The Capital City of Telangana, Hyderabad has got a beautiful statue of the 11th-century Vaishnavaite saint Ramanuja, called Statue of Equality, on the premises of the Chinna Jeeyar Trust at Muchintal. The Statue of Equality is the second tallest sitting statue in the world. The statue was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 5 February 2022 and the smaller golden statue inside the base building was inaugurated by President Ram Nath Kovind on 13 February 2022. Everyday in the evenings cultural programmes were held. Some of the well-established artists like Kuchipudi dancer Deepika Reddy, Bharatanatyam dancer Rama Devi Nalla’s students performed in the evenings.
Speaking to Natyahasini, Bharatanatyam dancer and founder of Sri Vari Padalu Bharatanatyam Dance Academy, Rama Devi Nalla says that with the blessings of God, they received an opportunity to perform at Ramanuja Sahasarbdi Utsavam in Munchintal, Shamshabad, on the opening day. Recalling the day’s performance in the Pravachanam Mandap at Muchintal, she says they opened with Composer Bengaluru Srinivasan’s Sri Krishna Varnam (Sri Krishna Kamalantho…….) in Reethigowla Ragam and Adi Talam sung by T.V Ramaprasad. “After that we performed Annamacharyra krithis – Kondalalo nelakonna koneti rayudu vadu… & Sremannarayana…,” says the dancer.
She says that before beginning of the performance Sri Sri Sri Tridandi Chinnajiyar swami garu blessed the participating 16 students – Rohitha, Durga, Naveena, Jyothsna, Asmitha, Pavani, Spandana, Kavya Sri, Rupini, Spoorthy, Shivani, Vaishnavi G, Samyatha, Pavani, A. Vaishanavi and Chethana Chinami. “It is a memorable event,” she says.
Very nice ma’am