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Oppiliappan List Archive: Message 00159 Apr 2006

 
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SrI:

Respected swamin,

Thank you for your feed back.

New vasthram is not madi vasthram. Madi means pure vasthram.

No vedic ritual is held wearing new vasthram. Even to day there are
strict vediks who insist on washing and drying the veshti,  if it is
new. (The views on what could have been probably the cause for washing
even the new vasthram as found in that mail are mine.)  But vediks
say, for instance Prof Chakravarthy Ramachandran teaching Purva
mimamsa says, rules do exist for using vasthram soaked in turmeric
(peethambaram) in any vedik ritual such as upanayanam and marriage.

The  practice  to wash and flutter the vasthram in 'sapta vaataah' (7
vayus) is found in texts and the details of 7 vayus is found in the MB
quoted by me in one of my earlier mails on pithru yana and deva yaana.
The idea is not to do any kriya, ritual or utter veda manthras or do
japa wearing wet vasthram. But in practice men folk in our families,
after drying their bodies with  towel either wrap themselves in that
wet towel and start chanting slokas etc or wash the towel after drying
their bodies and wrap it around themselves and start saying slokas
before changing into dry cloth.

Clear instructions exist that one one should not do puja, japa etc in
wet cloth. Particularly gayathri japa should not be done in wet cloth
or standing in water. The rationale is easy to understand. Water
conducts and one loses whatever energy one gains in that wet
condition.

Since water conducts, it is used for giving arghyam, and as dattam.

Pl read the research article in the following link. It shows whatever
water gets conencted with, it becomes that.

http://www.sakthifoundation.org/Water_Healing-3.htm

In arghyam, it conduts the water to whom it is meant.
In japa, the wet cloth absorbs  the energy or vibrations that is generated.
In prokshanam and achamanam, it does what it is intended to.

That is why in sandhya vandana, one school  of thought/ rationale is
that there is no need to take bath before doing it as the first two
manthras starting with 'aapohista' are intended for sharIra shuddhi
and Atma shuddhi resepctively. That is why, in Mysore Veda paata
shaala, there is  no insistance on taking bath before morning
sandhya.Only the timing of sandhya  is followed strictly. (kaaNaamal,
kONaamal, kaNdu - in morning, midday and evening sandhya
respectively.)


In madi thuni, the sapta vayu cleanses the vasthram.
If the dried vastharm is not available readily, shastras permit one to
flutter the wet vasthram in  air for 7 times invoking the sapta vayu
and then it is considered as dried and purified.

But no text says that silk is a madi vasthram. Most of what we follow
have been time and again said or modified by elders of respective
periods. Silk is not clearly a madi vasthram. There is mention in some
texts about drawing thread from cotton balls and making them into
vasthram, but silk vasthram is not mentioned in any smruthi texts or
in rules for conducting rituals.

 Even Ramayana says about kausheya vaasam, cloth made from pupa. Here
too the mention is about pupa and not about a live silk worm. It is a
mute question whether this kausheya vaaam was drawn from  pupa
diascarded by the moth.

Since Kalidasa has said about 'cheenamshuka eva', it may be assumed
that this kausheya vaasam is different from cloth from china.
Otherwise, Kalaidasa need not have said like this. The preparation of
silk as it is done today is from Chinese method. The kausheya vaasam
of Ramayana period might have been a different method and ahimsic.

Again the word  pattu in tamil means eye or nethram of peacock. From
this perhaps, the mayil kaN veshti might have come into existance.
Mayiul kaN veshti is not a silk veshti. It is about the design of the
border. This means pattu veshti is that which has a beautifully
designed mayil kaN border. This could have been woven in golden or
silver zaari (jarigai)

Again if we go into the genesis of zaari work, it is the legacy of the
muslims, not ingedenous to Hindus.

Strangely most of what we follow today, the rakshai in the name of
maangalyam, (maangalyam thandunaaneva is not a vedic manthram, but  it
is from Vishnu puranam), the mookutthy (nose ring) and the craze for
zari works are all adopted from muslims!

Another school of thought is that mangalyam found its way, as a symbol
to show that the girl is married so that she can be saved from
molestation in the hands of the invading muslims. Sati also came to
stay in that way (Recall Rani Padmini's story). The muslim invasion
had greatly affected the way the Hindus lived, changing the Hindu
culture.

But the British invasion greatly changed the way Hindus lived, the
very Hindu / sanatana Thought itself. The gifts and dowry given to
bride at the time of marriage (making Brahma vivaham an aasura
vivaham) is a British / French legacy. The first dowry given in India
was the province of Bombay during some Royal wedding. (I have to look
into my notes to say whose wedding it is).

The simple living of the Brahmin changed due to British influence. The
entry of silk is one such change as a mark of new-found affluence in
the life of the Brahmin who is supposed to shun affluence.


Sorry for having stretched the mail too far.

With pranams,
jayasree saranathan.
- Hide quoted text -


On 4/21/06, Govindarajan T.R. <trgovindarajan@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> srI:
> I am happy to read your mail about Silk vastrams. I
> was told that wearing Silk vastram is madi. New cotton
> vastram will be madi. However used cotton should be
> made wet and allowed to dry without touching it after
> it was dried with bare hand without taking bath. Is
> the theory that silk vastram madi true? When our
> elders adhered to practising madi and acharam (good
> conduct/manners), they were meant for cleaniness.
> Nowdays some of practices are going away in the name
> of being not followed in Western countries when west
> is picking up something from our culture.
> dasan.
>
> --- jayasartn <jayasree.saranathan@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> > --- In ramanuja@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Jayasree
> > Saranathan"
> > <jayasree.saranathan@...> wrote:
> >
> -----------




 
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