Reclaiming Epics: The Unexpected Youth Surge at Dushyant Sridhar’s Lecture on ‘Secrets in Ramayana’ at Narada Gana Sabha, Chennai (June 18–22, 2025)
- Narasimhan Vijayaraghavan
As one entered hall, confident to occupy a vantage seat for the lecture, it was pleasantly surprising to see the hall overflowing and even the aisles were filled with seated asthikas. It was unusual. The question arose whether the eternal topic was the attraction of the speaker. Of it was a combination of both. One is drawing no profound inferences except it was good to see the ‘content’ having welcome traction. Whichever way, it was a sight for sore eyes and compelled one to pen this piece.
This article challenges the entrenched belief that discourses on Indian epics, particularly those delivered in traditional sabhas, fail to engage younger generations. Drawing from the remarkable turnout—especially of millennials and Gen Z—at Dushyant Sridhar’s lecture series ‘Secrets in Ramayana’ held at Narada Gana Sabha, Mylapore, Chennai between June 18 and 22, 2025, this essay explores the evolving socio-cultural dynamic that is making age-old narratives relevant and accessible to newer audiences. Through empirical observation, cultural analysis, and sociological framing, this article reflects on the resurgence of classical storytelling in modern urban spaces.
In the cultural heartland of Chennai, where Carnatic music and spiritual discourses have long shaped the intellectual and aesthetic life of the city, traditional sabhas are often seen as bastions of the elderly. It is widely assumed that lectures on Hindu epics such as the Ramayana are received with lukewarm interest by today’s digitally driven, globally oriented youth. This stereotype was upended dramatically in June 2025, when eminent scholar and orator Shri Dushyant Sridhar delivered a five-day lecture series titled ‘Secrets in Ramayana’ at Narada Gana Sabha, Mylapore.
What was originally expected to draw a modest crowd of religious seniors turned into a cultural phenomenon, marked by unprecedented attendance of millennials and Gen Z audiences. The lecture series, conducted in the evenings, witnessed packed halls, queues for entry, and even standing-room-only scenarios—an anomaly for spiritual discourses in post-pandemic urban India.
Narada Gana Sabha, an iconic cultural venue in Mylapore, Chennai, is often associated with December music festivals and conventional discourses. Yet from June 18–22, 2025, it wore an altogether different look: young professionals, students, artists, and tech-savvy urbanites filled its rows, many taking notes on tablets or recording key moments for later reflection. Traditional veshtis and kurtas mingled with jeans and hoodies, symbolizing an intergenerational confluence that few had predicted.
This atmosphere of cultural synthesis signaled a paradigm shift in audience profile, speaking volumes about the evolving attitudes towards spiritual and mythological inquiry among younger Indians.
At the core of this unexpected success lies Dushyant Sridhar’s unique ability to decode classical texts with a modern sensibility. An alumnus of BITS Pilani and a polyglot fluent in Sanskrit, Tamil, and English, Sridhar seamlessly weaves Vedic hermeneutics with contemporary analogies, thus bridging the cognitive chasm between ancient lore and current life.A willing dropout from Tata Consultancy Services, has done well for himself commercially too. There is obvious societal interest as well.
His rendition of Ramayana was neither sermonizing nor didactic. Rather, it was a penetrative inquiry into lesser-known motifs, psychological subtexts, and moral paradoxes, such as: (i) The internal dilemmas of Lakshmana and Bharata
(ii) The oft-overlooked strength of Mandodari (iii) The epistemological conflict between destiny and free will in Rama’s journey
A superficial analysis suggests several factors for the ‘full to the brim’ turnout, including the youth: 1. Search for Rooted Identity: In a post-globalization era, many millennials and Gen Z individuals are looking beyond consumerism to discover cultural anchors. Ramayana, when offered not as blind faith but as a literary, psychological, and philosophical text, has immense appeal.
2. Instagrammable Wisdom: Short reels and memes drawn from Sridhar’s lectures were widely shared, transforming kathakalakshepam into a viral event. The digital format extended the reach of the Sabha into the smartphones of the next generation.
3. Community and Curiosity: The ambiance offered not just knowledge, but also satsang—a sense of spiritual community and thoughtful conversation. Young Chennaiites, long alienated from religious spaces seen as rigid or irrelevant, found in this lecture series a safe and open space for inquiry.
The event also countered the stereotype that classical Indian knowledge traditions are esoteric, Brahminical, or inaccessible. Sridhar’s inclusive commentary drew from both Valmiki and Kamba Ramayana, integrating folk tales, bhakti narratives, and pan-Indian variants of the epic. The turnout thus indicated a subversive return to tradition, not as dogma but as dynamic dialogue.Notably, the lecture drew equal participation from women and men, proving that the hunger for dharmic literacy cuts across all boundaries.
The remarkable youth presence at this lecture series represents more than an anomaly; it suggests a renaissance of interest in Indian classical thought, when it is presented with intellectual rigor and emotional intelligence.
This moment marks a turning point in public pedagogy—a reassertion of the epic as a source not merely of religious lore but of ethical, psychological, and civilizational wisdom. It also poses a challenge to sabhas and cultural institutions to reimagine their roles—not merely as gatekeepers of heritage but as catalysts for generational dialogue.
In Dushyant Sridhar’s lecture on “Secrets in Ramayana,” the audience did not just listen; unusually they were packed to capacity from earlier than 18.00 hrs till close beyond 20.00 hrs; they awakened. Can we so conclude? And in that awakening lies the silent revolution of India’s youth—a generation seeking moksha with mindfulness and mananam with modernity.
Can we say Sanatana Dharma, particularly in Chennai, instead of being vanquished is alive and well?
