You are here: SriPedia - Oppiliappan - Archives - Sep 2005

Oppiliappan List Archive: Message 00019 Sep 2005

 
Sep 2005 Indexes ( Date | Thread | Author )
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]


SrI:

Dear Members :

Srimathi Jayashree Saranathan has posted two insightful
and informative articles in Thiruvenakatam list . This would be
of interest to you . Hence I am forwarding it to You .

V.Sadagopan
Moderator

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "kausalya_puthri" <kausalya_puthri@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <tiruvenkatam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, September 03, 2005 2:05 AM
Subject: Re: [t'venkatam] The Vedic origins of "maattu-poNNu": - Part 10 (to 
be concluded)


Sri:

I agree with you.
If you look into the  purpose and  purport of vivaha, it  gives a
different perspective about the status of mattu-p-poN. Further this
Tamil term has its origins in Tamil. These two aspects will be
discussed in two mails.

First about vivaha.
The purpose of vivaha and the way the rights and duties are
earmarked  for the groom and the bride amply make it clear that it is
not about what the bride brings or is associated with - I feel
somewhat derogatory to use that term supposed to have been the root
word of mattu-p-poN - which  it  is not.

The term 'vivaha' means 'vishesena vahati iti vivaha:'
Vivaha is that which gives special rights.
What are those special rights?
They are about the rights which the man can do only as a married one,
particularly all those yajnas which he can not do without his patni
or wife.

Who is this patni?
"patyAm vrathE thishtathi iti patni" (patni is one who has avowed to
stand
by Pati) - is one who stands by her pati in all his actions.

This is the basic taathparyam.

This unity of the two by marriage is due to the following reason
(perhaps).

It is about the completion of a circuit by union of purusha and
sthree.

 Purusha is 'puryam shete iti: purusha:' -the one who is resting in
the house. The root words are 'puh' or 'pura' which means city,
abode, dwelling etc. The body is the
city (BG 5-13) with 9 openings. Since he resides in this city of 9
doors, he
is called Purusha.

The female gender for purusha is sthree (sa-kara(s), tha-kara(th) and
ra-kara(ree) combination indicating sattvic (sa-kara(s), tamasic (tha-
kara(th)  and rajasic (ra-kara(ree)  nature.

Purusha as the in-dweller and sthree as the 3 gunas, make complete
the purusha -prakriti
combination. This is the basic idea behind the coming together of man
and
woman in marriage. The man and the woman in matrimony discharge the
grahasthashrama duties as one unit, with man as the doer and the
woman as the thinker.

The Bheeshma-yudhishtira samvaadham in Mahabharatha focuses on this
aspect
and tells what a tough task the wife  holds in  guiding the family
in virtuous path and thereby bringing good fortune to the family and
how she is doing the pivotal role in helping her husband discharge
his duties. (The dharma sloka on dharma patni says, `kaaryEshu daasi,
karanEshu manthri, rUpEshu lakshmi, kshamaya daridri, snEhE cha mata,
sayanEthu vEshyu, shad dharmayuktha kula dharma patni)

This is corroborated in science too that all peoeple are half
brained!! A
woman is right-brained while the man  is left- brained. The woman uses
mostly and for most part of the time the right brain and the men,
their left. The
right hemisphere of the  brain  stands for creativity, instincts,
radical
thoughts, originality etc. The left brain controls only actions.

 It is note-worthy that  both Saivite and Vaishnavite siddhanthams
have given importance to the consort of the Lord in accordance with
this reality. Uma is in the left
of Ardhanaareeshwara and Sri is at the heart of Vishnu. She is the
one who
acts as the mind and thought force of the Lord Himself. (A valid
reason
for how Sri became Purushakara bhoothai.)

It is due to this reason only, the vedas have clearly stipulated
seating
positions  for the patni, near her pati differently on different
occasions, in accordance
with the nature of the occasion.

 For instance, at the time of enthronement in the chariot (Vehicles
in modern era), on the bed of the couple, in ceremonial baths and
making offerings, the wife should occupy a place at the left side of
her husband.

In rituals like Kanyadaan (giving of daughter as wife), marriage,
installation of idols, oblation, religious rites worship etc,  the
wife must occupy a place to the right side of her husband. Since  the
latter is about duties to be performed, the patni is seated to his
right as right denotes auspiciousness and in her being the controller
of thoughts, instincts and insights. At other times her position
reveals her influence in matters concerning both of them.

It is in this context, the girl's role in being the cause of
prosperity, auspiciousness comes into fore.

 Pati is the master of the house.
About patni,  Panini defines in his sutra that patni is one 'patyurno
vajna samyoga', who rules over for the sake of prosperity.

The very first manthra of the marriage function says,'murdhanam
patyuraroha', meaning, "Oh girl,  get up on the head of your
husband." If only our boys know the meaning of
 many of the manthras they say during their vivaha, I doubt whether
they
 would be ready to tell them. The vivaha gives dominance to the patni
to
 rule over the household, and the pati for the sake of good of the
family.

If we analyse the other term for patni, namely, BharyaL , the meaning
 is somewhat similar. BharyaL is the  Sanskrit term for wife which
means
 'bharayeti iti bharya'. Bahryanie means 'breath' She is BharyaL
because
she is the breath maintaining the whole.

We can go on citing examples on how the girl is the nodal point in
the man's life, but not in the meaning that she literally brings
wealth, cattle or otherwise.

The reason for stipulating the dos and donts in selecting the bride
is to do with this aspect and it is unfortunate that such `selection'
procedure  comes to be regarded as with gaining an upper hand for the
boy's family and for ulterior mundane benefits, while simultaneously
lowering the dignity of the women folk as such, making her look like
an asset that must bring fortunes to the family. Note in this
scenario,  the groom is missing - its for the family, typically  as
a bull she has to toil.

Nowhere in Ramayana, could I see a verse on Kausalya or Dhasharatha
calling Sita as daughter-in law. I even rarely, nay almost couldn't
spot  the word, pra-puthri, the Sanskrit equivalent for daughter-in-
law in the Valmiki text. (If there are any, please bring it to our
notice), they called her puthri, Sita, Mythili etc.

In Vedic parlance and in Sanskrit, she is puthri or pra-puthri, not
mattu-p-poN. Once she has entered their fold, she is their puthri.
When that bonding is not there, she will only be mattu-p-poN. And
vice versa. Let me elaborate on this in Tamil usage in the next mail
and continue with from patni, discussed above.

Even the only written part of Sita's vivaha namely, Janaka giving her
to Rama to be his saha dharma chariNi, has a connotation that she
will endure all that is going to happen to Rama. The Sanskrit
word `saha' means "to endure" and Sita  lived up to this till the end
and endured abandonment for the sake of this saha-dharma, that both
Rama and Sita had to uphold.

Thus it will be seen that the arrival of the girl in marriage into a
family is not for bringing in anything. If the family thinks that
way, that is the beginning of deterioration of vivaha dharma. As such
this trend will be seen as a latter development, not of vedic times.
(This trend firmly took its place only after the advent of English
education, which is by itself an exhaustive topic.)

For, in Vedic times, it is the man who gave riches to the girl's
parents and not the other way.

What was given in those occasions was not bull or oxen, but cows.

It goes without saying that cows (pasu) not maadu (bull) was offered
by the groom to the girl's family if one looks into verse 21 of
sargam 32 (Ayodhya khandam, yathraa dhaanam).

Herein Rama asks Lakshmana to gift 1000 cows to the brahmacharis who
have approached Kausalya for help for their marriage. Here Rama does
not mention the word cows, but says `give as sampradaapaya'. That
means it is customary for Brahmacharins to acquire cows so that they
can be gifted to the bride's family at the time of marriage.

No mention of bull here. But the previous verses do speak about
gifting of both cows and bulls , but with a special note by Rama that
they are to be given for `vyanjhanaartham' -for nourishment. Such
gifts are given to family persons. Cows are given to grooms waiting
for marriage, so that they can be again gifted to the bride at the
time of marriage.

Thus we find that Vedic practice was to give cows and certainly not
expect her to bring bulls once in the family.


(to be continued )

jayasree saranathan





------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> 
Get fast access to your favorite Yahoo! Groups. Make Yahoo! your home page
http://us.click.yahoo.com/dpRU5A/wUILAA/yQLSAA/XUWolB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~-> 

 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Oppiliappan/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    Oppiliappan-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 



[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index ] [Thread Index ] [Author Index ]
Home Page
http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia
oppiliappan-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
To subscribe to the list