andhya Anand
Carnatic Vocalist & Violinist
2025 Individual Artist Fellow - NJ State Council on the Arts
Sandhya Anand started Saüskçtasaïgãtam School of Music sole objective to teach the traditional Indian Music in its authentic form to seeking minds and bring out the best in them. She is enthusiastic about sharing the tradition and legacy she received from her revered Gurus. Her aim is to make her students torch bearers of the tradition (sampradaya) and shape them into future performers, rasikas and teachers.
It was with a sense of honor, privilege and pride, that she embarked on this beautiful journey by establishing an institution where Sanatana Dharma, Sangitam, Samskriti and Sahityam can coexist in a joyous manner. She also wants to impart the beauty of Sanskrit literature -- Kàvyas, Nàtakas, Itihàsas, Puràõas coupled with the beautiful Kãrtanas, Kçtis and other musical forms to enthusiastic aspirants. Practical music, theoretical aspects and requisite language skills is taught to bring out overall development in the students. Her students have developed a deep passion for the art in addition to bagging accolades at prestigious festivals and competitions for their performances.
The Saüskçtasaïgãtam School of Music was formed in 2009. The school's purpose and core value is based on the cornerstone of building a legacy and robust foundation of performing artists/connoisseurs with a deep sense of passion alongside commitment towards upholding the tradition of South Indian Classical music and the divine language Sanskrit. The school considers its remit to keep alive the rich traditions of Classical music and Sanskrit language so the future generations can witness and enjoy their beauty.
The story behind the name "Saüskçtasaïgãtam School of Music"
Right from childhood, Sandhya has had a fascination towards Saïgãtam (music) and Saüskçtam (Sanskrit) language. When she was thinking of a name for her school, she wanted to highlight and integrate the two worlds dear to her heart Saüskçtam and Saïgãtam. Placing them together unveiled several meaningful imports(samasa) -- 'Classical and pure music', 'Saüskçtam and Music' or 'Songs, the lyrics of which are in Saüskçtam'as well as 'the deeper and intimate bonds between these ancient entities as elaborated in the Sàmaveda scripture'.
The "Saüskçtam" in "Saüskçtasaïgãtam School of Music" is depicted by the small two headed drum, ôamaru while the Violin scroll represents the Sangitam part. The ôamaru is known as the instrument of Lord Shiva. The powerful vibrations and sounds that emanated from the ôamaru were heard and interpreted by the great sages as a sequence of syllables. Thus the first sounds came into existence in this world. Below is the quintessential. Below is the quintessential ÷loka that describes the origin of the Sanskrit alphabet from Lord Shiva's ôamaru.
नृत्तावसाने नटराजराजो ननाद ढक्कां नवपञ्चवारम् ।
उद्धर्त्तुकामः सनकादिसिद्धानेतद्विमर्शे शिवसूत्रजालम् ॥
At the end of His Cosmic Dance, Shiva, the Lord of Dance, with a view to bless the sages Sanaka and so on, played on His ôamaru fourteen times, from which emerged the following fourteen såtras, popularly known as øiva-såtras or Màhe÷vara-såtras.
01. अ इ उ ण् ।
02. ऋ ऌ क् ।
03. ए ओ ङ् ।
04. ऐ औ च् ।
05. ह य व र ट् ।
06. ल ण् ।
07. ञ म ङ ण न म् ।
08. झ भ ञ् ।
09. घ ढ ध ष् ।
10. ज ब ग ड द श् ।
11. ख फ छ ठ थ च ट त व् ।
12. क प य् ।
13. श ष स र् ।
14. ह ल् ।
The two natural svaras Sa and Pa originated from the powers of Lord Shiva and Shakti and each of the notes Ri Ga Ma Dha and Ni originated from the five faces of Shiva- Sadyojata, Ishana, Tatpurusha, Aghora and Vamadeva (The great composer Tyagaraja swami's famous kriti Naada tanumanisham refers to this in the line- sadyojatadi pancha vaktraja SRGMPDN vara saptasvara). The origin of the Music as svaras is also referred to in the Nàrada-parivràjaka-upaniùad.
Thus both the svaras in Carnatic Music and the alphabet of Saüskçtam had have a common origin.
Accordingly, in the logo, as the Saüskçtam alphabets radiate from the ôamaru on the left, SRGMPDN the saptasvara notes of classical Saïgãtam emanate from the violin on the right.
.jpg)