Archive for the ‘Tradition & Culture’ Category
A Solar eclipse myth
Posted on: January 28, 2010
Recently there was a great Solar eclipse on Jan 15, the longest solar eclipse after 1992. My parents and in- laws called me and were worried about this. They were worried because they are not allowed to eat anything between 6.30 am – 3.30 pm. There is tradition in my family, when ever there is an eclipse they will not eat anything until the eclipse is over. They will place Neem leaves on all the edible stuffs.After the eclipse they will take head bath, sprinkle holy water on all the places and then start with the regular work. May be there is this reason,why my family is following such a tradition. When sunlight is lesser there will be lot of possibilities for bacteria and viruses to grow. Neem leaves and turmeric water would purify all the substances of the bacteria and virus. They take bath to get rid off all the impurities from their body.
Apart from this, the myth about solar eclipses would be funnier to hear. Once when I was a small child one of my neighbor would say solar eclipse occurs because a snake would swallow the sun. As a small child I would look up to see a snake and finally make sure that the snake was hiding behind the cloud. This is interesting to look back now. One of our helper would say the God’s are dancing in front of the sun , hiding the sun from us. Wow but why are we not able to hear the song though. The same person stated another definition for earth quake ” Earthquake occurs because the Mother earth would shift the earth from left hand to right hand”. Myself and my dad would laugh out loud for this, but still I loved her innocence. Whatever science may be at the background for such natural process, it is spicier with these petty stories and myths!!
Papanasam Shivan day
Posted on: May 13, 2009
There would not be another day, when you keep thinking about the great Tamil scholar papanasham Shivan and his eminent songs for two continuous days, like marathon race. There would not be another day where you can listen to Young beautiful kids singing his songs with the sweetest of the tone. I’m talking about none other than the Papanasham Shivan Day conducted by the Shiva fine arts, at Kifer, Sunnyvale, California on May 9’th and 10’th.
I could not believe I was in US, rather had a feeling as if I was walking in the streets of Mylapore, Chennai. There were so many with Silk sarees, Half sarees and pattu pavadai. We had a chance to see all the bay area music teachers under one roof and their wonderful concerts. This function was all headed by Ashok Ramani, grandson of Papnasham Shivan. He performed a concert at the end of day. It was really a God given gift for us to enjoy the classic music in a beautiful way. The inclination towards the culture was too high among all the NRIS. Might be the fear of being away from the country triggers their involvement. But what ever May be the case, it was an amazing function to be in and cherished about.
Hosur Radha Kalyanam
Posted on: April 8, 2009
Hosur is a small industrial town near Bangalore. Everyone still have a confusion of whether it is part of tamil nadu or Andhra pradesh or Karnataka. It is in Tamil Nadu, but you can find traces of many cultures in that town. I’m Hosurite. I love Hosur as it was the place I lived from birth until 17. My parents still live there. So I love going there to spend time with them. I also love to go there to see radha Kalaynam. The memories of the radha kalyanam is still bright and evergreen in my heart.
Radha Kalyanam alias lord krishna’s Marriage function, is not just a ceremony but like a big festival for Hosurites. When you think of a marriage for a son or daughter what ever comes across your mind, everything will be there in this function also. The main tradition of radha kalyanam is singing of ASHTAPATHI. Ashtapathi is a sequence of 24 songs written by Jayadevar for lord krishna. In his songs he would have mentioned about 9 avatars of Lord Vishnu, Krishna’s stories, krishna’s marriage etc.. You can never stop listening to Ashtapathi. It is also said that when we sing Ashtapathi, Lord krishna will come there directly to listen to us singing about him.
Radha Kalyanam starts with UNJUVARTHI , where people will come singing Bhajans praising Krishna and we can donate them with rice or money or what ever is feasible. Then they will fix the date of the marrige, which will usually fall on the last Sunday of December. It will most probably come along with Christmas holidays. It is a three day function ( Friday, Saturday and Sunday).
On Friday they will start singing the Ashtapathi and it will go on until 3 or 4 Ashtapathis. Bhagavadhas ( The pundits who will have very strong foundation of classical music and have to the ability of sing the bhajans, Ashtapathis, abhang) will also sing small bhajans praising Lord krishna. Thus the mood of the marriage will start on friday.
On saturday morning Bhagavadhas will continue singing Ashtapathis , thillanas and bhajans until afternoon. In the evening there will be a traditional welcoming ceremony of Krishna and Radha. Krishna , the bride groom will be brought from one place and Radha, the bride will be brought from another place. You can never stop looking at the idols decorated like new couples with lots of Garlands and jewels.
Once when the krishna and radha idols are brought. Two persons would carry each of the idol. Then the procession will start towards Lord Ganesha temple at Bagalur Hudco. on the way they will sing and dance for the dholakh beats. They will also form big circle around the idols and keep on dancing, with the rythm changing from fast to slow and viceversa. After reaching temple, they will get wishes from Lord ganesha and reach the mandapam or the place where the marriage is going to be held.
After reaching the mandabam, they will sing ‘KANNANE MANI VANNANE VA VA VA, KAARMUGIL VANNANE VA VA VA..‘ This is my favourite song. This song is for welcoming Krishna. After welcoming the new couple , the Garland exchanging event will take place. In this traditional event Krishna and Radha will exchange garlands. During this the persons carrying Krishna and radha will jump in joy . It will look as if their daughter and son is getting married. They will also boost the spirit of the by standers. You cannot even find a single person standing there without shaking their head. I will be almost in the state of dancing, controlling my senses. But you can dance , no one will stop, it is afterall our Krisha and radha getting married.
After this event , there will be Katha Kalatchepam. This means there will a scholared person who will narrate stories about Lord Krishna. They will sometimes tell stories about young Krisha and his naughtiness with proper quotations from Narayaneeyam, Bhagavadham, Mahabharatham, ramayanam etc. You can sit all day long to hear such stories. Sometimes they will also tell stories about different avatars of vishnu. The way he narrates drags us into the world of krishna and rama.
After this there will Divaya Nama Sankeerthanam, in which all the bagavadhas will dance by shouting ‘Radhe Krishna!! Radhe Krishna!!’. They will also be dancing for the bajans. They will form a circle with the lamp in center. You can see the circle moving in and out , running faster and faster. I was always amazed by the way they dance. The energy they got, just by chanting Radhe krishna, they become more and more energetic. This will continue for 3 hours in the night.
The next day will begin so early, as our beautiful God and Goddess are going to get married. They will start with the left over Ahstapathis, bhajans, abhangs. Then the formalities will start to begin, Nischithartham, Kotnotsavam (Muthukkuthal), Varaprekshana, Kanyaka Dhanam, Panigrahanam. They will also sing the kalayana ashtapathi ( Radha vadhana vilochana ), one of my favourite ashtapathis. After this the Mangalya dharanam will occur where they will tie yellow thread or the mangal sutra to radha. Everyone will be happy after the marriage.
With the happy ‘”Anandham Aanamdham” song in the background , there will be flower balls jumping among the crowd. The chocolates will be thrown across the crowd. you can see 1000’s of people waiting to see the event. After this,there will be my most favourite event. Bhagavadhar will shout ‘Radhe krishna’ and he will ask us to repeat. When we do it slowly , he will raise his voice to make us shout more and more. When all of us shout together ‘Radhe Krishna!! Radhe Krishna!!’, it will sound like thunder. The entire crowd will lift their hands above their heads and shout ‘Radhe krishna!! Rahde Krisha!!’ , the sound of it will definitely reach heaven and will call all the other gods to this function.
The Bhagavadhar will then sing abhang to pray the god. I still remember, once after the marriage, one of the bhagavadhar sang about lord krishna in kannada. The meaning goes like this “I have done all my best to keep you happy, I have done all my best to give all the things you need, I have done my best to think about you all day long, I have done my best to greet you with happy face, I have done my best to not to torture by telling my sufferings, I have done all the best in my life for you and i dont need anything from you except your sight on me” , I could not give the full essence of the song, but believe me everyone had tears in their eyes.
After the marrige, almost half of the hosur will have their lunch there. The trustees will greet everyone happily and treat everyone equally. After coming back from radha kalyanam I will hear the bhajans, Namavali ( names of God and Goddess), ashtapathi in my ears.
It was always a rejuvenating experience. I always feel that my mind went for a wash after I came back. It was always a good experience to be there. Whatever I have written is just 1% of what I feel. I could not bring in the entire episode of the happenings there. When I write this blog I can see the young bhagavadhas jumping up and down , singing, dancing , praising panduranga, with their full energy focused on one divine God, Krishna. Radhe Krishna!!!
Marundeeswarar Temple
Posted on: April 8, 2009
I was always fond of this temple. Early morning before going to office the first place I would visit to say HI was to Marundeeshwarar. This is the biggest temple situated in Thiruvanmayur, Chennai, Tamilnadu. The ancient temple brings in peace and happiness as you step in. You can hear the birds cihrping, priest chanting the mantras and few others reading rudram as a whole it will be a best place for good mind. You can feel the vibrations as you go to the temple. The acoustics of the temple with the mild echos of the mantras make it more divine.
As we enter from the ECR road we can see marundeeshwarar directly. When you go the temple around early morning, when they do the abhishekam you can see the Idol of Shiva directly without any garlands and kavasam. You can see that the shiva lingam is not full , most of the lingam have been eroded. They say that the lingam is made of herbs. Thats the name Marundheeshwarar ( the lord of medicines). Its also believed that he helps to cure any incurable disease. But this must be true, as they pour milk over lord shiva, it runs all over the idol and come out, this way it will bring the essence of the herbs of which the idol is made of.
After visiting lord shiva, when we come around the place , we can see Lord Muruga ( son of Lord shiva) , Lord Durga ( a form of paarvathi, wife of lord shiva) , Lord Kala Bhairavar, Lord Surya ( the sun) , Lord Dhakshinamoorthy ( Guru for studies) , Lord Ganesha ( Son of lord shiva) and back to Lord shiva.
Then when we come out and walk around the premises , we can find separate mandapams for lord Ganesha, Lord Muruga and Lord Tripurasundari. We cant forget the site of Tripurasundari. With a beautiful 9 yards Saree you can feel you are looking at a real mother there. You can feel the power when you go there. I still remember one person, he would come there every morning and read lalitha Sahasranamam, I have never talked to him but his voice would echo in the mandapam and it would be nice and melodious to hear.
As a whole it is a big temple with beautiful and powerful God and goddess ruling the place. The peaceful atmosphere gives the best place for meditation.
Atlast I cannot stop commenting about the food. Now I’m in US missing all those thats why wanted to write about that. You can get Tamarind rice, Sweet pongal , Pongal and other snaks. When I was pregnant my husband would get those for me. I would empty everything and look at his face innocently wanting more. You cannot forget the taste of the food anytime in your life once you have tasted it once.
It is a great place to visit everyday at least once in few years!!!
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