Hosur is a small industrial town near Bangalore. Everyone still have a confusion of whether it is part of tamil nadu or Andhra pradesh or Karnataka. It is in Tamil Nadu, but you can find traces of many cultures in that town. I’m Hosurite. I love Hosur as it was the place I lived from birth until 17. My parents still live there. So I love going there to spend time with them. I also love to go there to see radha Kalaynam. The memories of the radha kalyanam is still bright and evergreen in my heart.
Radha Kalyanam alias lord krishna’s Marriage function, is not just a ceremony but like a big festival for Hosurites. When you think of a marriage for a son or daughter what ever comes across your mind, everything will be there in this function also. The main tradition of radha kalyanam is singing of ASHTAPATHI. Ashtapathi is a sequence of 24 songs written by Jayadevar for lord krishna. In his songs he would have mentioned about 9 avatars of Lord Vishnu, Krishna’s stories, krishna’s marriage etc.. You can never stop listening to Ashtapathi. It is also said that when we sing Ashtapathi, Lord krishna will come there directly to listen to us singing about him.
Radha Kalyanam starts with UNJUVARTHI , where people will come singing Bhajans praising Krishna and we can donate them with rice or money or what ever is feasible. Then they will fix the date of the marrige, which will usually fall on the last Sunday of December. It will most probably come along with Christmas holidays. It is a three day function ( Friday, Saturday and Sunday).
On Friday they will start singing the Ashtapathi and it will go on until 3 or 4 Ashtapathis. Bhagavadhas ( The pundits who will have very strong foundation of classical music and have to the ability of sing the bhajans, Ashtapathis, abhang) will also sing small bhajans praising Lord krishna. Thus the mood of the marriage will start on friday.
On saturday morning Bhagavadhas will continue singing Ashtapathis , thillanas and bhajans until afternoon. In the evening there will be a traditional welcoming ceremony of Krishna and Radha. Krishna , the bride groom will be brought from one place and Radha, the bride will be brought from another place. You can never stop looking at the idols decorated like new couples with lots of Garlands and jewels.
Once when the krishna and radha idols are brought. Two persons would carry each of the idol. Then the procession will start towards Lord Ganesha temple at Bagalur Hudco. on the way they will sing and dance for the dholakh beats. They will also form big circle around the idols and keep on dancing, with the rythm changing from fast to slow and viceversa. After reaching temple, they will get wishes from Lord ganesha and reach the mandapam or the place where the marriage is going to be held.
After reaching the mandabam, they will sing ‘KANNANE MANI VANNANE VA VA VA, KAARMUGIL VANNANE VA VA VA..‘ This is my favourite song. This song is for welcoming Krishna. After welcoming the new couple , the Garland exchanging event will take place. In this traditional event Krishna and Radha will exchange garlands. During this the persons carrying Krishna and radha will jump in joy . It will look as if their daughter and son is getting married. They will also boost the spirit of the by standers. You cannot even find a single person standing there without shaking their head. I will be almost in the state of dancing, controlling my senses. But you can dance , no one will stop, it is afterall our Krisha and radha getting married.
After this event , there will be Katha Kalatchepam. This means there will a scholared person who will narrate stories about Lord Krishna. They will sometimes tell stories about young Krisha and his naughtiness with proper quotations from Narayaneeyam, Bhagavadham, Mahabharatham, ramayanam etc. You can sit all day long to hear such stories. Sometimes they will also tell stories about different avatars of vishnu. The way he narrates drags us into the world of krishna and rama.
After this there will Divaya Nama Sankeerthanam, in which all the bagavadhas will dance by shouting ‘Radhe Krishna!! Radhe Krishna!!’. They will also be dancing for the bajans. They will form a circle with the lamp in center. You can see the circle moving in and out , running faster and faster. I was always amazed by the way they dance. The energy they got, just by chanting Radhe krishna, they become more and more energetic. This will continue for 3 hours in the night.
The next day will begin so early, as our beautiful God and Goddess are going to get married. They will start with the left over Ahstapathis, bhajans, abhangs. Then the formalities will start to begin, Nischithartham, Kotnotsavam (Muthukkuthal), Varaprekshana, Kanyaka Dhanam, Panigrahanam. They will also sing the kalayana ashtapathi ( Radha vadhana vilochana ), one of my favourite ashtapathis. After this the Mangalya dharanam will occur where they will tie yellow thread or the mangal sutra to radha. Everyone will be happy after the marriage.
With the happy ‘”Anandham Aanamdham” song in the background , there will be flower balls jumping among the crowd. The chocolates will be thrown across the crowd. you can see 1000′s of people waiting to see the event. After this,there will be my most favourite event. Bhagavadhar will shout ‘Radhe krishna’ and he will ask us to repeat. When we do it slowly , he will raise his voice to make us shout more and more. When all of us shout together ‘Radhe Krishna!! Radhe Krishna!!’, it will sound like thunder. The entire crowd will lift their hands above their heads and shout ‘Radhe krishna!! Rahde Krisha!!’ , the sound of it will definitely reach heaven and will call all the other gods to this function.
The Bhagavadhar will then sing abhang to pray the god. I still remember, once after the marriage, one of the bhagavadhar sang about lord krishna in kannada. The meaning goes like this ”I have done all my best to keep you happy, I have done all my best to give all the things you need, I have done my best to think about you all day long, I have done my best to greet you with happy face, I have done my best to not to torture by telling my sufferings, I have done all the best in my life for you and i dont need anything from you except your sight on me” , I could not give the full essence of the song, but believe me everyone had tears in their eyes.
After the marrige, almost half of the hosur will have their lunch there. The trustees will greet everyone happily and treat everyone equally. After coming back from radha kalyanam I will hear the bhajans, Namavali ( names of God and Goddess), ashtapathi in my ears.
It was always a rejuvenating experience. I always feel that my mind went for a wash after I came back. It was always a good experience to be there. Whatever I have written is just 1% of what I feel. I could not bring in the entire episode of the happenings there. When I write this blog I can see the young bhagavadhas jumping up and down , singing, dancing , praising panduranga, with their full energy focused on one divine God, Krishna. Radhe Krishna!!!
Radha Kalyanam alias lord krishna’s Marriage function, is not just a ceremony but like a big festival for Hosurites. When you think of a marriage for a son or daughter what ever comes across your mind, everything will be there in this function also. The main tradition of radha kalyanam is singing of ASHTAPATHI. Ashtapathi is a sequence of 24 songs written by Jayadevar for lord krishna. In his songs he would have mentioned about 9 avatars of Lord Vishnu, Krishna’s stories, krishna’s marriage etc.. You can never stop listening to Ashtapathi. It is also said that when we sing Ashtapathi, Lord krishna will come there directly to listen to us singing about him.
Radha Kalyanam starts with UNJUVARTHI , where people will come singing Bhajans praising Krishna and we can donate them with rice or money or what ever is feasible. Then they will fix the date of the marrige, which will usually fall on the last Sunday of December. It will most probably come along with Christmas holidays. It is a three day function ( Friday, Saturday and Sunday).
On Friday they will start singing the Ashtapathi and it will go on until 3 or 4 Ashtapathis. Bhagavadhas ( The pundits who will have very strong foundation of classical music and have to the ability of sing the bhajans, Ashtapathis, abhang) will also sing small bhajans praising Lord krishna. Thus the mood of the marriage will start on friday.
On saturday morning Bhagavadhas will continue singing Ashtapathis , thillanas and bhajans until afternoon. In the evening there will be a traditional welcoming ceremony of Krishna and Radha. Krishna , the bride groom will be brought from one place and Radha, the bride will be brought from another place. You can never stop looking at the idols decorated like new couples with lots of Garlands and jewels.
Once when the krishna and radha idols are brought. Two persons would carry each of the idol. Then the procession will start towards Lord Ganesha temple at Bagalur Hudco. on the way they will sing and dance for the dholakh beats. They will also form big circle around the idols and keep on dancing, with the rythm changing from fast to slow and viceversa. After reaching temple, they will get wishes from Lord ganesha and reach the mandapam or the place where the marriage is going to be held.
After reaching the mandabam, they will sing ‘KANNANE MANI VANNANE VA VA VA, KAARMUGIL VANNANE VA VA VA..‘ This is my favourite song. This song is for welcoming Krishna. After welcoming the new couple , the Garland exchanging event will take place. In this traditional event Krishna and Radha will exchange garlands. During this the persons carrying Krishna and radha will jump in joy . It will look as if their daughter and son is getting married. They will also boost the spirit of the by standers. You cannot even find a single person standing there without shaking their head. I will be almost in the state of dancing, controlling my senses. But you can dance , no one will stop, it is afterall our Krisha and radha getting married.
After this event , there will be Katha Kalatchepam. This means there will a scholared person who will narrate stories about Lord Krishna. They will sometimes tell stories about young Krisha and his naughtiness with proper quotations from Narayaneeyam, Bhagavadham, Mahabharatham, ramayanam etc. You can sit all day long to hear such stories. Sometimes they will also tell stories about different avatars of vishnu. The way he narrates drags us into the world of krishna and rama.
After this there will Divaya Nama Sankeerthanam, in which all the bagavadhas will dance by shouting ‘Radhe Krishna!! Radhe Krishna!!’. They will also be dancing for the bajans. They will form a circle with the lamp in center. You can see the circle moving in and out , running faster and faster. I was always amazed by the way they dance. The energy they got, just by chanting Radhe krishna, they become more and more energetic. This will continue for 3 hours in the night.
The next day will begin so early, as our beautiful God and Goddess are going to get married. They will start with the left over Ahstapathis, bhajans, abhangs. Then the formalities will start to begin, Nischithartham, Kotnotsavam (Muthukkuthal), Varaprekshana, Kanyaka Dhanam, Panigrahanam. They will also sing the kalayana ashtapathi ( Radha vadhana vilochana ), one of my favourite ashtapathis. After this the Mangalya dharanam will occur where they will tie yellow thread or the mangal sutra to radha. Everyone will be happy after the marriage.
With the happy ‘”Anandham Aanamdham” song in the background , there will be flower balls jumping among the crowd. The chocolates will be thrown across the crowd. you can see 1000′s of people waiting to see the event. After this,there will be my most favourite event. Bhagavadhar will shout ‘Radhe krishna’ and he will ask us to repeat. When we do it slowly , he will raise his voice to make us shout more and more. When all of us shout together ‘Radhe Krishna!! Radhe Krishna!!’, it will sound like thunder. The entire crowd will lift their hands above their heads and shout ‘Radhe krishna!! Rahde Krisha!!’ , the sound of it will definitely reach heaven and will call all the other gods to this function.
The Bhagavadhar will then sing abhang to pray the god. I still remember, once after the marriage, one of the bhagavadhar sang about lord krishna in kannada. The meaning goes like this ”I have done all my best to keep you happy, I have done all my best to give all the things you need, I have done my best to think about you all day long, I have done my best to greet you with happy face, I have done my best to not to torture by telling my sufferings, I have done all the best in my life for you and i dont need anything from you except your sight on me” , I could not give the full essence of the song, but believe me everyone had tears in their eyes.
After the marrige, almost half of the hosur will have their lunch there. The trustees will greet everyone happily and treat everyone equally. After coming back from radha kalyanam I will hear the bhajans, Namavali ( names of God and Goddess), ashtapathi in my ears.
It was always a rejuvenating experience. I always feel that my mind went for a wash after I came back. It was always a good experience to be there. Whatever I have written is just 1% of what I feel. I could not bring in the entire episode of the happenings there. When I write this blog I can see the young bhagavadhas jumping up and down , singing, dancing , praising panduranga, with their full energy focused on one divine God, Krishna. Radhe Krishna!!!
22.00 Thrissur (AC)