Murugan Bhakti Newsletter No. 6:

New! Life of Bhogar in pictures

November 2000

Newsletter Contents:

Murugan Bhakti calendar Oct-Dec 2000
What's new?
Murugan Conference News
Discovery Channel documentary on Kataragama
Where has the editor been?
Coming soon...
Your own website or home page

Calender: October - November - December 2000

Date	Function	Venue	Details
26 October - 3 November 2000	Kanda Sashti	Everywhere! Tiruchendur especially	Lord Murugan's biggest festival is observed by devotees all over the world.
Dec 2 (Sat) 6pm	Vel Maral Parayanam	Arupadai Veedu Temple, Besant Nagar	Sangamam's monthly Vel Maral Parayanam function
6-9 Dec (Wed-Sat)	50th anniversary Vallimalai Swami Guru Puja	Valli Malai	Morning abishekam followed by programme by Vallayapettai Ra. Krishnan and TV. Sundaravalli on the Vallimalai Hills from 2 pm onwards. Four-day programme at Vallimalai.

Murugan Bhakti: What's new?

There are so many new pages (16 at Murugan.org and 23 at Kataragama.org at last count) since the last newsletter of a few months ago that we can only give an overview of highlights. These include:

Maps of Sacred Places

An entirely new feature of Murugan Bhakti will be maps of Tamil Nadu, Sri Lanka, and Kataragama showing sacred sites with hyperlinks to pages about the sites, including:

The first of a new series of galleries of paintings:

The life of Bhogar Siddhar in pictures

15 other new pages at Murugan.org including:

eight new in-depth studies by scholar-devotees including:
- HH the Kanchi Sankaracharya
- Kamil Zvelebil
- and others;
home pages for three more Murugan shrines including:
two new pages on 'bhakti'
Arunagirinathar's Perutta Vachanam in English translation

23 new pages at Kataragama.org including:

Sacred sites of Sri Lanka
Pada Yatra (2 pages)
Hindu Kathirkamam (2)
Islamic Kathirkamam (3)
Veddar Kataragama (4)
Teyvani Amman Kovil home page
Sacred geography of Kataragama (4)
Cultural Survival & Living Heritage Trust (4)
new detailed biography of Chellappa Swami by K.C. Kularatnam
ground plan of Kataragama Mahadevale and other new pages

Murugan Conference News

2nd International Conference Seminar on Skanda-Murukan dates announced: 24-28 April 2001 in Mauritius.
The Government of Mauritius and the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Moka, Mauritius will host the Conference.
The theme of the 2nd Conference is: "Murukan Bhakti across the Indian Ocean".
Comprehensive new listing of Murukan research topics
Enquiries about arrangements in Mauritius should be directed to Mr. Maga Ramasamy, Secretary Mauritius Organising Committee mramasamy@airmauritius.intnet.mu
or visit the Murukan Conference home page.

In absentia presentations:

Because of the considerable distance and expense involved for many delegates to attend a conference in Mauritius, it has been decided that delegates may also have their papers read at the Conference in absentia.

Language of presentation:

It has also been decided to accept research presentations in French as well as in English and Tamil languages, as French is the official language of the host nation and many qualified scholars are proficient in French.

Conference brochure:

The International Planning Committee based at the Institute of Asian Studies has printed official brochure-announcements for the Conference, including registration forms and full details about the 2nd Murukan Conference. The brochure and other details may be by contacting the Murukan Conference organisers directly at:

Murukan Conference Organising Committee

Institute of Asian Studies
Asia Gardens
Chemmancherry
PO Sholinganallur
Chennai - 600 119 India
Telefax: (091) 44 496-0959 or (091) 44 496-0085
Website: http://www.instituteofasianstudies.com/

Murukan Conference home page:

For more information and online registration form, go to the official home page of the Murukan Conference at http://murugan.org/events/conf2001.htm.

Discovery Channel documentary on Kataragama

The latest word from Gabriel Films producer Heidi Ewing is that the material shot at the past Kataragama festival is still being edited. When the documentary is finished and the Discovery Channel agrees to purchase it and sets a date for telecast, the Murugan Bhakti newsletter will announce details. See article Discovery Channel Discovers Kataragama for more details.

Where has the editor been?

After five years continuous residence in Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka (during which time Murugan Bhakti websites were born), editor Patrick Harrigan has been taking Murugan Bhakti abroad to America since August 2000 until May 2001 when he is expected to return to Sri Lanka for the Kataragama season.

In August the editor traveled with Singapore devotee A. Subramaniyam across Tamil Nadu, visiting four out of six Padai Veedu and many other ancient Murugan temples as well. Using Maniyam's digital camera, they took hundreds of photos of temples and temple paintings including over 100 murals and paintings of Palani Devasthanam for online publication (coming soon) with official permission. They then flew to New Delhi to visit Uttara Swami Malai Temple with a side trip to Haridwar and Rishkesh.

The editor then flew via Hong Kong to San Francisco where he visited devotees and recovered hundreds of archival photos and research notes in storage since 1989 for eventual publication. Since then he has traveled by bus from coast to coast, visiting family, friends and devotees along the way. Carrying the entirety of Murugan Bhakti on a few zip disks, he has continued to publish even while traveling to Illinois, Michigan, Tennesse, New Jersey, New York, Georgia, Florida -- and back to Michigan.

Why all the travel?

Well, one reason is that five years is a long time to be away from one's home country and family. But more than that, the time had come to improve Murugan Bhakti's technical and financial base. Here in the States the editor has improved Internet access plus the hardware and software to digitise documents and photos, many of which were in long-term storage and unavailable as long as the editor remained in India. When Patrick returns to Sri Lanka next May, he will have the hardware, software, know-how, and other resources needed to continue building websites to serve you, the reader.

Visit also A. Subramaniyam's website at http://www.angelfire.com/sk2/maniyam/ including Kanda Sashti Kavacam in English translation.

Coming soon . . .

Watch for a whole new look to Murugan Bhakti websites coming soon as we redesign our websites. And more new content is on the way including:

Photo Galleries:

Kanda Puranam in pictures
The life of Siddha Bhogar
Lord Murugan's moorthys or divine forms
Gallery 3: paintings of Murugan
Murugan devotees today

Articles:

more Murugan Conference research articles
Palani: its history and temples
A history of Kataragama and its shrines

Plus watch for brand new websites to be launched later this year:

www.Muruga.net
www.Vedda.org
www.CulturalSurvivalTrust.org
www.LivingHeritage.org
www.Sripada.org
and more . . .

Your own website or home page

Murugan Bhakti is now expanding its capabilities to offer home pages and entire websites to organisations and individuals.

Free home pages for temples and organisations:

If your temple or organisation would like to have its own free home page on the Murugan Bhakti website, contact the editor.

Custom-made websites:

Now you can have your own website with unique domain name (like www.YourTempleName.org) hosted and maintained by Murugan Bhakti for as little as US$50 per year. Reduced rates for temples and non-profit organisations. For e-commerce sites, contact the editor for details.