Thiruthai sempothe (Periya thirumozhi; Thirumangai azhwar) - Devaganam

contact azhwardevaganam@gmail.com for classes..

Thiruthai sempothe (Periya thirumozhi of Thirumangai azhwar; Second thousand; 10th centum; 10th decad). Video with clippings of our devagana kainkaryam at various divyadesams and at our STD pathasala.

Sri:
Srimate Ramanujaya Nama:
Devaganam refers to music that glorifies Lord Sriman Narayana. In the Srivaishnava tradition, technically the term Devaganam refers to the practice of singing the divyaprabandam of azhwars in the tunes set by Sriman Nathamuni. Over time, the musical element of divyaprabandam as set by Sriman Nathamuni was lost and what remains is only the theatrical elements, as practiced by the araiyars.

Guru Srirama Bharati along with his deviyaar Sowbhagyalakshmi set to tune the entire isappa of 4000 divyaprabandam to revive the tradition of singing divyaprabandam with music a.k.a Devaganam. To this end, he also established STD Pathasala and raised a temple of learning at Pallikkaranai, Chennai, where innumerable interested souls have experienced the joy ofsinging arulicheyals. Guru Sowbhagyalakshmi has been running the pathasala for close to 20 years now and is a source of inexplicable inspiration to take up a life of kainkaryam and devaganam.

To expand the learning further, online classes are being conducted for the last 6 years for anyone interested in divyaprabandam. The preference is anyone within the age group of 15 to 35, with a basic musical sense (not necessarily carnatic trained) and a basic comfort level with tamil. In addition to learning online, we travel to various divyadesams through the year and perform devagana kainkaryam for the Lord. We learn the pasurams associated with the divyadesam and sing it along with pasurams spread over the isaippa. Please contact azhwardevaganam@gmail.com for further details. The dream of STD Pathasala and its shishyas is to make devaganam a standard practice in temples, at least in divyakshetrams which has obtained mangalaasaasanam from azhwars.

This recording was performed by a group of shishyas based out of the USA in the summer of 2013. Vocal: Sriramkumar Nandakumar, Pavithra Sampath, Shruthi Parthasarthy Kovil Kandhadai Appan, Ranga Padmanabhan, Geetha, Supraja Sridharan, and Supraja Raman. Veena: Shri Raghavendra Batni. Mridangam: Shri Srikar Chittari. Pretty Good Studios, Washington DC (Shri Venkatesh Batni; venkatb.96@gmail.com).

Azhwar thiruvadigale saranam