Puranas are a vast genre of Hindu literature about a wide range of topics, particularly about legends and other traditional lore. The Puranas are known for the intricate layers of symbolism depicted within their stories. Composed originally in Sanskrit and in other Indian languages, several of these texts are named after major Hindu gods such as Vishnu, Shiva, Brahma, and Adi Shakti. The Puranic genre of literature is found in both Hinduism and Jainism.
Kirtana, also rendered as Kirtan or Keertan, is a Sanskrit word that means "narrating, reciting, telling, describing" of an idea or story, specifically in Indian religions. It also refers to a genre of religious performance arts, connoting a musical form of narration, shared recitation, or devotional singing, particularly of spiritual or religious ideas, native to the Indian subcontinent. A person performing kirtan is known as a kirtankara.
Hindu texts or Hindu scriptures are manuscripts and voluminous historical literature which are related to any of the diverse traditions within Hinduism. Some of the major Hindu texts include the Vedas, the Upanishads, and the Itihasa. Scholars hesitate in defining the term "Hindu scriptures" given the diverse nature of Hinduism, but many list the Agamas as Hindu scriptures, and Dominic Goodall includes Bhagavata Purana and Yajnavalkya Smriti in the list of Hindu scriptures as well.
The Yajurveda is the Veda primarily of prose mantras for worship rituals. An ancient Vedic Sanskrit text, it is a compilation of ritual-offering formulas that were said by a priest while an individual performed ritual actions such as those before the yajna fire. Yajurveda is one of the four Vedas, and one of the scriptures of Hinduism. The exact century of Yajurveda's composition is unknown, and estimated by Witzel to be between 1200 and 800 BCE, contemporaneous with Samaveda and Atharvaveda.
The Bhagavata Purana, also known as the Srimad Bhagavatam, Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana or simply Bhagavata (Bhāgavata), is one of Hinduism's eighteen great Puranas (Mahapuranas). Composed in Sanskrit and traditionally attributed to Veda Vyasa, it promotes bhakti (devotion) towards Krishna, an avatar of Vishnu, integrating themes from the Advaita (monism) philosophy of Adi Shankara, the Vishishtadvaita of Ramanujacharya and the Dvaita (dualism) of Madhvacharya. It is widely available in almost all Indian languages.
Gamaka, also known as kaavya vaachana, is a form of storytelling by singing that originated in Karnataka, India. One person reads a stanza of a poem with highest emphasis on meaning, applying suitable raga or a dhaati, usually matching the emotion of the poem; the song generally has no established rhythm. Another person then explains the meaning of the stanza with examples and anecdotes. Gamaka draws ragas from Kannada folk music, Yakshagana and Carnatic music. The singing itself is called gamaka and the singer a gamaki. The explanation of the rendering is called vyakyana. The emphasis in kaavya vaachana is on literature (Saahithya) and not on music where singer splits, compounds words in poems to make them easier to understand.
Sengalipuram Anantarama Dikshitar was a Śrauti scholar and also was an exponent of the art of upanyasas (discourses) on various subjects in Hinduism. Born in the Thanjavur district as the second son to Subramanya Dikshithar, Anantarama was initiated into the learning of the Vedas under his father Subramanya Dikshithar, the brother of Sengalipuram Vaidhyanatha Dikshithar, also called Periya Muthannaval. Paruthiyur Krishna Sastrigal was the first guru for Anantarama Dikshithar. He first had his akshara abhasya from Krishna Sastri at Muthannavals's gurukulam.
Oothukkaadu Venkata Kavi or Oottukkaadu Venkata Subramanyar was one of the pioneering composers in Indian classical Carnatic music. He lived in South India in the present-day state of Tamil Nadu. Also known by the name Oothukkaadu Venkatasubramaniya Iyer, he composed hundreds of compositions in Sanskrit and Tamil of which over 500 are available. These were handed down from generation to generation by the descendants of the composer's brother's family.
Harikatha, also known as Harikatha Kaalakshepam in Telugu and Tamil, is a form of Hindu traditional discourse in which the storyteller explores a traditional theme, usually the life of a saint or a story from an Indian epic. The person telling the story through songs, music and narration is called a Haridasa.
Burra Katha or Burrakatha, is an oral storytelling technique in the Jangam Katha tradition, performed in villages of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The troupe consists of one main performer and two co-performers. It is a narrative entertainment that consists of prayers, solo drama, dance, songs, poems and jokes. The topic will be either a Hindu mythological story or a contemporary social issue. It became a popular art form during the Telangana Rebellion in the early 1930-1950s.
The Narayaniyam is a medieval-era Sanskrit text, comprising a summary study in poetic form of the Bhagavata Purana. It was composed by Melpathur Narayana Bhattathiri, a celebrated Sanskrit poet of Kerala. Even though the Narayaniyam is believed to be composed as early as 1585 CE, the earliest available manuscripts came only after more than 250 years. The Bhagavata Purana is a major Hindu scripture consisting of about 18,000 verses, mainly devoted to the worship of Krishna. The work contains detailed descriptions of Guruvayurappan, a regional form of Krishna, and the temple town of Guruvayur.
Kalyana Varadharaja Perumal Temple is a temple in Paruthiyur, Sengalipuram, Thiruvarur District, India. The temple is located on the banks of the Kudamurutti River, a distributary of the River Kaveri.
Pravacana is a term for any exposition of a doctrine or treatise, or to the recitation of a scripture or text in Jainism and Hinduism traditions. It particularly refers to the tradition of Pravacanakara presenting their teachings or explanations of spiritual ideas before a gathering of householders or general public in the Indian traditions. Pravacana is an ancient tradition, whose earliest mentions are found in the Vedic texts but one that is also found in post-Vedic Shastra and Sutra texts of Hindus and Jains.
Sengalipuram Vaidhyanatha Deekshithar , also Sengalipuram Muthanna or Muthannaval (1830–1893), was a great guru from the family of Dikshitar from Sengalipuram near Paruthiyur, on the northern banks of the Kudamurutti River, in Thiruvarur District of Tamil Nadu.
Paruthiyur K. Santhanaraman is an Indian writer, Pravachan pundit, and former Deputy Treasurer of the Reserve Bank of India. Santhanaraman retired as the Deputy Treasurer of the Reserve Bank of India in Chennai after 40 years of service. He also served as a guest faculty member of the Reserve Bank of India and taught many classes on banking and HRD. Santhanaraman is also a well-known orator and author of several books and numerous articles on Tamil culture.
Raja Mannargudi Mahamahopadhyaya Thyagaraja Mahi Raju Sastrigal, also known as Mannargudi Raju Sastri or Mannargudi Periyaval, was a Hindu scholar. He was born in the Bharadwaja Vamsa, as a descendant of Adayappaalam Sri Appayya Dikshitar. Raju Sastri was born in the village of Kuthambadi in today's Thiruvarur district as son of Maragathavalli Janakiammal and Sri Markasahaya Appa Dikshitar
The Vishahareswara Temple is a temple to Shiva in the Thiruvarur district of Tamil Nadu, India. The temple was built in the early 9th century in the village of Kodandaramapuram, which later became part of Avanam Paruthiyur, situated on the banks of the Kudamurutti River, a distributary of the Kaveri. The presiding deity of this temple is a form of Shiva called Vishahareswarar, and his consort Prasanna Parvathy Devi. The temple today is an ancient heritage symbol of the village. The temple was one of the 108 Shiva temples built by Cholan Aditya Varman 1, on the banks of the Kaveri.
Vishakha Hari is a madhwa Carnatic music vocalist and proponent of Harikatha, a form of Hindu storytelling. She is a Madhwa mentor dedicated to instilling art and creativity within the education of children, who she believes are the torchbearer of culture.
It is not easy to trace out the origins of the Telugu folk literature, for that matter any folk literature. It is as difficult as tracing the origin of a language. In other words, one can argue that the origin and existence of any folk literature can be a parallel phenomenon along with that language, because the folk expressive traditions of any ethnic group are much earlier than the language of that particular ethnic group. Need not say about the developed literature in written tradition. The cave paintings and line drawings found in different archeological sites prove the ability of the creative expressions of prehistoric human beings even before they were not able to speak. The addition of verbal creativity in latter periods has widened the folk expressive tradition in another medium that is verbal folk arts or the folk literature. Therefore, the existence of any folk literature can go back to the time of the given language correspondingly.
