1. Why do we light a lamp?
In almost every Indian home a lamp is lit daily before the altar of the Lord. In
some houses it is lit at dawn, in some, twice a day – at dawn and dusk – and in a few it is

Q1. Of the three queens of Dasaratha who was the most beautiful?
A1Among the queens, Kaikeyi who came from the Kingdom of Kekaya was the most beautiful and well versed in the art of war. It is also said in some Ramayanas that the king of Caucasus had agreed to marry his daughter on the condition that the son born of her would be the crown-prince.

Naamsankeerthanam is the only way to attain Moksha and Peace in this Kali Yuga. This is a statement that is vouched by all our spiritual texts. All of us must have heard of Bhajana, which nothing but singing in praise of the Lord Almighty. What is meant by Sampradaya Bhajana?

Sampradaya Bhajana is a series of Naamavalis, Keerthanas, of various gods, goddesses, Saints and others, which have been formatted in a particular way. Maruthanalloor Sadguru Swamikal has done this formatting. Sampradaya Bhajana begins with a naamavali on Hari. Then begins what is known as Thotaya mangalam, which are 5 krithis penned by Shri.Bhodendhra Swamigal, which represent the pancha prana. Thodaya mangalam is followed by Guru Dhyanam, which begins with a Keerthana on Loka Guru Dakshinamoorthy. Followed by Shankaracharya, Bhodendral, Maruthanallor Swamikal Shridhara Venketesa Ayyaval, and Sadguru Swamigal. After Gurus, start Geetha Govinda Kavyam composed by Jayadeva, the krithis being more popularly known as Ashtapadi. Ashtapadi is followed by krithis of Narayana Theerthar, Bhadrachala Ramdas, Purandaradas, Sadashiva Brahmendar, Gopalakrishna bharathi, Oothukad Venkatasubbayar, Thyagaraja, Meera Bhai, Kabirdas, Surdas, Jnandev, Tukaram, Muktha bai, etc, etc. Singing of these songs depends on the time available, as it may not be possible to sing songs composed by all the above mentioned Gurus. After Guru parambara vandanam, starts, Shodashopachara Pooja which is done as per Vedic rites (all offerings as per Shodashopachara pooja such as sugandham, doopam, deepam, nivedyam, thamboolam, harathi, are offered through songs also) and Upachara Keerthanam is sung. Ganeshadi Dhyanam starts after this pooja, when songs in praise of Ganapathy, Saraswathy, Murugan, Siva, Ambal Ayyappan, Raman, Krishnan, Venkatramanan, MahaLakshmi, Narasimham, Pandurangan, Vynadheyan, and Vital are sung followed with a song on Anjaneya. After Ganeshadi Dhayanam starts Divyanaamasankeerthanam. During Divyanamasankeerthanam, Lord Krishna is represented as the deepam (Lamp) and is kept in a central position and those who participate in it are considered (Sankalpam) as Gopis. This part is known as deepa pradakshinam. The various keerthanas sung during deepa pradakshinam are sung in his praise and Gopika geetham which is the essence of Bhagavatam (Dasama Skandam) is chanted. After that rasakreeda songs of the lord are sung, concluded with a Vittal dhyanam and Paramasiva dhyanam. After which the deepam is placed back in its original position, signifying the return of the Lord to his abode. After deepapradakshinam starts what is known as Dolostvam. During Dolotsavam, as in our marriages, where there is nalungu, poo pandh vilayadal etc is performed for the Lord. This is also performed with the help of selected keerthanas of various composers mentioned above.

"The Ramayana does not belong to any one moment in history for it has its own history which lies embedded in the many versions which were woven around the theme at different times and places"- thus wrote the eminent historian Romila Thapar in an article entitled "The Ramayana Syndrome".

Not only do diverse Ramayanas exist; each Ramayana text reflects the social location and ideology of those who appropriate it. All of us are aware of Valmiki, Kamban, Tulsidas. The number of Ramayanas and the range of their influence in South and South-East Asia over the past 2500 years are astonishing. The languages in which Ramayana is told include Annamese, Balinese, Bengali, Cambodian, Chinese, Gujarati, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malaysian. Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Prakrit, Sanskrit, Sinhalese, Tamil, Telugu, Thai and Tibetan apart from the western languages.

Simple, demure, she looks almost like the girl-next-door. And it's only when you hear her sing, you feel the power of the voice, which has made her a famous name in the world of music. Rekha Baala meets Nithyashree Mahadevan, Carnatic musician and playback singer who was in Muscat recently for a semi-classical music concert organised by the Indian Social Club (Tamil Wing).

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To say that music is in your genes would be a sort of understatement. The illustrious grand-daughter of illustrious grandparents, how did it all begin ?

I grew up in an atmosphere full of music. As a child, we used to have visitors talking about music. But nothing was really thrust upon us as children. It was my mother who found out about my inherent love for music and decided that I should learn music not for anything else but for art's sake.

William Congreve wrote:

"Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast,
To soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak,
I have read that things inanimate moved,
And as with living souls have been informed,
By magic numbers and persuasive sound."

Music is God's best gift to Man, the only art of Heaven given to Earth and the only art of Earth we take to Heaven. It is believed that Music has therapeutic values and all of us know that Saint Tyagaraja sang of Music as the surest way to achieve Santham, Saukhyam and Mangalam.

That prestigious organization of Matunga, the Shanmukhananda Sabha arranged a two-day Seminar on Music Therapy, which was attended by almost a thousand persons. The Seminar was conducted by a distinguished panel of Doctors, Psychiatrists, Musicologists and Vocalists. The world-famous neuro-surgeon Dr Ramamurthi inaugurated the session. Papers were presented by T.V. Sairam, Raja Ramanna, Vijay Lele, Mythili, Pujare and Katti. There was a lively Question and Answer session on both the days.

If there is any medium unfettered by the barriers of culture, race or language, it has to be music. A westerner need not know the nuances to enjoy Hindustani music or an Indian, Arabic to enjoy the foot-tapping strains of Habibi or Nari Nari. Music in itself is divine and will warm the hearts of any music lover's art, never mind the language.

What if you go one step further and are itching to discover the similarities between the kind of music you love and the music, which is growing on you, thanks to the place you live in? Then, if you are Shyamala Vinod Kumar, a Carnatic music teacher at Indian School Muscat, you put in seven years of solid research and unravel the oneness in two forms of music, in languages as different as chalk and cheese.

Readers could be interested to know of the services rendered to our Community by unknown and talented people. One such person belongs to the world of music and she is Smt Seetha Ramakrishnan who in suburban Mumbai at Andheri has taught violin for over 30 years. A special function was arranged, recently, by her students and well wishers to felicitate her. There were a large number of speakers who spoke with authority as musicologists. I spoke as a layman and as a parent of a student. Perhaps some on the Site could find this tribute worth reading.

We have assembled in such large numbers to felicitate and honour Violin Mami Smt Seetha Ramakrishnan ,on the happy occasion of her completing thirty years of teaching this divine art.