About LOTUS

LOcal Talent UnderScored is a non-profit organization of volunteers dedicated to showcasing local talented artistes in Northern California in Indian Classical Music. Ever since it's inception in 2000, LOTUS has promoted and encouraged numerous talented local artists.

At LOTUS Silicon Valley, our mission is to make Indian classical music accessible to all. We do this by providing an equitable platform for upcoming multi-generational and diverse artists, irrespective of their age, race, gender, and income backgrounds. We leverage our mission to champion a more inclusive community by making our events free and available for all to attend, all of which ultimately leads to fostering a community that creates sustainability of art across generations, encourages diverse upcoming artists, and provides equity of experience for all audiences.

"Founders of LOTUS" and Pandit Gajanana Joshi, Founder of Sanatana Dharma Kendra who has provided the venue for more than a decade.

Late Shri Hemmige D. Varadarajan

A scientist by profession, Hemmige D. Varadarajan's first love is Carnatic Music. Over the years, he has encouraged many upcoming artistes, and was primarily responsible for the musical advancement of his children Srivatsan, Mani, and Ranjani. He is the inventor of the electronic instrument "Haemika", which enables gamakas to be played similar faithfully. Sri Varadarajan holds numerous patents in the field of electronic engineering. He is also an avid chess player, having played both blindfold and simultaneous matches. The name "LOTUS" (LOcal Talent UnderScored) is credited to Sri Varadarajan.

Vadiraja Bhatt

Vadiraja Bhatt, popularly known as Vadi is a Mridanga artist who used to reside in the bay area till 2005. He started learning Mridagam from Vidwan B.R.Sridhar and later trained under Maestro Sangeetha Kalanidhi T.V.Gopalakrishnan. He has been performing since he was 11 and continues to perform in various Sabhas in India. He is an IT professional with a Masters degree in Computer Science from IIT, Mimbai. His idea behind establishing LOTUS was to provide a platform form young and upcoming artists in Bay area to perform and flourish.

B.V. Muralidhara

B.V. Muralidhara was born in Bagalur Village (Near Bangalore) and raised by a traditional family. Though not formally trained in classical music, his keen interest in music is influenced by his mother and grand father. An engineer by profession working in the field of Data Networking, Cloud computing and Virtualization. He lives with his wife Parimala and children Pooja and Madhukar at his home in San Jose. He has learnt Veda chanting from Gurus M.S. Srinivasan and M.S. Venugopal (Popularly known as Challakere Brothers) in Sringeri tradition. As a member of the Bay Area Ekalavya Veda Chanting group, he frequently chants Vedas at the local temples. His hobbies include listening to classical music and Hiking among other things.

During 1999 after the Dasa Day celebrations, Sri Hemmige Varadarajan came up with the idea of hosting a monthly concerts mainly to encourage Local Talents. Then Sri Vadiraja Bhat came up with the name LOTUS. That is how this organization stated. Thanks to Subha and team for making LOTUS popular classical music organization in the Bay Area.

Vidwan Shri Gajanana Joshi

Vidwan Shri Gajanana Joshi is highly knowledgable and qualified in Dharma Shastra, Aagama, Poorva Mimamsa and Sanatana Dharma Jyothishya. He was the head Priest at Sri Kshetra at Gokarna, Karnataka and Ganga Dhaneshwara Temple at Sidhdhapura, Karnataka. He was also the Advice Priest at Mahaganapathi Temple, Bangalore and Shri Ramachandrapura Mutt, Bangalore. In addition, he was a Voluntary Priest at Sanatana Dharma Kendra at Sunnyvale, CA and Shiva Vishnu Temple at Livermore, CA. He founded Sanatana Dharma Kendra in 2006 in Sunnyvale, CA

Contact Us

For further details regarding participation please contact: contactus@svlotus.com

Core volunteers are:

Subha Srivatsan, Purnima Jayashree, Nanda Kishore V and Radha (Alamelu Ramadorai)

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