Prize distribution was held on Jan.12 at Yogalaya, Gandhi Nagar. The chief guest was Meenakshi Sriram – Samskrita Teacher at KSN Senior Secondary School, Thiruvanmiyur. She spoke in simple Samskrtam encouraging children. The special guest was C.S.Ram – Vice President of Dharma Paripalana Sabha (Shri Ananta Padmanabha Swamy temple, Gandhi Nagar). More than 80 children participated and enthusiastically showcased their excellent talent on Shabda Ratanam.

More than 500 students performed in solo song, group song, story telling, oratorical, conversations, kathakalakshepam, quiz, mono acting, fancy dress, shishu gitam, etc. Participation certificates were given to all participants while 150 children won prizes. For more information, contact Latha Ravindran at 98849 13875.

Every year Talent Week competitions are conducted at the school where most children perform drama, speech, poem recitation etc., in Samskritam, Tamil and English. Samskrita Bharati volunteers Lakshminarasimhan and Giridhar judged the event, held on Oct.25 and 26 and encouraged the students.

 More than 70 persons participated in the event, of which Justice Ramanathan was the guest of honour. Special guests – Geetha Kalyani Viswakumar lit the lamp, while K.Viswakumar (Retd. Chief Electrical Engineer of Southern Railways) addressed the gathering, and Anantha Kalyana Krishnan (Retd. Asst. Commissioner – Customs from Coimbatore) presided over the event.

Chief guest Daffenee Rodgers – Principal of Bala Vidya Mandir School, Gandhi Nagar, Adyar, distributed the certificates and prizes. In her talk, she mentioned that she loves Samskritam because of her excellent High School Samskritam teacher in Kolkata. “Humankind can be best divided only into two – The Learned and Not Learned,” she said.

Nonagenarian scholar Neyveli Thiyagarajan – Retd. Postmaster was the special guest who is proficient in four languages. He advised the new graduates to study Samskritam perpetually and spoke about the beauty of ‘Shyamala Dandakam’ – the first work of Kalidasa.

The chief guest was K.Vishwakumar, Chief Electrical Engineer (Retd.) of Southern Railways. He spoke about the importance of learning Samskritam and following our samskriti (culture). Special guest from Samskrita Bharathi, Vidya Vasudevan, said in fluent and simple Samskritam that language plays an important role in keeping our body and mind united.

More than 100 people enjoyed the cultural program, shlokas, songs, kathaa and drama, etc., in Samskritam, performed by the children. For details contact 99405 44164.

Governor R.N.Ravi hailed the efforts of Samskrita Bharati and said that the language is crucial to understanding Bharat and Bhartiyata. “Ancient Sanskrit literature are repositories of the priceless wisdom of Bharat. It is perhaps the most scientific language. At a time when the frontiers of technologies like Generative Artificial Intelligence are rushing forward towards super-intelligent human-like machines and raising existential and ethical concerns, Sanskrit should be helpful in steering a purposeful discourse towards a sustainable global future,” he added.

Seven Samskrita Scholars were felicitated at the event: 

• Dr.C.L.Ramakrishnan, IPS – Retd. DGP of Tamilnadu (Adyar);
• Prof. M.D. Srinivas – Chairman of Centre for Policy Studies (Adyar);
• Dr.R.Krishnamurthi Sastrigal – Former Principal Sanskrit College (Mylapore);
• T.Srinvasachariar – Proprietor of Raghavasimham Press (Mylapore);
• Dr.D.Gnanasundaram – Dy. Director (Retd.) of Chemmozhi Tamil Research Centre;
• Dr.V.Kamakshi – Former Director of Kuppuswami Sastri Research Institute;
• Swamini Dr. Selvi Shri Pillai  Narasimhapriya

It was received by the guests of honour of the day: K.Vishwakumar (Rtd. Chief Mech. Engineer – Southern Railway), C.S.Ram (industrialist from Gandhi Nagar), M.S.Nagarajan (MD of Nagaraj & Company) and Hemalatha Muralidharan (Founder-Arcadia NIOS School, Besant Nagar).

More than 60 people attended the program and wished the newsletter success. The newsletter will report all activities and programs of Samskrita Bharati (Adyar) in a quarter and will be distributed as a soft copy to members and well-wishers. The hard copy will be distributed to all schools and prominent people in the neighbourhood.

Exams are conducted twice a year – January and July. This year, in January 2024, more than 200 students wrote the exams. To reward those who completed all four levels in both courses, a gala Graduation Day was conducted on Apr.4, at Kokila Dwani, Balakrishnan Road, Valmiki Nagar, Thiruvanmiyur.

The chief guest of the program was K.Amritheswara Sastri – Director of Summit Works Technologies and the special guest was Vinod Belur – Qualcomm India. The speakers while appreciating the graduated students, spoke eloquently about the beauty and importance of Sanskrit. Nithya Ravichandran, a senior teacher of Samskrita Bharati fluently spoke in Samskritam congratulating and inspiring all.

Probodhana Vargaha, a 7-day free residential camp is planned in Chennai from May 11 to 18. The Camp will provide intense coaching in Samskritam. Ph: 93800 09736.

Concluding day programs were conducted, wherein students along with their families participated. All the students demonstrated their spoken Sanskrit skills through storytelling (Katha Kathanam), Drama (Natakam), Conversation (Sambhaahsnam), Songs (Geetam), etc.

For every program, a special guest was invited. Guests spoke in easy-to-understand Sanskrit about the beauty and simplicity of the divine language. They also insisted and motivated everyone to pursue studying Sanskrit continuously. Guidance was given to join the two Level-1 courses – Prak Sopanam and Pravesha.

For more information, contact 96770 52322, 93800 09736. Forthcoming class from Mar. 16 to 25; daily classes from 5 pm to 7 pm at Arcadios NIOS School, Kalakshetra Colony; To register call 76673 05678, 78689 14699.