Swami Vishudhananda | |
---|---|
Born | 1950 (age 73–74) Chengannur, Kerala, India |
Nationality | Indian |
Occupation | Spiritual leader |
Known for | President of Sree Narayana Dharma Sangham |
Awards | Padma Shri, 2019 [1] |
Swami Vishudhananda (born 1950) is an Indian spiritual leader, who is serving as the president of Sree Narayana Dharma Sangham, since his appointment in 2016. He was awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in India in 2019. [1] He is noted for preserving Maruthwamala at Sivagiri where Sree Narayana Guru used to meditate. [2]
He served as general secretary of the Sree Narayana Dharma Sangham in 1982. During his tenure as president of Sangham, he started works to set up a deemed university for studies on the life and vision of Sree Narayana Guru. [2]
Sree Narayana Guru was a philosopher, spiritual leader and social reformer in India. He led a reform movement against the injustice in the caste-ridden society of Kerala in order to promote spiritual enlightenment and social equality. A quote of his that has become popular: "one caste, one religion, and one god for all men". He is the author of the Advaita poem Daiva Dasakam, which is one of the most used poem in Kerala for community prayer.
Kattassery Joseph Yesudas is an Indian playback singer and musician who sings Indian classical, devotional and film songs. He is widely considered one of the greatest singers in the history of Indian music and a cultural icon of Kerala. Yesudas is estimated to have recorded more than 50,000 songs in various Indian languages, including Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Tulu, Hindi, Odia, Bengali, Marathi as well as Arabic, English, Latin, and Russian, in a career spanning six decades. He is often referred to as Gaanagandharvan. Yesudas holds the record for singing 11 songs in different languages in a single day. He has also composed a number of Malayalam film songs during the 1970s and 1980s.
Nagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy is an Indian billionaire businessman. He is one of the seven co-founders of Infosys, and has previously served as the chairman, chief executive officer (CEO), president, and chief mentor of the company before retiring and taking the title chairman emeritus. As of April 2023, his net worth was estimated to be $4.1 billion, making him the 711th richest person in the world according to Forbes.
Kumbalathuparambu Ayyappan, better identified as Sahodaran Ayyappan, was a social reformer, thinker, rationalist, journalist, and politician from Kerala, India. As a vocal follower of Sree Narayana Guru, he was associated with a number of events related to the Kerala reformation movement and was the organizer of Misra Bhojanam in Cherai in 1917. He founded Sahodara Sangam, and the journal Sahodaran and was the founder editor of the magazine Yukthivadi.
Sivagiri is an area in Varkala Municipality of Thiruvananthapuram district in Kerala. It is a pilgrimage centre of Varkala Town where the tomb, or samadhi, of Sree Narayana Guru is situated. It is a place where Guru built the Sarada Temple dedicated to Sarada Devi. The tomb is an attraction for thousands of devotees every year, especially during the Sivagiri Pilgrimage days from 30 December to 1 January.
Manchu Bhakthavatsalam Naidu, credited and also known as Mohan Babu, is an Indian actor and producer known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema. An alumnus of the Madras Film Institute, Mohan Babu has acted in more than 500 films in lead, supporting and a variety of roles.
Bannanje Govindacharya was an Indian philosopher and Sanskrit scholar versed in Veda Bhashya, Upanishad Bhashya, Mahabharata, Puranas and Ramayana. He wrote Bhashyas (commentaries) on Veda Suktas, Upanishads, ShataRudriya, Brahma Sutra Bhashya, Gita Bhashya and was an orator. He was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2009.
The Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (S.N.D.P) is a social service organization that has been representing the Ezhava community from the Indian state of Kerala since 1903.
M. K. Sanu is an Indian Malayalam-language writer, critic, retired professor, biographer, journalist, orator, social activist, and human rights activist. He has authored over thirty-six books.
Peruvanam Kuttan Marar is a chenda artist. He leads several popular traditional orchestra performances in Kerala. He received Padma Shri, India's third highest civilian award, in 2011 for his contributions in the field of art.
Sivapatham Vittal is an Indian surgical endocrinologist, considered by many as the Father of Surgical Endocrinology in India. The Government of India honored Vittal in 2011, with the fourth highest civilian award of Padma Shri.
Vellayani Arjunan was an Indian writer, scholar, and linguist from Kerala. He served two terms at the State Institute of Encyclopaedic Publications as chief editor from 1975 to 1988 and as director from 2001 to 2004. During his tenure at the institute, seven volumes of the 12-volume Malayalam encyclopedia Viswasahityavijnanakosam were published. He is credited with several publications, including children's literature and critical studies. His book Gaveshana Mekhala has been a prescribed text for the post graduate course M.A. Malayalam at the Aligarh Muslim University. A recipient of the Paramacharya Award from Sarojini Bhaskaran Memorial Charitable Public Trust, he was honored by the Government of India in 2008 with the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri.
Moozhikkulam Kochukuttan Chakyar (1928–2009) was an exponent of Koodiyattam, a traditional form of Sanskrit theatre from Kerala, which has been recognised by UNESCO as an Oral and Intangible Heritage of Mankind. Born in a family of Koodiyattam performers, in 1928, at Ammannur, a small hamlet near Irinjalakuda, in Thrissur district in the south Indian state of Kerala, Chakyar had his early training in the art form from within his family. Ammannur Madhava Chakyar, a renowned Koodiyattam performer and a Padmabhushan awardee, was his cousin and the two, later, would evolve a new school of performance, popularly known as the Ammannur tradition of Koodiyattam. When Margi, an institution promoting traditional art forms of Kerala, started their Koodiyattam training centre in 1981, he was the first residential guru. The institution imparted training to many aspiring performers which included two sons of Chakyar, Margi Sajeev Narayana Chakiar and Margi Madhu and both of them are known exponents of the art form. In 1998, Chakyar joined Nepathya, a centre for excellence in Kudiyattam, as the Mukhya Acharya, and continued his association with the institution till his last. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2008, for his contributions to Arts. He died in 2009, at the age of 81. He is remembered by an annual festival, Guru Moozhikkulam Kochukuttan Chakyar Memorial Kutiyttam Festival, at Moozhikkulam, a suburb of Kochi where Nepathya is headquartered in, and through orations organised by Nepathya.
Padmanabha Pillai Gopinathan Nair was an Indian social worker, Gandhian, independence activist, and the chairman of Mahatma Gandhi National Memorial Trust. He participated in the Quit India movement of 1942 and worked alongside Vinoba Bhave to promote Bhoodan and Gramdan movements. He was the initiator of the camp movement, a student program that was part of the Construction Movement of Mahatma Gandhi. He was a recipient of the Jamnalal Bajaj Award, among other honors. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2016, for his contributions to society.
K. G. Jayan is an Indian Carnatic musician, who was awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in India in 2019. He is known for devotional songs. Jayan has composed more than 1,000 songs and also has been music director for a few Tamil and Malayalam films. The popular actor Manoj K. Jayan is his younger son.
Ramzan Khan, popularly known as Munna Master, is an Indian singer and social worker who sings Bhajans and takes care of cows. He hails from Jaipur district of Rajasthan. He was conferred with Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in India in 2020 for his contribution to arts.
Sadanam Puthiya Veettil Balakrishnan popularly known as Sadanam Balakrishnan is an exponent of Kathakali, a form of Indian classical dance, from Kerala, India. He has received several notable awards, including the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2003, Kerala state Kathakali award in 2020, and Kerala Kalamandalam fellowship in 2017. Balakrishnan taught Kathakali at the International Center for Kathakali in Delhi from 1974 to 2006 and became the Principal of Perur Gandhi Seva Sadanam in 1980. He has written four books.
Sivananda, also known as Swami Sivananda, is a yoga teacher from India, who has claimed to be born on August 8th 1896 (unverified) in Sylhet District of Bengal Presidency of British India. On 21 March 2022, he was awarded Padma Shri by the Government of India.