Constant Vigil Of Madurai Villagers Frustrates Conversion Mongers
Ubiquitous is the word. Evangelists descend on village after village. They distribute pamphlets. They promise to pray for the removal of disease, etc. The gullible are trapped. But residents of Paravai, a village near Madurai, were up in arms against the conversion by fraud; they had put a sign board at the entrance of the village: “CONVERSION BANNED HERE”; on July 22 they found that a group of evangelists were taking photos of their kids; they came to know that the group post the pictures on websites under caption “orphans” and thus receive funds from foreign countries. The villagers complained about this to the authorities, but no action was forthcoming. So they hit the roads in strength and laid siege to the Christian prayer hall demanding arrest of the proselytisers. Additional SP Vanitha held talks with the demonstrators and the siege was given up that day. On July 28 they noticed a gathering of Christians in the village. The vigilant villagers sprang into action. Men women and children marched towards the spot. They were informed by the police that it was only a birthday party and that too with court’s permission. The villagers dispersed. But a posse of police was posted in the village.
Western Tamilnadu In The Grip Of Proselytisers
Tamil weekly THUGLAK dated July 31 reports that attempts to convert Hindus are going on in Udumalpet and Kangeyam in Tirupur district in western Tamilnadu endangering the social cohesion. The proselytisers vilify Hindu deities and so Hindu led by Hindu Munnani have filed complaints with respective Tehsildars. One fine morning 50 groups of 10 each fanned out across the streets of Udumalpet distributing Bible. When Hindus confronted them the Christians lied that they had the police permission and began raising Alleluya slogan causing tension in the town. More. Residents of Manickampalayam off Erode laid siege to a government school when it came to their notice that a lady teacher was coercing students to sing Christian songs, the THUGLAK report goes on. Meanwhile, Tamilnadu was shocked to learn from Vinayak Rao Deshpande, the international organising secretary of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, that over 2.25 lakh full timers have been commissioned all over Bharat to convert Hindus. He was recently in Tamilnadu. He also informed that the VHP has brought back over one lakh persons who had converted to other religions. Vinayak Rao Deshpande also revealed that over 1,000 crore Rupees are pumped in for conversion.
2019: Manly But Humane Madurai Somu’s Centenary
From 1930s till close 1980s, for half a century, Carnatic Sangeetha vocalist Madurai Somu was the darling of the lay multitudes of rasikas across Tamilnadu. Born in Madurai 1919 Somasundaram (Somu’s full name) was totally different from Musicians who perform for a fat fee in Sabhas (halls) mainly in urban areas. Even at the peak of his career, Somu preferred to sing in temple festivals that many artists shunned saying it was below their dignity. He considered sangeetham asnadopasana. declared that he will sing only the glory of Muruga (Karthikeya) and Rama (celebrity musicians of Tamilnadu who fall into the trap set by Church and sing on non Hindu subjects, to take note!). The half a dozen songs that he rendered for Tamil films were simply and stunningly devotional. Maruda malai maa maniye murugayya is one such song that Somu was sought after for. Some critics keep shouting against accompaniments in a Katcheri (Carnatic music performance) like Mridangam and violin; they charge that these are noisy and drown the graceful voice of the vocalist. Madurai Somu was too humane to accept this. He was particular in having ghatam, morsing and ganjira in addition to mridangam and violin in his kutcheris. They support the vocalist duing performance and sangeetham supported their livelihood. No noise of any instrument could drown his voice comparable to the lion’s roar. In his youth he was trained in wrestling. His katcheris go on for a minimum of four hours - a physical feat in itself! 2019 is the Centenary year of Madurai Somu - a manly and humane sadhaka of music.
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