Prahladh Devotional Drawings

Aged 10, Thiruvallikeni resident Hindu Sr. Sec School Student Prahladh spends his free time devotionally sketching Lords of Divya Desam and Paadal Petra Sthalams

In the last five years,  the only gift he has sought from parents has  been chart papers and sketch pencils as his mind is forever visualizing a Lord of some temple that he had seen in the recent past

It is just past six pm on a Margazhi evening at the Parthasarathy temple in Thiruvallikeni. A 10 year old boy has just had darshan of the West facing Narasimha, praised as Thelliya Singar by Thiru Mangai Azhvaar. And much to the surprise of other devotees at the temple as well as the Bhattar at the Yoga Narasimha Sannidhi, the young boy began sketching the Lord on an A4 sheet of paper with a pencil in hand. He had had just one glance of the Lord that evening.

Even as the devotees looked on, the boy drew a beautiful sketch of Lord Narasimha in a matter of minutes. The big crowd and the noise around him was no distraction to him as his mind was focused on the Lord he had just captured a few minutes back. The pencil drawing really moved the long serving Bhattar who immediately invoked the blessings of Lord Narasimha and handed a prasadam to the boy who narrated the story to his parents later that evening.

A Pencil Sketch of Srirangam Ranganatha aged 5                       There are those in life who are blessed to be drawn towards the Lord right from the time they are born. In the case of Thiruvallikeni resident S Prahladh, this has been true metaphorically as well. He was just a 5 year old when he first came across an old photograph of Ranganathaswamy of Srirangam in his South Facing Sleeping Posture. And before his parents realized, he had picked up a plain paper and begun sketching the Lord with his pencil. When the parents came back to his room, they were stunned to see the hand drawn sketch of Ranganathaswamy. They simply could not believe that their son had such devotion in him. Over the last five years, the devotion towards God has grown manifold and he spends a majority of his free time each day drawing the Lord of the Day.  

Draws Nellaippar at the hotel room 

 A couple of years ago, when the family decided on a temple trip to Tirunelveli and around, Prahladh was devotionally moved after darshan of Lord Nelliappar and Gandhimathi Ambal. He came back to the hotel room and immediately began sketching them. Before the day had come to an end, he presented to his parents a sheet of paper that contained the drawing of Nellaiappar. 

From Parthasarathy to Chakkarathazhwar 

It amazes his parents that every temple they visit, he captures the Lord in his mind and immediately begins sketching the Lord from memory. His huge collection of sketches includes Parthasarathy Perumal of Thiruvallikeni, Kapaleeswarar of Mylapore, Durgai of Patteeswaram, Ranganathaswamy of Srirangam and Chakkarathazhwar of Thiru Mogur. Unlike most kids his age, Prahladh seeks nothing other than chart papers and sketch pencils from his parents for his mind is always visualizing a Lord of some temple that he had seen in the recent past. 

Melkote Narasimha captivates him

In December last, the family made a trip to Melkote. And when they went atop the hill for a darshan of Lord Narasimha, Prahladh refused to return. He simply could not take his eyes away from his favourite Lord Narasimha. And by the time he returned to Chennai, he had already sketched out Narasimha atop the Melkote hill leaving his mother in happy tears. On Narasimha alone, he has sketched in all his many different forms from many different. 

Lockdown- Paper and Pencils run out of stock 

While lockdown has proved to be a big challenge for the world at large, it has provided a rather unique and unheard of challenge to his parents. Locked inside the house for over a month, Prahladh began sketching Lords from different Divya Desams and Paadal Petra Sthalams each day of the lockdown. Soon he had run out of A4 papers, chart papers, pencils and sketches leaving the parents in a shocked state. The parents could not even meet his simple requirement of plain white papers and pencil as all the stationary stores remain closed.

When the lockdown 3.0 came into force this week and the stationary shop opened, the first thing his parents did was to buy chart papers, A4 sized plain papers and pencils for him that would satiate his drawing interests for at least a couple of months, leaving the 10 year old Class VI student of Hindu Sr. Sec School, Thiruvallikeni gleaming with joy. 

Shiva with Family

Cartoonist Keshav - The Inspiration

Prahladh says that his inspiration came after looking at the sketches of the popular cartoonist Keshav. He never misses an opportunity to take a close and in-depth look into the drawings of Keshav. He is hoping that one day in the near future, he will be able to meet the man who has been an inspiration to him over the last five years. 

Prahladh’s Godly drawings now run into several hundreds. His parents have even allocated a separate almirah to store his sketches. While the lockdown has meant that he cannot have darshan of Narasimha and Parthasarathy of Thiruvallikeni and Kapaleeswarar of Mylapore, he continues to sketch them from his memory of their Brahmotsavams from the years gone by. 

In addition to his interest in drawings of the Lord, Prahladh is also into Vedic Learning. He had learnt Rudram Chamakam and Sree, Bhoo, Purusha, Durga, Narayana Navagruha, Nakshathra and Neela sukthams from the late Nanilam Rajagopalan Ganapadigal. Currently, he is learning arunaprashna (Surya Namaskaram) from Sri Krishna Ganapadigal. 

At 10, Prahladh truly is a one of a kind Devotional Kid with his eyes and thoughts firmly set on the Lords of Thiruvallikeni and Mylapore.