“Kramapati”, “Ghanapati”, “Somayaji” and “Vajapayee” are some of the highest degrees in Vedic education and those who have achieved them will be honoured by adding the tag to their name. Delta areas in East and West Godavari districts are not only popular for paddy production, but also for the rich Vedic tradition for more than 500 years.
The Vedic scholars settled down mostly in Agraharams (specially designed lanes) like Peruru in Amalapuram rural mandal, Nandampudi, Vyaghreswaram, Vakkalanka, Gangalakurru and Tondavaram villages in Ambajipeta mandal of Konaseema region in East Godavari and the most popular village Iragavaram in West Godavari. Ganti Lakshmana Somayajulu, Ganti Purushothama Somayajulu, Nemani Somasekhara Avadhanulu and Nemani Jwala Narasimha Avadhanulu are popular in Peruru and Amabjipeta mandals.
According to Nemani Sriramachandra Murthy, Head of HDFC Bank, Raichur, many of their families have settled in Nagpur, Mumbai and Chennai about two generations ago for livelihood, particularly in Railways, though they had learnt conducting Yagnas and Homams and were well-versed in Vedic sastras.
This happened in the 1950s and then in my generation youngsters started going to Bengaluru and Chennai for software jobs as Vedic rituals would not earn bread and butter, he added.
“But, there was a sea change since the last one decade as the youngsters started looking back to their roots. They are coming to Agraharams. Every year during the summer they are coming with families and spending almost a month here to learn daily rituals like ‘Sandhya Vandanam’ from their grandfathers,” Mr. Murthy added. Pidaparthi Sivarama Sarma of Sri Dattatreya Veda Vidya Gurukulam, Rajamahendravaram, said though the youth were getting attracted to Vedic culture and learning rituals, many scholars were not encouraging them to enter their own profession or learn the Vedas.
Dr. Gullapalli Dattatreya Ghanapati, who had done research in Vedic literature and head of the Gurukulam, said once the number of institutions went up, the next generations would automatically carry the torch of the Vedas to the masses.
Like Bharata Natyam and Kuchipudi, the young generation of the Agraharams wants to preserve the Vedic culture in these districts, says Nukala Bapanna Somayajulu.
Maha Mahopadhyaya and Vedic adviser to Sringeri Peetam Sri Sri Viswanatha Gopalakrishna said the East and West Godavari districts were the only places which would continue to produce hundreds and thousands of Vedic scholars.
