Chennai Day Tour

On the 20th December 2012, the BNP members and students were fortunate to have a city tour of Chennai. The following places were visited.

Our first stop was the Ekambareshwarar Temple situated in the northern part of Kanchipuram. This is a Hindu Temple dedicated to Lord Shiva and is the largest temple in the town.

It is one of the 5 Shiva Temples representing the 5 elements, the Ekambareshwarar Temple representing the "Earth" element.

Solid Door to the Temple

Legend has it that once Parvati, the consort of Shiva was doing penance under the temple's ancient Mango tree near Vegavathi river.^[3] In order to test her devotion Shiva sent fire on her. Goddess Parvati prayed to her brother, Vishnu, for help. In order to save her, he took the Moon from Shiva's head and showed the rays which then cooled down the tree as well as Parvati. Shiva again sent the river Ganga (Ganges) to disrupt Parvati's penance. Parvati prayed to Ganga and convinced her that both of them were sisters and so should not harm her. Subsequently, Ganga did not disturb her penance and Parvati made a Shiva Linga out of sand to get united with Shiva. The God here came to be known as Ekambareswarar or "Lord of Mango Tree". 

(Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ekambareswarar_Temple)

The Temple was not only stunning on the outside, but on the inside too. We all were stunned by the amazing 6th Century Detail of the temple namely, the perfect spacing and precise engravings.

Dravidian Structure

Wishing Well within the Temple

Temple Nandi - Shiva's Sacred Vehicle

This temple is considered very auspicious for married couples. Legend has it , that if a married couple circles the sacred mango tree, they would be together/united forever.

Most people wish to be married at this temple and some couples come here to renew their vows, like the couple below celebrating 50 years of marriage.

While circling the temple we suddenly heard music!

Loud , Vibrant Music!

We were under the impression that a Bhajan group may be rendering a service to the temple. Much to our surprise we found the two men below playing drums. Here too we were in such awe about the acoustics of this 6th Century Temple.

If there is any form of music being played anywhere in this temple, it will echo throughout so that all worshipers can enjoy it. 

Any temple visited in India will always have the presence of cows/bulls/calf's.

This little one was not afraid of us, in fact he was waiting for us to pet him :)

A few of the BNP members at the temple.

**CHENNAI PERFORMANCES**

Chrompet is a town situated south of Chennai. It is home to the famous Madras Institute of Technology where former President of India and Tamil writer Sujatha studied. 
This towns acquired its unique name from the Chrome Leather it previously manufactured along with a combination of "Pettai" which means town in Tamil, it was Christened "Chrompet".
The BNP students were extremely privileged and honored to perform in TWO amazing temples situated in Chrompet.

The First Concert was held at the Vasantha Mandapam Temple on the 22 December 2012

On the way to the First Concert in Chrompet*

The Audience :

A Very Talented Young Man that performed before us :

 BNP Junior Group :

Students that Performed in no specific order:

Huven and Tiashen Moodley

Jasmika and Javanya Naidoo

Kiaran Chetty

Derushan Sukdev

Preann Naiker

Youvani Naidoo

BNP Senior Students

Students that Performed in no specific order:

Priya Naik

Divashni Naidoo

Lyankha Pillay

Darshan Naidoo

Rehshivan Naidoo

Lurika and Merushka Chetty

Short Tamil Greeting and Thank you Speech by Lurika Chettty :

Advert  of our Second Concert that was made and given out to the people of Chrompet:

 The Second Concert was held at the Kumaran Kundram temple on the 24 December 2012

On the way to the temple: 

On Arrival we caught the tail end of a weekly recital of the ancient scriptures done by some of the regular members of the temple.

The introduction of our concert done by a very fluent Tamil Speaker as well as one of our BNP Members Vinotha Sukdev :

The students who performed in no specific order:

Kiaran Chetty

Jasmika Naidoo

Merushka Chetty

Javanya Naidoo

Preann Naiker

Lyankha Pillay

Derushan Sukdev

Darshan Naidoo

Divashni Naidoo

Lurika Chetty

Speech given on behalf of the temple

All students were awarded with certificates for their participation.

In no particular order:

Merushka Chetty

Lyankha Pillay

Lurika Chetty

Darshan Naidoo

Javanya Naidoo

Jasmika Naidoo

Tiashen Moodley

Derushan Sukdev

Priya Naik

Divashni Naidoo

Kiaran Chetty

Huven Moodley

Preann Naiker

An Australian Student who played for the first time in public since his lessons there

Our Guru Being honored for all his efforts towards music

BNP India Tour Group 2012

BNP would like to place on record our Heartfelt Thanks to Mr Suryanarain for all his efforts in making BOTH the Chennai Concerts such a success - Mikka Nandri :)