ಕ್ಷಣಪ್ರಭಾ - Kshanaprabhaa

There was a survey that asked the question: “What brings you back to work every day?” Not getting into what I had answered for the survey, there certainly have been various reasons at various stages that have kept me going, ranging from the challenges of work, the exposure it gives, the opportunities to learn and do new things every day, and the people at the top who are the guiding force. All these continue to be true, but for the last year and a half though, the primary reason has been only one thing – that of working closely with some of the best people I have ever met. This has been an extremely rewarding experience, so much so that I feel I ought to do it some justice by blogging and sharing some of the creative content which got generated through this alliance. The dedication, focus and integrity of a Chandana, the perseverance and inquisitiveness of an Ajay, the agility and the big picture perspective of a Sumit, the pursuit of perfection and attention to detail of an A...

Continuing from Part 1 , here is more from the cultural programmes that happened on the sidelines of the World Samskrit Book Fair . On Saturday, 8th January, 2011, 1003rd edition of "Kavyachitra" was conducted at the Kuvempu Kalakshetra, Bangalore, in association with Samskara Bharati and Abhinaya Bharati. Kavyachitra refers to a cultural entertainment model where a poet and an artist take up challenges from each other, audience, and experts to create poetry and paintings on the spot. Shatavadhani Dr. R. Ganesh was in charge of the "Kavya" part with Artist B. K. S. Varma took up "Chitra". Varma is credited with making painting, a form of "performing art". Some pictures (click on them for larger versions) and videos from the mesmerizing two hour event are below: Pictures: 1. Varma drawing Sarswati using colour soaked thread: 2. R. Ganesh concentrating on Varma's masterly work: 3. Flautist Venugopal also forgets to play his flute, enchanted...

I had been to the World Samskrit Book Fair that is going on at Bangalore from 6th to 10th January, 2011, and here are some updates from that: On 6th January 2011, day 1 of the fair, "Jnanaganga", an exhibition on the knowledge heritage of India was inaugurated by former India cricket captain Anil Kumble , and a model of "Samskrit Village" , where all interactions happen through Samskrit, was inaugurated by Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri , the primary and secondary education minister of the Govt. Of Karnataka. Also attending the occation were N. Gopalaswamy , former Chief Election Commisioner of India, and industrialst Sadanand Mayya . Also at the end of day one, was classical singing by Vidwan Vidyabhushana. Photos from the formal function (click on images for enlarged versions): Photos of the Samskrit Village and Exhibitions (click on images for enlarged versions): Video of Anil Kumble's speech (some unavoidable movements while recording) Anil ...

This is a story I have heard from my uncle about a Sanskrit poet (one version refers to the poet in the story as Bhasa and another as Bana Bhatta, so I'm not sure who the poet really was). I was discussing this story with a few of my colleagues recently and thought it is worthy to be blogged about. So, this poet was writing a mahakavya, which was going to take a long time, and he was getting old with failing health. He was half way through his work and felt that he might not be able to finish it in his lifetime. He wanted someone to finish the epic after his death, but he wanted that person to be worthy enough to do so. He knew both his sons were equally good at writing, so he thought of choosing one of them for the task. So, he called them both, and gave them a small test. He asked them to come up with a poetic sentence that could explain the following statement: "There is a dead tree in front of me". The first son came forward and said, " शुष्कोवृक्षस्तिष्ठत्...

I had the pleasure of witnessing one of the most difficult and "endangered" art forms being performed today, an Astavadhana in Sanskrit and Kannada, by the renowned Shatavadhani, Dr. R. Ganesh. He can perform this art form in three different languages fluently, i.e., in Sanskrit, Kannada and Telugu, and according to many, is the only living person today, who can perform this art at least in Sanskrit and Kannada. Without going into the details of both Avadhana and Dr. R. Ganesh's distinguished profile, here is a brief introduction about the two: Avadhana is a literary performance believed to have originated in Karnataka around 12th century AD, and is very popular in the languages of Kannada, Telugu and Sanskrit. Avadhani, the performer of Avadhana, would require to have tremendous abilities of multi-tasking and requires immense memory power too. The multiple tasks that the Avadhani needs to perform range from on-the-spot poetry creation, to identifying the references ...

Every year, the full-moon day in the month of shraavana, is celebrated as World Sanskrit Day, according to Samskrita Bharati . This year, it was on Saturday, the 16th of August. I had a good news on Sanskrit front to share, and I feel this is the occasion to do so. A new secondary school, with focus on Sanskrit language, has come up in Channarayapatna town of Hassan district, Karnataka. The age old building of "Samskrutha Pathashala" in the old fort area of the town has been renovated to bring this school up. All the credit must go to the "Samskrutha Vidyabhivardhini Sangha", and its dedicated members, who set about the ambition of providing good quality education, with focus on the language of Sanskrit. The main person behind this ambitious project, Mr. A. Chidambar, senior English lecturer at Navodaya PU College of the town, has poured his heart and soul to this dream. He was ably supported by Mr. G.K. Vishwanath, English lecturer, Navodaya High Sc...