VSK TN
Tamil writer Joe D Cruz heads Uttar Tamilnadu Samskrita Bharati
A galaxy of public figures, drawn from every conceivable walk of life, spoke from the Samskrita Bharati platform calling for bringing back Samskritam into the lives of Tamils. It was the 3 day ‘Samskritam for Samanya’ Maha Sammelanam held in Chennai on September 11, 12 and 13. Here are a few sample voices: Meghalaya Governor Shri V Shanmuganathan said, Tamils should learn Samskritam because Samskritam is spread all over the country; also, he said, Samskritam enriches Tamil and protects it. Former ISRO Chairman Radhakrishnan said he was sad that, while the world celebrates Bharat’s Gnana parampara, we make the mistake of neglecting our own Gnana parampara by keeping out Samskritam. Central Minister Pon Radhakrishnan compared Tamil and Samskritam to two brothers in a family having a symbiotic relationship and thus benefitting mutually. Swami Vrimukthananda of Ramakrishna Mutt had a word of praise for families of Samskrita Bharati in which children converse in Samskritam with absolute ease. Tamil novelist and Sahitya Academy awardee, Joe D’Cruz (a representative of the fishermen community), very emphatically called for revival of Samskritam studies. Incidentally, Joe D’Cruz is the President of Samskrita Bharati of Uttar Tamilnadu.
Discipline sought to be instilled along Hindu resurgence
No doubt, the thousands of Ganesh Chathurthi Visarjan processions all over Tamilnadu for the last three decades have instilled in Tamil Hindus fearlessness and a readiness to participate in social consolidation. Year by year, the size of these processions organized, by Hindu Munnani, has been increasing. That called for the need to emphasize discipline in such processions. With that purpose in mind, batches of Ganesh Chathurthi committee activists observed a vrat for ten days prior to Ganesh Chathurthi and vowed to maintain decorum befitting the grand Hindu awakening. This has added a number of pious side-shows like the Puja to 108 cows on the streets of Triplicane, where the chief Ganesh Chathurthi Committee is located. Of course, Hindus faced pinpricks in conducting Ganesh Visarjan programme in Yervadi, Tirunelveli district, where the police in their wisdom ‘arrested’ the idol of Ganesh to prevent the peaceful procession. The Committee members led by District Hindu Munnani President Pal Mariappan swung into action and staged protest demonstration inside village temple for three days which brought the district administration to his knees and the Visarajan was held in all gaiety with piety.
Save sanctity of temples: ABGP demands
Shri Vivekanandan, Supreme Court lawyer and an activist of ABGP Tamilnadu, handed over a petition in New Delhi on September 5 to the Union I & B Deputy Minister Rajvardhan Singh Rathore demanding a ban on cinema shootings of love sequences and song sequences in Hindu temple premises much to the inconvenience of devotees. The ban, the petition said, would help the temples, which are centers of culture, could be preserved in their pristine form. Incidentally, the Government of Tamilnadu announced that criminal procedure will entail if instances of film shooting come to the knowledge the Hindu Religious Charitable & Endowments Board. The Rathore, sources say, expressed his wish that positive content should increasingly be injected in TV Talk shows.