Fifteen-Day Cycle of the Tamil Parayanam

The recitation of sacred texts at Sri Ramanasramam goes back to the early days at Skandasramam. Bhagavan regularly initiated chanting of the Ribhu Gitai as well as other classical advaitic texts. He encouraged chanting of devotional poetry such as Thevaram of Sundarar, Appar, Jnanasambandar and, of Manickavachakar, whose Tiruvachakam, devotees recited throughout the night on the occasion of the Mahasamadhi of Bhagavan’s mother in May, 1922.

By the late 1940s the poetical works of Bhagavan were added to the Ashram repertoire which included works of other saints and devotees forming a fifteen-day cycle starting and ending with Thevaram. Recitations were compiled in a notebook and kept in the Old Hall. Those wishing to chant them would copy them out by hand and join in the group chanting in Bhagavan’s presence in the evenings at 6.45 pm. If requested, Bhagavan would copy out the notebook himself for devotee’s use. (One such notebook has been published as ‘The Works of Bhagavan in His Own Handwriting’). Devotees like Kunjuswami, Devaraja Mudaliar, Ramaswami Pillai, Somasundaram Pillai, K.Natesan, Thoppayya Mudaliar, Rangaswami, Annamalai Swami, Vadivudayar, Sivananda Swami, T.K. Sundaresa Iyer, T.P. Ramachandra Iyer and a few others during their stay in the ashram, would sit in two groups and chant antiphonally, each side reciting alternately as in the regular Vedaparayana.

For a few years following Bhagavan’s Mahasamadhi, the Tamil Parayana was held twice daily in the Old Hall at 7.30 am and 6.15 pm. For the past two decades, it has been chanted as a weekly cycle (except Sundays) in Bhagavan’s Samadhi Hall each eveing at 6.30 pm. In the mid -1960s, Smt Mangalam, Smt Saraswati and Sri V.Ganesan made recordings of the group recitations which were later digitized and edited. These edited recordings are now being included in an upcoming audio release of the fifteen-day cycle of the Tamil Parayana, two third of which consist in recordings of Kunjuswami and the other old devotees mentioned above (six in all). The present upload is a copy of the same.

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Day 1 (Pancharatnam, Thevaram-Sambandhar, Appar, Sundarar) Day 1
Day 2 (Arunachala Tatvam, Arunachala Akshara manamalai) Day 2
Day 3 (Arunachala Navamanimalai; Padikam and Ashtakam, Appala pattu, Anma Viddai) Day 3
Day 4 (Upadesa Saram – Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu and Sanskrit versions) Day 4
Day 5 (Ulladu Narpadu + supplement) Day 5
Day 6 (Sat Darsanam + supplement – Malayalam) Day 6
Day 7 (Devikalottaram) Day 7
Day 8 (Sarvajnanottaram, Guru Stuti, Hastamalakam) Day 8
Day 9 (Gita Saram + Tamil Malayalam and Sanskrit versons) Day 9
Day 10 (Anma Bodham, Ekatma Panchakam) Day 10
Day 11 (Vivekachudamani, Sivananda Lahari, Dakshinamurti Stotram (Sanskrit + Tamil) and songs of Tayumanavar) Day 11
Day 12 (Ramana Stuti Panchakam) Day 12
Day 13 (Ramana Satguru Malai, Deva Malai of Sivaprakasam Pillai) Day 13
Day 14 (Ramana Deva Malai, Vinnappam of S.Pillai) Day 14
Day 15 (Pada Malai of S.Pillai, Tiruchuli Thevaram) Day 15