Panchayat/ Municipality/ Thiruvananthapuram Corporation Corporation LOCATION District Thiruvananthapuram Nearest Town/ Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple – 10 m Landmark/ Junction Nearest Bus Statio East Fort Bus Stand – 450 m Nearest Railway Trivandrum Central Railway Station – 1 Km Statio ACCESSIBILITY Nearest Airport Trivandrum International Airport – 5.2 Km Navarathri Trust (Travancore Royal Family) Kowdiar Palace Kowdiar Gardens Kowdiar – 695003 CONTACT Phone: +91-471-2434744 DATES FREQUENCY DURATION TIME September-October (to be advised) Annual 9 Days ABOUT THE FESTIVAL (Legend/History/Myth) The Navarathri Sangeethotsavam or Navarathri Music Festival is a nine day musical fiesta held in Trivandrum. During these nine days the evenings in Trivandrum are filled with the echo of exquisite music and honeyed voices. This cultural, musical and festive fiesta is a remarkable experience for all visitors. The music festival usually features some of the exquisite kritis (compositions) of King Swathi Thirunal, a music maestro and former ruler of Travancore. The music for the Navarathri Concerts as we hear them now was composed and codified by Maharaja Swathi Thirunal. He composed nine songs in the Ragas Shankarabharanam, Kalyani, Savery, Thodi, Bhairavi, Panthuvarali, Shuddha Saveri, Nattakurinji and Arabhi respectively, to be sung as the main piece on each day. During the first three days the Devi is worshipped as Saraswathi; as Lakshmi during the next days and as Durga the last three days. The festival is held at the Navarathri Mandapam, a pavilion beautifully decorated with flowers, located inside East Fort in the city. In addition to the display of exemplary music styles, the venue has an indigenous acoustic technology in place. For this purpose, there are earthen pots, which are kept in place by means of coir ropes, with their mouths open down towards the ground. These pots are of different sizes and thickness with their mouths having different measurements. For the purpose of sound reflectors and to prevent echoes, they are kept at different angles. National Over 40,000 RELEVANCE- NO. OF PEOPLE (Local / National / International) PARTICIPATED EVENTS/PROGRAMS DESCRIPTION (How festival is celebrated) The musical extravaganza is a combination of soulful Carnatic Vocal musical renditions and the presence of a large number of classical music lovers. Perfectly balanced acoustics, Bhajans lighting by oil lamps, the divine grace of the Goddess (Goddess Durga) in whose honor the concerts are Instrumental conducted and the disciplined and informed audience Music lend a magical ambience to the concert venue. The festival is hosted at the Navarathri Mandapam in the Fort Palace Complex at East Fort. The concerts are preceded by the rendition of the Thodaya Mangalam and Ganapathi Stuthi by the Mullamoodu Bhagavathars and are more in the form of offerings to the Devi than performances. The musicians sing and play for the Goddess while the listeners join in the worship by listening..