Vadakke Madham Brahmaswam, Thrissur, is the one and only traditional Veda Padhasala in Kerala, where Rigveda, Yajurveda and Samaveda are being taught in the traditional style. Here, the method of teaching and learning is entirely different from other disciplines. We make the students recite the whole Veda by heart without any changes in Udatha, Anudatha and Swaritha. These are done without the help of books but from memory and by shaking the heads of the students; showing the Hastha Mudras. Thus the students are well practiced to chant the Samhitha, Pada, Krama, Jata, Ratha etc. This is a unique Vedic Institution in India and the Gurukula system is being followed here.We give free boarding, lodging and other facilities to the students, teachers and other inmates.
We try to keep the tradition in its pristine purity and keep alive the three Vedas along with modern education for the last hundreds of years. Recently UNESCO has recognized the peculiarity of Vedic Chanting as an Intangible Heritage, knowledge and a treasure of ancient culture.
We understand that the streams of knowledge of physical science and humanities are enshrined in Veda. They are to be identified and developed. The concept of science in Veda has to be studied in comparison with those enunciated by modern scientists. There is scope for a full-fledged scheme for such a study, research, investigation and evaluation. The aim of Vedic Research Centre is to work in this field of knowledge systems and to reveal the essence of ancient wisdom, and to propagate it for the benefit of mankind.
Teaching Methods.
The teaching of Veda is highly rigorous and too difficult, as the students are very young. At the preliminary stage, the teacher has to suffer a lot to make the students chant according to Udatha, Anudatha and Swaritha style. The teaching is not bookish but oral and face to face Hasthamudras. The disciple listens the uttering of preceptor and follow him. For the exact recital, the teacher should hold the tuft or head of the student and will move it to right, left, upwards and downwards in accordance with the Swara with which that particular word is uttered. So, a teacher can teach only two students at a time. The studied portions are repeated regularly and this method helps to by-heart that particular potion.
Every morning at 4.30 a.m the teacher has to wake up and the students at 5 a.m. After bath and Sandhyavandanam, from 5.45 a.m; onwards the students and teachers perform Namaskara with chanting the Manthras they studied in previous classes. This will go up to 6.30 a.m. Then after completing Vedaparayanam (6.30 a.m. to 7 a.m), they go for breakfast. The regular classes starts at 7.30 a.m. to and first session continue up to 9 a.m. after an interval for ten minutes, next session starts at 9.10 a.m and will go up to 10. 40 a,m. After an interval for 10 minutes, third session will start at 10.50 a.m till 12 noon. 12 noon to 12.45 p.m is the lunch break. Then, from 12.45 p.m. to 2.30 p.m; the session of traditional learning occurs. This is the daily routine of a Vedic disciple.
From 2.30 p.m to 5.30 p.m, the school subjects are being taught. There is a time table for these subjects also. After 5.30 p.m, it is the time fro plating and then evening bath, Sandhyavandana, Abhyasa and chanting Sahasranama. 8 p.m. is the dinner time. After dinner, it is the time for self study. The student should take rest for some time and should go to sleep at 9.30 p.m. This brings an end of a day of a Vedic disciple.
The warden is playing special attention to the daily routine of students like bath, Sandhyavandanam and their physical fitness. Sanskrit teacher is listening to the homework’s of school going subjects. The senior students teach school subjects to juniors on holidays for two hours. Steps are being taken to develop reading habit in students by necessitating them to go to library and spent at least one hour there on holidays by reading books and understanding current issues. Students are being encouraged to undergo extracurricular activities like cleaning, gardening and chanting Aksharasloka on leisure hours. The teachers are checking the students whether they are following the directions or not. The principal is watching the matters and assuring that things are going on smoothly. He is directed to handover the report of activities of the students to Upadhyayasangham, the Academic Council of the institution. Once in a fortnight, the teachers and warden will sit together and appraise the proceedings.
Regarding the completion of traditional chanting course, the institution has been prepared a working syllabus. Accordingly, the disciple should learn completely the 1st Ashtaka in the first ear. He should study 2nd and 3rd Ashtaka in the Second year. He should practice the Vikruthi Padhas also during this period. Further he should be studied the first 30 verses of Sreeramodanda, the first part of Amarakosha and some preliminaries of grammar like sentence formation and conversation.
The fourth and fifth Ashtakas should be completed in the third year. The first 20 verses of Raghuvamsha, grammar portions like Sandhi and Samasa, the Alankaras like Upama, Uthpreksha and Roopakam, some conversation classes are also to be studied along with traditional subjects. The student should complete the 6th and 7th Ashtakas in the fourth year. He should learn the half of the total syllabus to be studied in the 6th standard and also reported speech, the usage of phrases- not only.. but also, no sooner.. than, neither...nor, use of if case by the completion of sixth year. In the next six months, he should learn 8th Ashtaka and the remaining syllabus portions of the 6th standard. Use of ‘would’, ‘rather’, the more---the more, paragraph writing, letter drafting etc. also should be studied by the student by the completion of this period Thus the student should get proficiency in both Samhitha portion, some Vikruthi Padhas and a portion of modern syllabus by the end of four and half years.
