ಕ್ಷಣಪ್ರಭಾ - Kshanaprabhaa

The beauty of Raga Charukeshi has captivated me in the last couple months. This raga, which originated in Carnatic music, has made its way into Hindustani as well. The raga has been used to depict various moods, mainly the pinnacle of Bhakti. It also renders itself very well to both ecstasy and sorrow, which not many ragas can manage as seamlessly as Charukeshi. I have been digging into many of the songs and renditions of Charukeshi in carnatic music, hindustani, dhrupad as well as movie songs. Here is a collection. The favorite being the fusion by Anoushka Shankar and Nitin Sawhney. 1. Carnatic: Adamodi Galade sung by Charulatha Mani , where the composer, Saint Tyagaraja , begs Lord Rama to speak to him: 2. Movie: Song Shyam Teri Bansi Pukare from the movie Geet Gata Chal (1975) 3. Movie: Kripaya Palaya Shoure composed by Swathi Thirunal , rendered by the legendary K. J. Yesudas , in the Malayalam movie "Swathi Thirunal". 4. Hin...

On the same day as my Kikkeri Brahmeshwara Temple visit, I had visited this huge and attractive Panchalingeshwara Temple , situated just 5 kms away from the town of Kikkeri. The village that is host to this majestic temple is Govindanahalli, which also belongs to Mandya district, and seems to be lost from all the modernization that the rest of the world has seen. This 1237 AD Hoysala temple is built on the outskirts of this small village, surrounded by large paddy fields and coconut plantations, adding to its ageless beauty. The temple is dedicated to the 5 aspects or facets of Lord Shiva, which are, Sadyojata (for the western direction), Vamadeva (for the northern direction), Aghora (for the southern direction), Tatpurusha (for the eastern direction), and Ishana (for the skywards direction). Each of these 5 aspects of Shiva have a separate sanctum sanctorum of their own, and each of them are connected through one enormously elongated Navaranga. Inside this large hall, one...

On the 3rd of this month, I had been on my second leg of the Hoysala Expedition, covering two places which are close to each other. One was Kikkeri, a town belonging to Krishnarajapete (K. R. Pet) Taluk of Mandya district. Although it is in Mandya district, it is easily accessible from Channarayapatna of Hassan district, for those who would be traveling from Bangalore. The second place was Govindanahalli, a village 5 kilometers away from Kikkeri. The focus here is on the temple in Kikkeri, a place that is famous as the birthplace of the Kannada poet Dr. K. S. Narasimhaswamy. The town is home to the 1171 AD Brahmeshwara Temple built with the Hoysala style of architecture. The temple houses idols of Brahmeshwara, Venugopala, Ganesha, Suryanarayana, and Kala Bhairava among others, apart from the intricate carvings showcasing Nandi, the vehicle of Shiva, and the ten incarnations of Vishnu, and the trimurtis, Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara. The clinching feature of this temple for me wa...

ISRO today has successfully launched the indigenous PSLV C15 satellite from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, overcoming the debacle of April. Every successful launch from ISRO brings to the fore, the technological advances the country is making in the field of space research. This also brings back memories of a personal experience shared by former president of India, Bharat Ratna Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. "Dreams are not what you get when you are in sleep, dreams are those that don’t let you sleep." I have heard many people quote this over the last few years, and have read it as being attributed to at least half a dozen people, including Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. I don't know where this quote first originated, but I am one of those blessed few who have heard it direct from Dr. Kalam himself. It was February 2007, convocation of the Visvesvaraya Technological University for the 2006 batch of engineering graduates, and having secured a rank in Computer Science...