In Sanskrit, swagatham suggests come to the self. We say it to welcome you to The Temple of Fine Arts - the sanctuary for the arts founded by His Holiness Swami Shantanand Saraswathi.
It was in 1981 that Swamiji lit a lamp to symbolise the beginning of something very beautiful for the arts, especially music and dance. In the preceding years, he had brought together two extraordinary dancing couples - Gopal and Radha Shetty and Sivadas and his spouse Vatsala - who were the main forces in creating awareness and appreciation of Indian classical dance.
The aim was to help Malaysian youth rediscover the cultural, artistic and spiritual wealth of their forefathers and to make it relevant for themselves and for future generations to come.
Swamiji believed that music and dance were essential to the holistic development of the child. He envisioned that The Temple of Fine Arts would be the place where a young child could learn music and dance from teachers who understood the true source of creativity and inspiration.
