Category Archives: Arts, Culture & Entertainment

INDIA RECORD : CULTURE & TEMPLE ENGINEERING : Telangana’s Chamarthi Balabhaskaran World’s First Shilpa and Agama Shastra Sthapathi

According to Indian culture, ‘Agamam’ means ways to perform the ‘puja vidhi’ (Vaidik system) in temples.

It is an expertise known only to a very few people.

‘Sthapatyam’, on the other hand, means temple architecture, mostly used in reference to those who construct and design temples, following religious protocols. A person who studies Sthapatyam is called a ‘Sthapathi’.

High concentration and years of dedication are needed to become an expert in one of the two fields. Bagging a world record as a mark of recognition is something that Chamarthi Balabhaskaran Sthapathi, presently working as an assistant Sthapathi at Vemulawada Temple Area Development Authority (VTADA), has achieved.

In February, Unique World Records Limited had recognised him as the world’s first Shilpa and Agama Shastra Sthapathi.

“I have completed both the courses.

I am the first person in the world to have completed both. The Unique World Records Limited has recognised the feat and communicated to me,” said Mr. Balabhaskaran, adding that these two were the two pillars for a Hindu temple system.

source/content: thehindu.com (edited)

WORLD RECORDS: Tallest Statue of Panchamukhi Anjaneya Swamy unveiled in Karnataka

Chief  Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday said that there will be good times ahead for Karnataka as he unveiled the 161-ft tall Panchamukhi Anjaneya Swamy statue, touted to be the world’s tallest, installed by Basaveshwara Mutt at Bidanagere in Kunigal taluk of Tumakuru district.

“Panchamukhi  Anjaneya is a special form of Hanuman, which is mentioned in the Ramayana.

Hanuman took this form for the welfare of the world. It is the divine wish of Hanuman to have his 161-ft tall statue installed in Karnataka.

The sculptors have done a wonderful job,” Bommai added.

source/content: newindianexpress.com (edited)

WORLD RECORDS : ARTS & CULTURE : Veteran Bengali Writer Amar Mitra Wins Coveted O. Henry Award for 1977 Story

Sahitya Akademi awardee Amar Mitra wrote the story  Gaonburo back in 1977, when he was only 26; today,

it has fetched him the 1919-founded O. Henry Award, whose past winners include William Faulkner, Saul Bellow and Raymond Carver.

The award has reinforced Mr. Mitra’s belief that the short story — titled Gaonburo in Bangla and The Old Man of Kusumpur in English — must have some “internal force” for even the Western audience to find it relevant after 45 long years.

The O. Henry Award is the only yearly award given to short stories of exceptional merit. The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories is an annual collection of the year’s twenty best stories published in U.S. and Canadian magazines, written in English.

source/content; thehindu.com (edited)

GLOBAL – GRAMMY AWARDS : ARTS & CULTURE : India’s Rickey Kej and Falguni Shah Win Big at 2022 Grammy Awards

Rickey Kej earned his second coveted gramophone trophy in the best new album category for Divine Tides. Falguni Shah, a New York-based Indian singer known by her stage name Falu, won her first Grammy Award for A Colorful World in the best children’s album category.

A Mumbai-born singer went to the US and made her career in music, while the other, born in the US, moved back to India, the country of his parents’ birth. The ‘crossover’ stars Falguni Shah and Rickey Kej have now won their respective Grammy Awards .

At the 64th Annual Grammy Awards held on Sunday night in Las Vegas, Kej earned his second coveted gramophone trophy in the best new album category for Divine Tides, his collaboration with The Police drummer Stewart Copeland.

Shah, a New York-based Indian singer known by her stage name Falu, won her first Grammy Award for A Colorful World in the best children’s album category.

source/content: indianexpress.com (edited)

INTERNATIONAL : Beulah Ruth Pinto Performs at EXPO 2020 Dubai

UAE Golden Visa nominee and the renowned English singer nicknamed as ‘The Queen of the Stage’  Beulah Pinto performs in EXPO 2020 on March 11.

Indian origin, Beulah’s performance witnesses a huge crowd at the Australian pavilion, incredible moments as audience members join in singing along with her and rejoicing in dancing.

On December 16, 2021 Beulah Ruth Pinto performed at the Fashion Show among national and international models at Fashion Week 2021 in Dubai at Arena IMG Worlds of Adventure and was organised to showcase the national and international designers sharing the stage at this unique event in Dubai.

source/content: daijiworld.com (edited)

ARTS & CULTURE : Irish Sanskrit Scholar, Rutger Kortenhorst Awarded Padma Shri

President Ramnath Kovind  presented Rutger Kortenhorst, a Sanskrit teacher at John Scottus Senior School in Dublin, Ireland, with the Padma Shri Award for Literature and Education.

Kortenhorst, a Sanskrit enthusiast and researcher, has been a pioneer in propagating Sanskrit in Ireland.

source/content: daijiworld.com

RECORDS : ARTS & CULTURE :Delhi University Professor Arun Kumar Jha Bags ‘World Poetry Award

This award was conferred on him in a high-powered linguistic discourse held on ‘Poetic Skills and Social Impacts of Poetry’ marking the occasion of ‘World Poetry Day ‘,which was held under the auspices of British Lingua, an institute of international repute for English language skills in New Delhi.

Notably, Prof AK Jha is the son of the freedom fighter and former Education Minister of Bihar Late Lokesh Nath Jha.

Prof Jha, who taught English Literature from 1974 to 2019 at the English Department of Sri Aurobindo College under the University of Delhi, is currently a practising advocate at the Supreme Court of India.

To his credit, he has the World Maiden Poetic Treatise on the Indian constitution in English and Hindi namely the ” People, the Constitution and its Pillars,  Reign of the People, and Jangan Samvidhan Ke Stambh in Hindi.

source/content: newindianexpress.com

INDIA’s PRESENCE OVERSEAS : ‘Green Triangle’ Named after Mahatma Gandhi Inaugurated in Madagascar’s Capital

As part of the ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ to commemorate India’s 75th year of independence, a “Green Triangle” named after Mahatma Gandhi was jointly inaugurated in Madagascar’s capital Antananarivo.

Indian Ambassador Abhay Kumar said Gandh was the “greatest Pravasi’ who returned to India from South Africa, led India’s freedom struggle and changed lives of indians.

Mayor of Antananarivo Naina Andriantsitohaina and India’s Ambassador to Madagascar Abhay Kumar inaugurated the green space on Wednesday March 17th, at a special ceremony in Madagascar’s capital Antananarivo

source: thehindu.com