Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
- by Rabindranath Tagore
Rightly written and well absorbed for years, the words are still valued as ever-inspiring and help us break away from the clutches of time and social pressures and lead the mind into the new. Into the NOW.
Mr. Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar of Udaipur delivered an inspiring talk at ‘I Next Generation (NxG) International Convention on Family Business’ focusing on ‘Step Up: Taking the Family Business to the Next Level’ at Taj Exotica, Goa on 26th October 2013. He picked out living examples to bring home the point that the past must not be allowed to bind one’s actions of today. Why belong to a generation when we belong to NOW. True education as he said is new learning. And that must be applied to let yourself wander, explore and experiment. That’s how the new can be created. And the time to do this has never been better. Let’s begin NOW! “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”
Guru Poornima celebrated with the purest form of music in the perfect ambience of Shri Eklingnathji Temple by Eternal Mewar, is growing on people by the year. Those who understand Indian classical music simply close their eyes and drift away. Those who do not, are surprised at themselves responding to the melodies in such harmony. Above all, the vocalists and musicians themselves fall short of words to describe what they felt when they performed at Swaranjali 2013. They cannot thank Shriji Arvind Singh Mewar more for making this possible every year and bringing together the connoisseurs of music on a single platform while creating new ones. A platform that remains to be unique to Mewar and in the world.
Click on the thumbnail below to hear it from them and the prominent faces of the industry, what they found at Swaranjali 2013!
Ms. Vaishali Bakhore, Classical Vocalist, Indore
Shri Ram Kirishna Bose; Sitar, Santoor and Table Player, Udaipur
Mr. Ravindra Mishra - A Free Lancer Classical Critic
Ms. Soma Singh, Classical Vocalist, Delhi
Shri Sudhir Yardi, Harmonium Player, Surat
Shri K.C. Malu, Managing Director, Veena Cassettes
Shri Kaivalya Kumar, Classical Vocalist, Dharwad
The City Palace Museum was delighted to welcome 12 special visitors from Disable Union Organization, Israel. Our guests arrived on wheel chairs and were lifted up the steps to the Mardana Mahal lift by the City Palace staff. Thereafter, each visitor was taken to Mor Chowk.
It gives us a sense of satisfaction to have been able to comfortably and successfully show them around the museum. “Delightfully well maintained and very co-operative staff,” was left for us as a message in the visitor’s book by one of the guests. This visit did not go without leaving us a key take-away. When you think you can is actually when you can! We may have heard this all along, but we guess it sinks in only when we see it. Eternal Mewar looks forward to welcoming our esteemed guests again.
My laptop is placed strategically on the table overlooking the magnificent Lake Pichola. My camera full of treasures from Mewar is plugged into the laptop. A pile of archival paperbacks has made its place on the edge of my table. The coffee maker is brewing fresh coffee and I let the aroma of the beans surround me. I let open the window and let the fresh breeze in and type the first few words of what is soon going to be an intimate, yet openly classic, oral history at the center of which stands the living legend of contemporary Mewar – Shriji Arvind Singh Mewar.
As I gather my thoughts, I can easily tell that after voraciously reading about him, seeing him through people’s eyes, taking an exhaustive tour on the history and culture of Mewar and Shri Ekling Nath ji temple, this is still just a beginning. Only when I began to see Mewar through his eyes while practically living with him for days to see him work like an entrepreneur and retire for the day like a king; cherish the past with extreme fondness while keeping a speculative eye on the future; did I realise that the more I know him the more I wanted to know of him. I also wanted to know from him and those around him the stories and ideas that have given and continue to give life to the first among equals of India’s great royal families and houses.
2nd July, 2013 – The beginning
Though this is certainly not my first visit to Udaipur (that was in 1985), it is the second one that has begun to pull back the curtains of Mewar’s living heritage in ways I scarcely imagined when I first began. Two years in July of 20111 I had the honour of being the first person to have the privilege of creating an exhaustive photographic tour of Shri Ekling Nath ji temple. A detailed report and a collection of thousands of beautiful photographs came out of that tour and are in the process of finding their way to the “Eternal Mewar” website and into several scholarly publications. This trip beginning on June 26 from Charlotte, North Carolina, USA, actually had its birth in a conversation I had with Shriji in March as I accompanied a group of 18 adult students of archaeology who have happily travelled from America to dig deep into the history of Mewar. While on that trip Shrij invited me to spend 30 minutes with him to consider a very special project he has been considering for some time: a project that will be one of the closest to my heart; a project that I will be proud to be remembered for - the book of the past and for the future; yes, the beginnings of a study of Shirji and Mewar as he sees it and as many who have shaped Mewar’s past and are shaping its future. Stay with me as I go along, uncovering the rich past and discovering the new horizons with a man whose ancestors 1400 years ago became the first of the custodians of Shri Eklingji(Siva)and whose commission continues into the 21st century.
About the author
Dr. James Daniel White, Jr. Ph. D. is a Professor of South Asian Studies and Director of Undergraduate Studies, Department of Religious Studies at The University of North Carolina, Charlotte, USA. With an impressive academic background along with an envious professional experience and a prodigious set of publications and more than 60 scholarly researches under his wing, he needs little introduction. To know him better please click here.
Swaranjali 2013 is round the corner. Hindu mythology earmarks ‘Ashad Shukla’, the day of the full moon in the rainy season, as the auspicious day dedicated to The Teacher or Guru. 22nd July 2013 will see Mewar paying a musical tribute to Parmeshwaraji, an incarnation of Lord Shiva, at Shri Eklingji Temple. The temple is located in Kailashpuri, 21 K.M. s away from Udaipur.
What better way than an all-day long musical tribute to celebrate the custodianship of Mewar and the fellowship of Parmeshwaraji. The ceremony will commence with some of the world renowned classical music and vocal artists. The highlights of this ceremony will include:
Dr. Ashish S. Shastri, Ph.D in Music on the Sitar
Son of Shri Sharadbhai Shastri. popular Sitarist from Gujarat, India, Dr. Ashish picked up the sitar from the age of 10. Trained under Pt. Ravi Shankar and constantly risen in the field of music since then, he now has the ‘Gujarat Gaurav Puraskar’ (2007-08), a gold medal in ‘Sangit Alankar’ (M.A in music) and Ph.D examination, severalmemorable performances across the country and innumerable acknowledgements with the one from All India Radio & Television being primary.
Dr. Soma Joshi, Indian Vocalist
A gifted vocalist with a deep sense of aesthetical expression, Dr. Soma is an idol of grace and perfection. Spreading magic of her voice, Soma was initiated to music by Shri Dhiren Sen at Jamshedpur and later trained by Smt. Uma Guha. Later, she became a disciple of renowned Pandit Candrakant Apte, an exponent of Gwalior Gharana.
Today Soma cannot even count the achievements and acknowledgements earned enroute. M.A., M.Phil. and then a Ph.D. from the University of Delhi were earned while she also won a national scholarship from the Indian Government. A regualr artist with All India Radio, her CDs, titled ‘Aarti’, ‘Praatah Sumiran’ and ‘Gayatri Sahastranam’, produced by ‘Isha Music’ company, have been released by ‘Music Today’ company.
Sudhir S. Yardi on the Harmonium
Post-graduated as an engineer and now a teacher at an engineering college, Sudhir has always been equally connected with the world of music. Having chosen the Harmonium as his medium to connect with God from the tender age of 8, he has trained and excelled at it ever since. His musical journey has witnessed innumerable awards and several prestigious musical programmes across the country during which he has also accompanied the who’s who of the world of music. To name a few, Pt.Jasrajji, Sau.Kalpana Zokarkar, Ustad Rashid Khan. Today, Sudhir Yardi is one of the very few artists performing Harmonium Solo.
Ms. Vaishali Bakore
She started training under the tutelage of Shri Madhavrao Joshi and Smt Minakshi Gogte, Later became a disciple of Smt Kalpana Zokarkar of Indore
Shri Kaivaly Kumar Gurav
Pt. Kaivalya Kumar Gurav is the illustrious inheritor of a unique legacy of classical music. It was granted by the legendary Ustad Abdul Karim Khan Saheb to Pandit Ji's Grandfather, Pt. Ganpatrao Gurav and then handed down to his father Pt Sangmeshwar Gurav.
Pt. Kaivalya Kumar Gurav has nurtured it with his extraordinary musical powers and enhanced it with his deep study of the Omkar and the distinct style of music that he has developed. He has been the youngest artist ever to be designated as All India Radio's Top grade artist at the age of 35
Shri Patti Khan
AIR A grade Local artist. Initially trained by father Mohd. Khan Sidva and later became disciple of Ustad Munir Khan