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Kalamandalam Sugandhi
Kalamandalam Sugandhi is a Mohiniyattam dancer, choreographer and dance teacher from Kerala, India. She received several awards including Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Award, Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Fellowship, Kerala Konkani Sahitya Academy Award and Kerala Kalamandalam Award. Biography Kalamandalam Sugandhi was born on 1950 December 2, in a Konkani family at Valamgalam near Thuravoor in Alappuzha district to G. Sreenivasa Kamath and Anandi Kamath. The family had given her considerable support in making her a dancer. She started learning Bharathanatyam at the age of seven from Sathidevi, a graduate of Thrippunithura RLV College of Music and Fine Arts. After two years, she trained Bharathanatyam under Palluruthy Surendranath. At the suggestion of K. N. Pisharody, Guru Gopinath, Tripunithura Madhava Menon and Kavalam Narayana Panicker, her father added Sugandhi to study in the Kerala Kalamandalam. At the time of joining, her basic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thuravoor, Cherthala
Thuravoor is a gram panchayat in the Pattanakkad Block of Cherthala Taluk of the Alappuzha District, State of Kerala, India. It comes under Aroor Assembly constituency. Thuravoor lies exactly between Kochi and Alappuzha. A four lane National Highway 47 passes through the village, which along with a railway station gives it excellent connectivity with the remainder of the state. Thuravoor is famous for the Narasimha Swamy temple which is dedicated to the fourth incarnation (avatara) of Vishnu, the Narasimha. The temple has two main deities, the Vadakkanappan (Lord Narasimha) and the Tekkanappan (Lord Sudarshana), which is rare among the temples of Kerala. Location Thuravoor Mahakshethram Thuravoor Mahakshethram, an ancient Devasthanam located by the side of NH-47, approximately 25 km south of Kochi city, is the sacred abode of Lord Sree Narasimhamoorthy and Lord Sree Mahasudarsanamoorthy. The entire temple complex can be seen from the road. Two separate Sa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sangeet Natak Akademi
Sangeet Natak Akademi (The National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama in English) is the national level academy for performing arts set up by the Government of India. History It was set up by the Indian education ministry on 31 May 1952 and became functional the following year, with the appointment of its first chairman, Dr. P. V. Rajamannar. Dr Rajendra Prasad, the first President of India, inaugurated it on 28 January 1953 in a special function held in the Parliament House. The academy's Fellowship and Award are considered very prestigious. Functions The academy functions as the apex body of the performing arts in the country to preserve and promote the vast cultural heritage of India expressed in music, dance and drama. It also works with governments and art academies in states and territories of the country. SNA established several institutions over the years: * Manipur Dance Academy, Imphal * Sattriya Centre * Kathak Kendra (National Institute of Kathak Dance), New ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Konkani Language
Konkani () is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Konkani people, primarily in the Konkan region, along the western coast of India. It is one of the 22 scheduled languages mentioned in the Indian Constitution, and the official language of the Indian state of Goa. It is a minority language in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala, Gujarat & Damaon, Diu & Silvassa. Konkani is a member of the Southern Indo-Aryan language group. It retains elements of Vedic structures and shows similarities with both Western and Eastern Indo-Aryan languages. The first Konkani inscription is dated 1187 A.D. There are many Konkani dialects spoken along and beyond the Konkan region, from Damaon in the north to Carwar in the south, most of which are only partially and mutually intelligible with one another due to a lack of linguistic contact and exchanges with the standard and principal forms of Konkani. It is also spoken by migrants outside of the Konkan proper; in Surat, Cochin, Mangalore, Ahmedabad, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tamil Language
Tamil (; ' , ) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. Tamil is an official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the sovereign nations of Sri Lanka and Singapore, and the Indian territory of Puducherry. Tamil is also spoken by significant minorities in the four other South Indian states of Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, and the Union Territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It is also spoken by the Tamil diaspora found in many countries, including Malaysia, Myanmar, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia and Mauritius. Tamil is also natively spoken by Sri Lankan Moors. One of 22 scheduled languages in the Constitution of India, Tamil was the first to be classified as a classical language of India. Tamil is one of the longest-surviving classical languages of India.. "Tamil is one of the two longest-surviving classical languages in India" (p. 7). A. K. Ramanujan described it as "the on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Padma Subrahmanyam
Padma Subrahmanyam (born 4 February 1943, in Madras), is an Indian classical Bharata Natyam dancer. She is also a research scholar, choreographer, teacher, Indologist and author. She is famous in India as well as abroad; several films and documentaries have been made in her honor by countries such as Japan, Australia and Russia. She is well known as the developer and founder of the dance form Bharata Nrithyam. Biography Padma Subrahmanyam was born to Krishnaswami Subrahmanyam, the Indian film director and Meenakshi Subrahmanyam on 4 February 1943 in Madras (now Chennai). Her father was a famous Indian filmmaker and her mother, Meenakshi was a music composer and a lyricist in Tamil and Sanskrit. She was trained by Vazhuvoor B. Ramaiyah Pillai. She started teaching dance at a very young age of 14 at her father's dance school. She felt that there was a gap between history, theory and dance and started doing her own research. She had her ''rangapravesha'' in 1956. She has taught in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gopika Varma
Gopika Varma is a Kerala born Mohiniyattam dancer and dance teacher who is settled in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. She received several awards including Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Award and Kalaimamani. Biography Born and raised in Thiruvananthapuram, Gopika Varma migrated to Chennai from Kerala in 1995. She started learning dance at the age of three, from her mother. At the age of 10, Gopika started learning Mohiniyattam from Girija and Chandrika Kurup and later she received specialized training from Kalyanikutty Amma and her daughter, Sreedevi Rajan. Gopika learned the ''Abhinaya'' (acting) part of Mohiniyattam from Kathakali exponent Kalamandalam Krishnan Nair. She also studied Bharathanatyam under Vazhiyur Ramayyar Pillai, for 18 years. Although her guru was Kalyanikutty Amma, Gopika Varma follows her own style in Mohiniyattam. She has also performed Mohiniyattam in ''Sopana'' style under Kavalam Narayana Panicker. She runs a Mohiniyattam Danc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neena Prasad
Neena Prasad is an Indian dancer. She is an exponent in the field of Mohiniyattam. She is the founder and principal of Bharthanjali Academy of Indian Dances in Thiruvananthapuram and Sougandika Centre for Mohinyattam in Chennai. Early life and education She pursued dance education, achieving proficiency in Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, Mohiniyattam and Kathakali. After her MA in English Literature, she was awarded a PhD from Rabindra Bharati University, Calcutta, for her thesis on "The concepts of Lasya and Tandava in the classical dances of South India-A detailed Study". She was also awarded a post doctoral Research Fellowship from the AHRB Research Centre for Cross Cultural Music and Dance Performance, University of Surrey. Her professional training included: *Mohiniyattam - Kalamandalam Sugandhi – 8 years *Kalamandalam Kshemavathy – 3 years *Bharatanatyam - Padmashri Adyar K. Lakshman – 11 years *Kuchipudi - Padmabhushan Vempatti China Satyam –12 years *Kathakali - Ve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Ravi Shankar (born 13 May 1956) is an Indian yoga guru, a spiritual leader. He is frequently referred to as Sri Sri (honorific), Guru ji, or Gurudev. From around the mid 1970s, he worked as an apprentice under Mahesh Yogi, the founder of Transcendental Meditation. In 1981, he split from the Transcendental Meditation (TM) and founded the Art of Living foundation. Life Ravi Shankar was born in Papanasam, Tamil Nadu, to Vishalakshi and R.S.Venkat Ratnam. He is the brother of Bhanumathi Narasimhan. He was named "Ravi" (a common Indian name which means "sun") because his birth was on a Sunday, and "Shankar" after the eighth-century Hindu saint, Adi Shankara, whose birthday was the same day as Ravi Shankar. Ravi Shankar's first teacher was Sudhakar Chaturvedi, an Indian Vedic Scholar and a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the St. Joseph's College of Bengaluru University. After graduation, Shankar travelled with his second teacher, Mah ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ashtapadi
''Ashtapadis'' or ''Ashtapadi'' refers to the Sanskrit hymns of the ''Gita Govinda'', composed by Jayadeva in the 12th Century. The ''ashtapadis'', which describe the beauty of Lord Krishna and the love between Krishna and the '' gopis'', are considered a masterpiece in esoteric spirituality and the theme of 'Divine romance'. The literal meaning of ''ashtapathi'', 'eight-steps', refers to the fact that each hymn is made of eight couplets (eight sets of two lines). It is also the source of the word '' ashtāpada'', an Indian board game, the forerunner of chess. Although the original tunes of the ''ashtapadis'' were lost in history, they remain popular and are widely sung in a variety of tunes, and used in classical dance performances, across India. Ashtapadis are regularly performed at Kerala temples in the accompaniment of an '' idakka;'' a genre of music called '' sopana sangeetham.'' The lyrical poetry of the ''Gita Govinda'' is divided into twelve chapters, each of which is su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma
( ml, സ്വാതി തിരുനാള് രാമവർമ്മ) (16 April 1813 – 26 December 1846) was the Maharaja of the Kingdom of Travancore. He is also considered as a brilliant music composer and is credited with over 400 classical compositions in both Carnatic and Hindustani style.http://print.achuth.googlepages.com/SwathiThirunalandSciencev3.0.pdf A well-formulated code of laws, courts of justice, introduction of English education, construction of an observatory, installation of the first Government printing press, establishment of the first manuscripts library were amongst the many initiatives taken by Svāti Tirunāḷ, as a King, to modernise Travancore. Early life Svāti Tirunāḷ was born into the Venad dynasty of the Matrilineal royal family of Travancore, which is now a part of Kerala, on 16 April 1813. He was the second child of Queen Gowri Lakshmi Bayi who ruled Travancore from 1811 to 1815, and Raja Raja Varma Koil Thampuran of C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ernakulam District
Ernakulam, ; ISO: ''Eṟaṇākuḷaṁ'', in Malayalam: എറണാകുളം), is one of the 14 districts in the Indian state of Kerala, that takes its name from the eponymous city division in Kochi. It is situated in the central part of the state, spans an area of about , and is home to over 9% of Kerala's population. Its headquarters are located at Kakkanad. The district includes Kochi, also known as the commercial capital of Kerala, which is famous for its ancient Churches, Hindu temples, synagogues and mosques. The district includes the largest metropolitan region of the state: Greater Cochin. Ernakulam is the district that yields the most revenue and the largest number of industries in the state. Ernakulam is the third most populous district in Kerala, after Malappuram and Thiruvananthapuram (out of 14 districts). The district also hosts the highest number of international and domestic tourists in Kerala state. The most commonly spoken language in Ernakulam is Mal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indian Army
The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four-star general. Two officers have been conferred with the rank of field marshal, a five-star rank, which is a ceremonial position of great honour. The Indian Army was formed in 1895 alongside the long established presidency armies of the East India Company, which too were absorbed into it in 1903. The princely states had their own armies, which were merged into the national army after independence. The units and regiments of the Indian Army have diverse histories and have participated in several battles and campaigns around the world, earning many battle and theatre honours before and after Independence. The primary mission of the Indian Army is to ensure national security and national unity, to defend the nation from external aggression an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
