Mangaluru: Bekal Gokulam Goshala, in Kerala, approximately 70km from Mangaluru, is probably the only goshala where musical worship is offered to the sacred Gomatas. It is set to host its 13-day-long Deepavali Musical Festival. The festival will commence on Oct 20.This year, the festival places special emphasis on the veena, beginning with a concert led by Udupi Pawana Achar, featuring five veenas. The concerts will continue daily from 9am to 10pm. Around 400 artists from Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Singapore, and Dubai will grace the festival, offering their music in devotion to the gomatas.Fifteen years after its establishment in 2010, beginning with just one Vechur cow and one Vechur bull, the goshala blossomed to nurture over 250 cows of nine indigenous breeds—Vechur, Kasaragod Kullan, Hallikar, Malanad Gidda, Bargur, Gir, Kan Kraj, Ongol, and Kankayam. Parampara Vidyapeetham, established in 2010, was founded with the noble vision of promoting India’s classical fine arts while preserving and protecting native cow breeds — symbols of purity, compassion, and spiritual abundance. Each year, Parampara Vidyapeetham celebrates this divine confluence of art and devotion through two grand festivals, the Deepavali Music Festival and the Vaishakh Dance Festival.This year’s celebrations will be graced by the presence of Padma Vibhushan Padma Subrahmanyam, who will present a soul-stirring dance performance on the closing day. The festival will also feature a dynamic performance by Drum Maestro Sivamani. Also, 93-year-old legend TV Gopalakrishnan, a shining star in the world of music, will grace Mahotsavam with his soulful rendition. Alongside him, an illustrious galaxy of maestros, including Pattabhirama Pandit, Abhishek Raghuram, Vidya Bhushan, the Carnatic Brothers, the Bangalore Brothers, NJ Nandini, Sankaran Namboothiri, and eminent Veena vidwans such as Anantha Padmanabhan, Rajesh Vaidya, Ramana Balachandra, and Kannan Chennai, will offer their music. Playback singer Anoop Shankar will present devotional songs. For thirteen days, the cowshed becomes a living temple, the Gomatas sway their heads in rhythm with the music, while rasikas sit in silence, absorbing the essence of the divine music, stated a release.Cleanliness and sanctity are upheld as a form of seva. The goshala is guided with dedication and vision by astrologer Vishnu Prasad Hebbar and Nagaratna Hebbar, who holds a research degree in breast cancer from the University of Cambridge, England.
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