148 years of Veedhi Bhajan Singing Legacy at Trimurthi Sthalam Bikshandarkoil

To sustain and spread spirituality among people at large, Bhajans choral singing started as chanting of names of God as a community in chorus. The members of the audience used to repeat the songs rendered by the lead singer after him. The bhajan sampradaya is said to have been established about 500 years ago by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. During 17th century Bhodendra Saraswathi who later became Kanchipuram Sankaracharya is said to have brought Bhajan tradition from Puri to South India.

A typical sequence for Bhajan would be Pundareekam - Prathivachanam, Dhyana Shlokam, Thodaya Mangalam, Guru Dhyanam, Guru Abhangs, Sadhu Keertanas, Jayadevar Ashtapathi, Narayana Teerthar Krishna Leela Tharangini, Panchapati, Dyana Keertanas, Pooja Sampradaya Kritis, Divyanamas, Deepa Pradakshinam, Dolotsavam, Anjaneya Utsavam and Mangalam. The gap between Dakshinayana and Uttarayana is Dhanur Mas (Margazhi) derived from the star Mrigashirsha which is ninth month in traditional Tamil calendar. For 2022 - 2023, Margazhi starts on 16 Dec 2020 and ends on 14 Jan 2023.

During this month temples are opened early in the morning and special pujas are performed on Hanuman Jayanti (23 Dec 2022), Vaikuna Ekadesi (02 Jan 2023), Arudra Dharsan Thiruvathirai (06 Jan 2023), Koodara Valli (11 Jan 2023). In South India, during this month, it is customary for groups of Brahmin boys led by an elder early in the morning to go around the agraharam commencing from a temple and ending at a temple reciting song devoted to various gods and this Veedhi Bhajan tradition has been going on for the past several centuries.

The temple at Bikshandarkoil adjacent to Uttamarkoil Railway station and Kollidam Tollgate is just 7.4 kms from the famous Rockfort temple of Tiruchrapalli and 3.8 kms from Boologa Vaikundam Srirangam Temple. Said to be built by the medieval cholas of late 8th century AD also referred as Thirukkarambanoor in Tamil literary works, the temple is unique in the sense that it houses all three gods of Hindus namely Brahma Vishnu Siva and hence is considered as Trimurti Sthalm.

For the past 147 years, during Margazhi month the agraharam of Bikshandarkoil springs into Bhajan mood.. Everyday the Bhajan Ghosti starts early morning at Chinna Vaykal Pillayar (Ganesh) temple, gives the wake-up call at Varadarajan Perumal temple and goes through the entire agraharam street to the Shiva temple at the street eastern end and retraces back to the Varadarajan Perumal temple and completes the singing of sacred hymns and devotional songs. Every house in the agraharam would have a fantastic kolam - alpana ( Rangoli ) with a pumpkin flower kept in the middle.

Steaming hot venpongal is distributed to all devotees everyday after the Bhajan. First day Pongal is always by the house of BR Halasyam Iyer and second day pongal by the house of vadyar BN Ramaratnam Iyer. In good old days the leaves of Poovarasa maram Thespesia populnea (commonly known as the portia tree Pacific rosewood, Indian tulip tree) was used for pongal distribution but in recent times it has been replaced by Cups (Donnai) made of Mantharai leaves.

Presently the Veedhi Bhajan tradition and legacy is continued as a Mission with Passion by Kaanthu Srikanth who plays the anchor role ably supported by Babu Narayanan, Naresh, Sivakumar, BK Ramaretnam, Vaidthyanatha Iyer and Raghunathan. The brothers of Srikanth namely Sridhar and Murali along with his sons Prasanna Prashanth join on weekends and special occasions. Ambi BH Srinivasan continues to play a silent but crucial role in all proceedings.

BK Ramaretnam
1025/55 West Agraharam
Bikshandarkoil, 621216 Tiruchirapalli Tamilnadu India
Phone +91 89034 61735
Email: ramaretnam@gmail.com

Bikshandarkoil Chronicle focuses on highlighting the glory of this village in Tiruchirapalli district of Tamilnadu and its dreamers, performers and achievers

This release was published on openPR.