The C.P. Ramaswami Aiyar Foundation (CPRAF) celebrates The Ramayana with The Ramayana Festival . On February 1, the books Valmiki Ramayana, The Setu And Rameshwaram and Sourashtra Sangeeta Ramayanam (five volumes) will be released. At 6 p.m., catch a Carnatic music concert by Sumathi Krishnan, who will narrate The Ramayana through the compositions of various artists. The same day and the next, a conference The Ramayana In Society, Literature And The Arts will be held, in which scholars from India and abroad will participate. There will also be presentations of the various sites associated with The Ramayana in Sri Lanka.
At 6 p.m. on February 2, watch Sanskrit drama Jatayu Moksham and a bharathanatyam dance recital Bhavayaami Raghuramam by the students of The Grove School. At 10.30 a.m. on February 9, there will be a lec-dem by Anita Ratnam, A Million Sitas ; same time on February 16, a puppet show with Marionettes (string puppets) on Sita Kalyanam by Sri Murugan Sangeeta Bommalatta Sabha, Kumbakonam; on February 23 same time, Harikatha of Arunachala Kavirayar’s Ramanatakam by Prameela Gurumurthy and group.
From February 1 to 24, an exhibition of The Ramayana in miniature paintings, oleographs and in the sculptures of India and South East Asia will be conducted. Apart from this, there will be a map of India with Rama’s route from Ayodhya to Lanka, and all the events that happened along the way, depicted through clay dolls. These include scenes such as the construction of the Rama Setu (bridge) and the burning of Lanka.
The C. P. R. Environmental Education Centre will hold the exhibition Plants Of The Ramayana , as described by Valmiki.
The festival will be held from February 1 to 24 at the C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar Foundation, No. 1, Eldams Road, Alwarpet. For details, call 2434-1778.
