Thirumanjanam means “holy bath” and Ani represents the Tamil month of June-July. On Aani Thirumanjanam day on the day that Uthram Nakshtram (star) falls on, a special Abhishekam and offerings are performed for Lord Nataraja. It is popularly believed that the Lord gives Darshan to his ardent devotees on this auspicious day. Legends say that it was on Aani Uthiram day that Lord Shiva appeared before Sage Manikkavachakar (composer of the monumental work, Thiruvasagam), under a Kurundai Tree and offered upadesha (divine advice). As the abhishekam was being performed to Lord Nataraja, and as everyone watched, the sage merged into the Lord as a brilliant flame.

Lord Nataraja’s form demonstrates his five-fold functions, namely creation, preservation, destruction, concealment and salvation and is given six special holy baths in a year, representing the six major seasons. One of these is Ani Thirumanjanam.

New England dance community has celebrated this special occasion at the Sri Lakshmi temple in Ashland, MA for several years now by offering soulful dances in a natural setting, outside the temple premises. As Lord Nataraja’s ratham (temple car/chariot) makes a procession around the temple, through rain or shine, these dedicated dancers have offered their obeisance to their favorite deity.  As the organizer of and performer at this event for years now, I feel honored and copiously blessed to be part of this auspicious occasion.

This year, Ani Thirumanjanam was celebrated at the Sri Lakshmi temple on June 24 with all the traditional formalities and Lord Nataraja made his majestic appearance around the temple around noon time.  Dancers dressed up in their traditional attire watched in awe as HE made it to the front of the make shift dais.  The Lord must have been much delighted as all classical dance forms were presented this year. Gurus Neena Gulati, Gretchen Heyden Ruckert, Jeyanthi Ghatraju, Prafulla Velury, and Sangeetha Vijayasarathy were immensely blessed along with their disciples as they paid their own obeisance by preparing and presenting their students.

The program commenced with Nritha vandanam by Shreya Hegde, Nisha Pillai and Shilpa Narayanan from Natyanjali (Jeyanthi Ghatraju) in Bharatanatyam style. Maha Deva sutham in Kuchipudi style was presented by Krishna Sampada Velury, a student at the Prafulla’s Academy of Kuchipudi dance and Carnatic music (Prafulla Velury). Following these was Bho Shambho by Surya Pandit, from Triveni School of dance (Neena Gulati). The next item was Rang Manch in Kathak style by Shefali Jain and Shelley Chhabra, students of at Chhandika (Gretchen Heyden Ruckert).

Several vibrant dances followed which included Sri Vigna Rajam Bhage by Neha Pillai, Bhaja manasa by Leela Mennillo, Ganesha kavuthuvam by Amrita Iyer, Namaste Astu Bhagavan by Shreya Devarajan, Pooja Kumaravel, Shrinidhi Jeyaram, Adarsha Ramesh and Sruthi Kurada, Ganga jatadhara (bhajan) by Mahima Subramanian, Jathiswaram (ragam Vasantha) by Shweta Iyer, Adenamma by Nupur Jain, Shankara Shrigiri by Shreya Hegde and Shilpa Narayanan and ending with Chandrachuda Shiva Shankara Parvathi by Bhoomika Kumar.

NEHTI volunteers under the guidance of Sri Chokku Manian made all the necessary arrangements meticulously for the smooth running of the day’s events. One of the audience member commented that this program brought back pleasant memories of theirs from attending the ceremonies at the Chidambaram temple in South India. Another was in awe of the dedication of all the dancers, gurus and volunteers in bringing this program successfully every year. May the Lord and the Divine Mother bless us all with THEIR choicest blessings to continue our spiritual journey!

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