.Bal akri shna Sastri gal . Yours sincerely is fortunate to be his younger son.
A Senior Executive of State Bank of India, my illustrious father started learning the wide spectrum of
fundamentals required for performing Harikatha at the very tender age of 8 under the guidance of his father,
himself a doyen in Puranic Upanyasakams known as Brahmasri Sambamoorthi Ganapaadigal . The
enlightening package included Vedas, Puranas, Sastras, Carnatic Music, and Multiple Languages like Tamil,
Telugu, Sanskrit, Malayalam, Kanada and English.
Being a bank employee his virtual induction to performing Harikatha was initiated at the age of 23 by his father
in law, himself an exponent in 18 Puranaas called Sri vatsa Somadeva Sarma. Spanning over almost 6
decades, the service Brahmasri Sastrigal rendered to the society through his Musical Discourses is inimitable
and unparalleled.
His audience felt as though they were literally transported to Ayodhya or Ashoka Vana or Asthinapura or to the
battlefield of Kurukshetra through his extremely sensitive and dramatic description of the sequences of
Ramayana and Mahabharata with a reverberating voice and lilting music. While his imaginative unfurling of
each of the characters in any epic provided the audience an easy access to truth and reality, his uncanny
humorous interludes not only made them laugh their heart out but also think after they laughed.
True to the width of his perceptions, the range of his audience also varied from the elite of Music Academy to
the mass of Royapuram, and Choolai, from the Asthikaas of Mumbai and Delhi to the village folks of interior
Thirunelveli and Thanjavur, from the Asian Indians of United States of America to the strangers to Tamil in
interior Kerala and Andhra.
A day of discourse in one of hi s f ormatting yearsat Choolai, a typically down to earth
ambienceMy father was returning back in his regular Rickshaw after a much appreciated performance
of Sundarakaandam in Ramayana. The Rickshaw puller casually remarked Unga Appaaru ungulukku sariya
paadam sollikodikkalayaanga? (Did your father not teach you fully?). He reasoned too.
At the point when Raavana comes to Ashoka Vana to coerce Seetha Seetha plucks a tiny grass, places it in
her front and starts speaking to it as though it was Raavana, not looking at him through out the address. The
relevant Sloka in Sundara Kaandam of Valmiki Ramayanaa Thrina mantratha kruthvaa was recited by the
Rickshaw puller. He continued to opine your father used to give several interpretations to this Sloka but you
gave only a few interpretations.
Do we realize the value base in those days?
An opportunity to perform discourses in USA came to Brahmasri Sastrigal. But he went to Kanchi
Paramacharyaal for advice, (His Holiness was his revered Guru and to whom my father was a pet performer.
Paramacharyaal used to engage him in several intriguing conversations and arguments on various finer
elements of Sanaadhana Dharma and Carnatic Music) His Holiness countered Brahmasri Sastrigals enquiry
with a question Have you performed in all rural areas of Tamil Nadu? My father was searching for words since
he was not endowed with so much of time to perform in all villages due to his Official commitments. He quietly
came back, took voluntary retirement from his employers and went about performing in every nuke and corner
of not only Tamil Nadu but also entire South.
After years of this happening, the offer to perform in USA recurred and this time Paramacharyaal did not have
any hesitation in granting permission.
Blessings of Gurus came unabated to Brahmasri Sastrigal because of his own respect for all concepts of Hindu
Dharma. He was blessed fondly bySringeri Mahaa Sannidhaanam, Baghwan Satya Sai Baba and Sri-La-Sri
Pandrimalai Swamigal to mention a few greats. My eldest sister (Late) Padma was a devotee of Satya Sai
Baba. Baba came to Chennai and was giving a discourse in Sundaram: near our residence. My father drove
the car and dropped Padma at Sundaram and was waiting in Parking Bay incognito for her to return,.
Baghwan Babas speech was flowing in the air and Brahmasri Sastrigal was taken deep in to it.. Baghwan
completed the session and Sastrigal was anxious to receive his daughter back when a passing car stopped by
his side in dark. The car glass went down and it was indeed Baghwan Baba who said Sastrigaaru,.. naaku
thelusu neevu ikkada unnarani ( Sastrigaaru, I know you are here). Quickly getting down from the steering
wheel, Sastrigal bowed his Pranams to Baba on the road, Baba fondly accepted and His car sped away.
Though a Hindu Puranic, my father eschewed a very cosmopolitan out look. He did formal education in
Christian Missionary institutions.even acted in Shakespearean Plays. A fan of good English Films, Brahmasri
Sastrigal was also a keen viewer of the works of Shri K. Balachander, Shri Nagesh, Shri Cho, Padmasri Kamal
Hassan and Shri Crazy Mohan. His impressive library not only included books on Veda, Upanishad, Puranas,
and Philosophy but also novels of Sidney Sheldon, J ames Hadley Chase, J effrey Archer, etc. It reasons for the
fact that he could permit his sons my elder brother TSBK Moulee, an Engineer by Qualification and me, a
Chartered Accountant to pursue careers in Entertainment Industry. Infact, when the Ace Telugu Director Paapu
made a film on Saint Thiagarajah, he organized a week long discourse of Brahmasri Sastrigal on
Thiagarajah Charithram, recorded it and used it as a vital base for making screen play for the film as also
facilitating the singer Shri S P B to adopt the correct emotions while singing the Thiagarajah Krithis.
His sense of humor apart from his own soul strength was in to play in his very last days spent in Dialysis
( CAPD) for kidney failure He used to convert dialysis sessions in to Harikatha sessions, the only listener being
one of my associates Aravind or Parthiban, trained themselves to do CAPD. Both the preacher and audience
enjoyed those sessions and looked forward to the next dialysis session. I could not but ask him Appa, you were
used to performing before thousands and thousands of Bhaktas. How can you deliver a discourse to one
person? He said. When Sri Krishna delivered Srimad Bagavath Geetha the audience consisted of only
one person Parthiban / Arjuna
If I am ever born agai n, I pray to God to give me the bi rth as son of my Father
Di rector S B Khanthan
Kalakendra.com : December 8, 2006, 5:26 pm
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