This Margazhi, the bhajan tradition spreads beyond Chennai’s Mylapore

Chennai's Margazhi season is full of veedhi bhajans, kolams and Carnatic music. This year, the veedhi bhajan tradition spreads to other parts of Chennai, beyond Mylapore.

Like clockwork, Chennai’s Mylapore wakes up to hymns and bhajans every Margazhi. Even as kolams adorn the entrances of most households, many bhajan groups trot around the four Mada streets, singing along the way.

This annual feature kickstarts early in the morning as many singing groups hit the streets. Carnatic vocalist Saketharaman, who created a splash last year by leading a veedhi (street)bhajan group with his students, led a group this year too.

This time, the children — mostfrom his Kala Siksha musical school — dressed up as characters from The Ramayana, enacting various tales from the epic in short skits, interspersed with Carnatic songs. “This gives the children and audiences a peek into our culture and music,” says the musician. “In turn, when they attend concerts during the music season, they take notes about the compositions, ragas and the composers behind it. It instils curiosity and helps them learn more about our traditions.”

This, in turn, also gets more people interested in the December music season and sabha-hopping. “The biggest difference between a kutcheri and a veedhi bhajan is that the latter is participative. A lot of people sing impromptu and express themselves,” says Saketharaman.

While the veedhi bhajan tradition is more than 500 years old, having been established by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, a Vaishnavite saint, it continues to be in vogue during Margazhi. It remains largely restricted to the older generation and the neighbourhoods near Mylapore.

This year, Saketharaman hopes to take it to the younger generation in other parts of the city. For the next few weeks, every Sunday morning, he will tour places in the city, including Madambakkam (December 24), Sholinganallur (December 31) and Puzhudivakkam (January 7). “We are looking to popularise this concept and make it an annual feature. We hope to take it to other parts of the city too in forthcoming seasons.”