Often, we hear people on Social Media talk about the undying value of temples in nurturing the growth of our economy, culture and knowledge. Temples hold the balm of spirituality for our tired souls. The spark of knowledge, for our battered intellect. Temples seem to offer one the universe with the deities’ divinity.
On Social Media, we have often seen people put up gorgeous pictures of temple and its architecture. People have walked to temple and spoke about how even their journey to temple was a spiritual one. Full of stories untold. When one looks at those pictures, one wonders the enormity of our ancestor’s spirit. The devotion it must have taken for them to carve the stones armed with nothing more than a chisel and hammer. The days and years it must have taken to give a physical form, to divinity. A gift, to generations to come.
It then is fair to say, that is our dharmic duty to preserve what was handed down to us. It is perhaps the travesty of our times, that most us have lost the knowledge of our cultural past. And that is what Bangalore based Smt. Vijayalakshmi Vijayakumar tries to fix.
Smt. Vijayalakshmi along with few others formed a trust “Heritage Trust” a not-for-profit charitable registered trust, in 1994, for the promotion, preservation and dissemination of our heritage and culture through seminars, workshops and cultural festivals to bring us closer to our roots.
Since 2010 Heritage has been conducting thematic festivals: “Gudiya Sambhrama, The temple festival” and “Srishti Sambhrama the Earth Mother Festival”. Both are a celebration and a coming together of our cultural and natural heritage in haloed sacred spaces of worship and learning.
The Gudiya Sambhrama is conducted across multiple Bangalore temples each year between the period of January and February. The working committee of the Heritage Trust develops a theme for each year. Last year the theme for Gudiya Sambhrama was “Sacred Flowers”. The festival with theme ‘Sacred Flowers’ brought together over a hundred artists and scholars of repute from across the country. Starting in the month of January for five week-ends and 8 venues, 20 temples resounded with the rhythm of dancing feet and the melody of music mingling with mystical chants and temple bells.
The main goal of Gudiya Sambhrama is to inculcate a feeling of ownership of the Temples and oneness amongst all strata of the society. Towards this end every year the Trustees ensure that all people are participants of the festival- the flower sellers outside the Temples to the artiste and the audience all sections of the society are invoked with a sense of pride in their culture and traditions. The unique feature of 2017 was the inauguration of Gudiya Sambhrama at each venue by the regular flower supplier to that particular temple. The floral artist was felicitated and appreciated for the dedication to the temple. This was an effort to understand the important role that the floral artist plays in enhancing the experience of the devotee.
The Gudiya Sambhrama is spread across the Bangalore city over a period of 6 to 8 weeks. In 2017, it was performed at several locations across Bangalore – precincts of Gudada Ramanjaneyaswamy Devasthanam in Hanumanthanagar, HSR layout, Nandi Thirtha Devasthana in Malleswaram, Koramangala Ganapathi Temple and Banashankari.
A glimpse :
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhuMv-F5SGE]
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZWnskXKFQM]
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDmw_hxGIZI]
Apart from the main stage performances artists performed inside each of the 20 temples as part of the sangeetha and nrithya upachara to the Supreme. This was the highlight of the utsava to bring back the devopacharas in the temple as this practice is slowly fading away. Artistes have found devopacharas inspiring and uplifting.
This year the Gudiya Sambhrama starts on January 27th and has a unique flavour to it. The Festival will also hold a week long program on Bhagvaata Saptha with daily upanysam by Shri Dushyanth Sridhar. The dance and music programs will be presented through the date across venues. A special highlight is Bhagvaata Chintanam to be held by Swamini Svatmabodhananda.
The Gudiya Sambhrama is slowly becoming a flagship festival of the city of Bangalore, a Festival that the citizens can be proud of being associated with and spread the message of uplifting arts, culture and spirituality.
Smt. Vijayalakshmi is fighting to sensitise people through her thematic festivals. Everyone treads a different path in life, and every deed, done truthfully brings you closer to dharma. However, it is every Hindus duty to support the ones, who, against all odds, choose to tread the path of preserving our cultural heritage. It is perhaps our duty, to make their fight a little easier.
Indic Activists through the Indic Academy has donated Rs. One Lakh towards this year’s Gudiya Sambhrama. Typically, the Festival budget is around Rs. 15-17 Lakhs which is met with from sponsorships and donations. The Heritage Trust has followed a principle of not taking Corporate sponsorships which expect product display and other mentions by way of sponsorships to maintain the divinity of arts and culture. This year’s program with addition of Bhagvaata Saptaha has increased the budget requirements to Rs. 27.8 Lakhs.
GUDIYA SAMBHRAMA 2018 BUDGET DETAILS ESTIMATED BUDGET
Indic Activists appeal to you to donate and participate in this Temple Festival and make it enduring and memorable event.
Pleas find below bank details for HERITAGE PARAMPARA
NAME OF ACCOUNT : HERITAGE PARAMPARA
NAME OF BANK : STATE BANK OF INDIA
TYPE OF A/C : CURRENT ACCOUNT
ACCOUNT NO : 37475950196
IFSC CODE : SBIN0003357
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