Vandanamu Raghunandana by Darshini Ajithkumar on 07/20/2024 @Sri Guruvaayoorappan Temple, NJ

A Keerthanam is an item composed for glorifying Gods. It's composed in a medium tempo mostly in simple and light ragas. It's more of an abhinaya oriented item except that unlike in Padams, simple jathis can be included here. The sthayi bhava in a Keerthanam is bhakti or devotion to God.
Darshini describes Lord Rama and his valor with Vandanam devotion as the name of the song also denotes it.
In this song, while there are many kings who are eagerly waiting to win Sita in the swayamvara underestimating the task of lifting the bow, Rama does Vandanam to his Gurus first, Vandanam to the bow , Vandanam to the audience and then lifts it easily! He thus models us how one should bow down to elders always ! This is an integral part of the Indian culture showing obeisance to Gurus.The song also describes Jatayu and Sabari who pays Vandanam to Rama! Needless to say to such Lord Rama, we should all do our Vandanam!
One could see the over confident kings who considered themselves strong and superior , who did not have any humility fail miserably in lifting the bow while Lord Rama with all his humbleness doing Vandanam to his Gurus is able to lift the bow due to their blessings! The swayamvara scene was depicted hilariously and we could feel the pain of Jatayu through Darshini’s depiction!
Orchestra
Nattuvangam: Guru Vid. Smt. Bhargavi Seshadri
Vocal: Smt. Manjula Ramachandran
Violin: Smt. Radhika Devrajan
Flute: Smt. Varshini Narayanan
Mridangam: Chi. Jishnu Subramaniyan
Chande: Sri. Prem Ramachandran
Morsing: Sri. Srirangaram Seshadri
Credits
MC: Smt. Narayany Iyer
Makeup: Traditions Beauty Studio (Smt. Kamini Vijay & Smt. Suparna Ray-Iyengar)
Venue: Sri Guruvaayoorappan Temple, NJ
Decoration: Hueharmonyevents LLC, NJ (Smt. Deepa.G)
Video/Photos/Photoshoot: Fotolaya, NJ (Sri. Sam & Sri. Ila)

[@SudiptaAkhter]

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