A visit to Shivaji
Agraharam, Krishnagiri.
Shivaji Agraharam
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शिवाजी
अग्रहारम
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Two Sundays back (22-07-2018) we had a darshan of Pandurang Vittal in Krishnagiri. An
unforgettable experience. The temple is located about three kilometers from
Krishnagiri in a village called Shivaji Agraharam. Along with Pandurang
Vittal, Rukmini's vigraha is also consecrated at that temple. A little away,
at a distance of three or four minutes’ walk, in the same village, there is a
separate temple of Thuljapur Amba Bhavani, set amidst sprawling grounds with
groves of fruit trees, coconut trees and flower plants.
A tranquil atmosphere.
On
the day of our visit preparations were afoot for the grand Ashada festival
for Vittal. As we drove through the meandering road along paddy fields
towards the village, we could hear abhangs and kirtans in Marathi being
played over the sound-systems.
The
whole village was white washed and bore a festive look. The temple gopura, a
miniature version of the gopura of the Vittal temple in Pandharpur was being
decorated with festoons and flowers.
We
were told that the festival is for seven days, starting on Ashada Ekadasi.
The high-point of the festival is the Vittal-Rukmini Vivaha in the morning of
the sixth day followed by a procession around the village and its
neighborhood in the evening. On other days there would be the usual pujas and
cultural programmes associated with such annual temple festivals. All natives
of the village now staying elsewhere, including foreign lands, were expected
to arrive in a day or two.
The
regular daily pujas in the temples in Shivaji Agraharam are performed by a
family of Iyer purohits who have been provided with a residence in the
village.
The
village has thirty households with a population of 150. All are Maratha
Kshatriyas. There is no other community in that village, other than the family of the Tamil priest. The head of the
village, Shri. Janardhan Rao told us that there are 150 such Maratha
Kshatriya villages in Krishnagiri District with a total population of around
50,000. They are the descendants of the soldiers who came down South 300 to
400 years back.
We
were made to feel most welcome in the house of Shri. Jaradhan Rao, a retired
Tahshildar. Over refreshments procured from a Brahmin household from a nearby
village specially for us, we were told that all children and youngsters know
how to read and write Marathi. They all speak Kshatriya Marathi (KM) of
South, which sounds very similar to our DM. The abhangs and kirtans sung at the
temples were in KM and aroused in us spiritual feelings and fervor of a
sublime nature.
We
were told that sometime back these abhangs and kirtans (eighty in all) were
taught to them by a Telugu Pandit. The original Telugu scripts of these
Marathi abhangs are now written in Devnagari or Tamil scripts in Shivaji
Agraharam. Many ladies and gents sing them regularly at the appropriate
occasions.
Every
year the children are sent to month long religous camps conducted in
different towns in Tamil Nadu, where they are taught to read and recite
Jnaneshwari and other religious works in Marathi. The children of the new
generation seemed to be very comfortable with their KM because of such
exposure.
Hearing
all these left me wondering why and how we DMs neglected our language. What
happened ? Why was it that we, who pride ourselves as "upper-class"
and well educated left our children with a degenerated language ? Can't we
learn from the children of Shivaji Agraharam how to revive and feel proud of
our mother language?
Time
alone will tell. Or will it ?
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गेल॑ अयितवाराच॑ पुढेच अयितवार, म्हणजे 22-07-2018 अम्ही पांडुरंग विठ्ठलाच दर्शन कराला कृष्णगिरीला गेलों. विसराला होईनात॑ अनुभव. कृष्णगिरींत्सून तीन किलोमीटर दूर असाच शिवाजी अग्रहारम म्हणाच खेडेंत॑
आहे हे देऊळ. पांडुरंग विठ्ठलाच समेत रुक्मिणीच विग्रह
पणीन प्रतिष्ठापना झालाहे हे देऊळांत॑. हे सोडून (विना) नंखर दूर, म्हणजे तेच
खेडेंत॑ तीन चार निमिष चालाच दूरांत॑, तुलजापूर अंबा
भवानीच देऊळ पणीन आहे. नारळीझाडाच॑, विध-विध फळ-वृक्षाच॑, तसेच फूल
झुडूपाच विशाल जमीनाच मध्ये आहे हे देऊळ. प्रशांत वातावरण.
गांवाच
सगळ॑ घरीं चुणा-रंग लावून उत्सवाच तय्यारींत असाच॑
पाह्यलों. देऊळाच गोपुर तोरण अणी फूलेच अलंकारांत होत॑.
पंढरपुराच विठ्ठळ-रुक्मिणी मंदिराच गोपुराच
एक ल्हान मातृकाविणी होत॑ इकडल॑ गोपुर॑.
शिवाजी
अग्रहारमांत असाच देऊळांत॑ दिवसास्क देवपूजा कराला एक अरव॑ अय्यर पुरोहिताच
कुटुंब आहे. राह्याला त्यांस तिकडेच एक घर देलाहेत॑.
तहसीलदारविणी
उद्योगनिवृत्त (retire) झालत॑ श्री जनार्दनराव ह्यांच
घरांत स्वागत-सत्कार करून अम्हाला फार आदर करले. स्वस्थ अणी संतोष वाटल॑. अम्हाला म्हणून शेजारल॑
गांवांत्सून एक ब्राह्मण लोकांच घरांतून आणिवलत॑ पल्हार खात असताना तेनी
सांगिटले, गांवांतल॑ सगळ॑ लेंकरांसीन युव लोकांसीन मराठी
वाचालीन लिव्हालीन कळेल म्हणून. तेनी बोलाच दक्षिणाच
क्षत्रीय मरठी जवळ-जवळ अमच॑ दक्षिणी मराठीस्क॑ असत॑ ऐकाला.
त्यंच अभंग अणी कीर्तन क्षत्रीय मराठींत॑ (KM) होत॑ अणी ते ऐकून अम्हाला वाटलत॑ भक्तिरस अणी पवित्र भावना एक फार शुद्ध
अनुभवास्क होत॑.
थोड
वर्षाच पुढे एक तेलुगू पंडित सुमार ऐंशी अभंग अणी कीर्तन त्यांस शिकिवून देले
म्हणतात. मराठी भाषाच हे मूल ग्रंथ तेलोगू लिपींत
होत॑ अणी इकडे आल्याव॑र तमिल अणी मराठी लिपींत पुनर्लेख करले. भरून महिला अणी
दादिगे हे सगळीन वेळानुकूल बरोर सांगतात म्हणूनहीं ऐकलों.
वर्षा-वर्षी
तमिलनाडूच वेगळ॑ वेगळ॑ पट्णांत चालिवाच शिबिराला लेंकरांस पाठिवून ज्ञानेश्वरी
अणी दुसर॑ ग्रंथ वाचाला शिकिवून तोंडपाठाच (reciting) अभ्यास
करिवतात॑. हेजमळे क्षत्रीय मराठी भाषाच परिचय हे नव॑ पिढीच लेंकरांस बरोरल॑
विधान आहे.
हे
अग्गीन ऐकून मी योचना केलों, कां कस॑ अम्ही अमच॑
भाषाला एवढ॑ अवगणना करलों ? काय झाल॑ ? "व॑रच वर्गाच
लोक॑" म्हणून अपाप सांगीगाच अम्ही, तसेच चोखोट
विद्याभ्यास असाच अम्ही, अमच॑ लेकरांस असलत॑ अपभ्रंश भाषा
कां द्यांवत॑ पडल॑ ? अमच॑ भाषाला कस॑ सुधारिवणे अणी कस॑
अमच॑ मायभाषाच व॑र अभिमान वाढिवणे, हे सगळीन शिवाजी
अग्रहाराच लेंकरांकडून शिकाला होईना का ?
हेज
उत्तर भविष्यांत मिळेलकी, नाहीकी. कोणाला कळेल॑.
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