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Dushyanth Sridhar is a speaker, and delivers talks on Hindu spiritual topics, including the ''
– New Indian Express, 7 May 2018
Dushyanth Sridhar has delivered over 3,500 discourses across 23 countries.
Ramayana
The ''Ramayana'' (; ), also known as ''Valmiki Ramayana'', as traditionally attributed to Valmiki, is a smriti text (also described as a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic) from ancient India, one of the two important epics ...
'', ''Mahabharata
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; , , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India revered as Smriti texts in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kuru ...
'', ''Bhagavata Mahapurana'', ''Vishnu Purana
The Vishnu Purana () is one of the eighteen Mahapuranas, a genre of ancient and medieval texts of Hinduism. It is an important Pancharatra text in the Vaishnavism literature corpus.
The manuscripts of ''Vishnu Purana'' have survived into ...
'', ''Divya Prabandham'', and the lives and works of Hindu saints. He renders traditional pravacana (discourses), is a harikatha exponent, author, director and actor.
He manages ''Deśika Dayā'', a charitable trust that carries out cultural and spiritual activities.
Education
Dushyanth Sridhar completed his schooling from NSN Matriculation Higher Secondary School and completed his graduation in Chemical Engineering and postgraduation in Chemistry from BITS Pilani.An engineer's guide for 'app' solute divinity– New Indian Express, 7 May 2018
Gurus and Acaryas
He has learnt ''Śrī Bhāṣyam'', ''Gītā Bhāṣyam'', ''Rahasya Traya Sāram'', ''Bhagavad Viṣayam'', ''Śatadūṣaṇī'' and ''Tirunetuntāṇṭakam'' from ācāryas like Villivalam Śrī Nārāyaṇa Mahādeśika, Nāvalpākkam Śrī Rāmānuja Tātācār, Cetlur Śrī Śrīvatsānkācār, Nelvoy Śrī Soumyanārāyaṇācār, Villur Śrī Karuṇākarācār and Devanārvilāgam Śrī Sāranāthācār.Talks and Discourses
Dushyanth Sridhar has delivered over 3,500 discourses across 23 countries.
Productions
He has conceptualized and produced classical dance productions including ‘''Agre Paśyāmi''’, ‘''Rāmāyaṇa Sudhā''’, ‘''Śrīnivāsam Prapadye''’ and ‘''Araṅganin Pādaiyyil''’.Movies
Actor
Dushyanth Sridhar acted as the protagonist in the Maṇipravāla movie 'Vedānta Deśika', produced and directed by veteran film-maker Muktha Srinivasan (2018). The movie was a portrayal of the life of Swamy Vedanta Desika. He learnt maṇipravāla (a mixture of Tamil and Sanskrit, spoken in earlier times), and wrote the storyline and dialogues for the movie.Director
Dushyanth Sridhar directed the Sanskrit movie '' Sakuntalam'', starring Payal Vijay Shetty and Shubham Jaibeer Sahrawat. At the Rajasthan International Film Festival held at Jodhpur, the movie won the Special Viewers’ Choice award for Best Regional Feature Film.Web-tele series
Special appearance
Books
Dushyanth Sridhar authored a coffee-table book titled ‘''Vedānta Deśika'' – ''the peerless poet-preceptor''’ for the JSJS trust (2018). In 2024, he published ‘''Rāmāyanam – Vol 1''’ (HarperCollins). In it, Dushyanth presents the ''Ramayana'' as a dialogue between Narada and Valmiki.Yatras (Heritage Tours)
In the last decade, Dushyanth Sridhar has organized heritage tours to 200 temples with over 3,500 yātrīs. The yātrās have been organized toDivya Desam
Divya Desam (, ) or Vaishnava Divya Desams are the 108 Vishnu and Lakshmi temples that are mentioned in the Nalayira Divya Prabandham, works of the Alvars, the poet-saints of the Sri Vaishnavism, Sri Vaishnava tradition. By comparison, the Paad ...
s and Abhimana Sthalams in India, Bhutan, Cambodia, Nepal, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. During these yātrās, he has rendered discourses (in Tamil) on ancient Hindu scriptures, and details of the visiting sites, in both aspects viz. religion and architecture.
Religious activism
PIL filed over Tirupathi Laddu Adulteration
On 19 September 2024, a massive controversy erupted when the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Chandrababu Naidu, claimed that, during the administration of the former Chief Minister, Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, the ghee used for Tirupati laddu offered by theSri Vekateswara Swamy Temple, Tirumala
The Venkateswara Temple of Tirumala or Sri Venkateswara Swami Temple is a Hindu temple situated in the hills of Tirumala, Tirupati Urban Mandal in the Tirupati district of Andhra Pradesh, India. The temple is dedicated to Venkateswara, a form ...
to its devotees included beef tallow, fish oil, and pig lard in its ingredients. The news of adulteration of the offerings that would be sanctified and offered to devotees sparked outrage, with many accusing the authorities of disrespecting religious sentiments.
On 24 September 2024, Dushyanth Sridhar, along with historian and author Vikram Sampath
Vikram Sampath is an Indian popular historian and columnist, who is noted for writing biographies of Gauhar Jaan, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and Mysore Kings. He is Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, an Eisenhower and Aspen Global Fellow ...
, filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court of India, to move the Court to establish accountability in Hindu temples managed by government bodies, and to divest government / bureaucratic hold over temples.Desika Daya website: https://desikadaya.org/about
Awards and Recognitions
References