April Kirtan

In honour of Sri Rama, our April kirtan began with a very ancient chant to Sita and Rama - heroes of the great epic the Ramayana, whose feast day was celebrated that week. Since kirtan has been introduced in the West, Sita-Rama chants have been particularly popular; theirs is a universally loved story and these chants have been sung for many thousands of years.

One of our kirtaniyas for April was Dr Rembert Lutjeharms, Sanskrit scholar, who kindly elaborated on the inner meaning of the chants and on the word kirtan itself.

As chanting and dancing often go hand in hand, I thought you might be interested in this beautiful depiction of part of the Ramayana in classical Thai dance.