The concept of prayer in the form of a Kavacham is an old one, especially in South India. The best known is perhaps the Kandar Shashti Kavacham, made popular by the recordings of the Soolamangalam Sisters. Adi Sankara i
Source: Shanmukha Kavacham will be presented in a choral format in Frankfurt on September 20 – The Hindu
Shlokams,Kavachams and Bhakti Krithis are eternal,sacred,God-inspired compositions of saintly souls coming down to us through ages.They are our Sanatana Dharma’s greatest treasures and should not be tampered with the idea of exhibitionism and personal aggrandizement.
To me and my sensibility this type of ‘musical exercise’ using an alien medium of music is a travesty. It is an exercise seeking the limelight and running after ephemeral and transient accolades.
I do wonder what our great saint composer Pamban Svamigal would be thinking about this type of trivialization and downplaying of something so uniquely sacrosanct and grand!
But then,this is the age of profit-manipulation from everything-be it the sublime or the ridiculous……..!
The composer may indeed be talented but do we need to rehash our sacred praathanas for them to be ‘marketed’?
This and such other things, are why our elders had stated that gnyanam should be given only to “worthy” pupils, not to anyone. Today, we are trying to give knowledge all and sundry. The sublime and the ridiculous are made to sit side by side and the same doses of knowledge are doled to them. We reap what we sow – so be it!