DIVINEINFORMATION PART 17 Dear friends,
While going through one of my externalmemory device, I came across some good information from Kanchi Sankara Matam. I thought of sharing interesting ones fromthem as a series. Inpart 18 , I am starting with 73rd item in this posting. Sincerely, Gopala Krishnan 28-05-2021.In72 73 Grhasthaand Grhini-(HinduDharma: Grhasthasrama After a young man has tocompleted his gurukulavasa and performed the samavartana he has to wear a "double sacred thread ". He must discard the marks ofhis student-bachelorhood - the staff, the antelope skin, the girdle - and wear the pancakaccha and an upper cloth. As a celibate-student he wasnot permitted to use any footwear; he could not also adorn himself withsandal-paste, ear-studs and flowers. He may now even darken his eyes with lampblack. Adorning himself and putting up his umbrella he must approach the kingor a royal representative. The latter must be impressed by his learning and thequality of his brahmacarya. The young must acquire[from the king or the royal representative] money and material as a gift forhis marriage, so say the sastras. One point that emerges fromthis is that the marriage expenses are to be borne by the groom or his parents. A second point is that ayoung man who has had samavartana must wear the "double sacredthread" and pancakaccha even if he remains single. One'sstrength or potency is preserved by wearing a cloth whose ends are pleated, ormade into folds, and tucked in. Muslims have the end of the cloths sewntogether. Even people who do not belong to the twice born caste - except inTamilNadu and Kerala - tuck in their dhotis or vestis, not to speak ofpancakaccaha. (Todayeven when they come to see me people come in trousers. That being the case itis ridiculous or meaningless to speak of differences between the two types ofwears). In these days there is neithergurukulavasa nor samavartana nor the pilgrimage to Ganga. But there is an extra"item" in weddings called "Paradesi-k-kolam" just to extort money or gift from the bride'sfamily. The groom is presented with an umbrella, a pair of sandals and awalking stick. A ceremony called "kasiyatra" (the pilgrimage orjourney to kasi) is conducted in which groom darkens his eyes with lampblackand wears a gold chain. Those who do not marry andremain "naisthika brahamacarins" (lifelong brahamacarins) areexceptions to the rule that no man ought to remain even a single moment without belongingto one of the asramas. Thatis after theproper conclusion of his student-bachelorhood he has to prepare to become ahouseholder. The Brahmin is born with three debts: heowes a debts to the sages, to thecelestials and to the fathers. He repays the first by learning the Vedas as astudent-bachelor; the second by taking a wife and performing sacrifices; andthe third by begetting a son. So without marriage hecannot repay the second and third debts. Sons are primarily intentedfor the repayment of the debts to the fathers. Performing the sraddha ceremonyis not enough. Forefathers of the past three generationsare to be made to ascend from the manes. So even after a man dies, for twogenerations the daily libations must be offered to him. That is why the birth of a son is considered important. (The case of the naisthikabrahmacarin and the sannyasinis different. Because of their inner purity andenligthenment, they can liberate, not just twogenerations, but twenty-one generations fathers without performing any sraddhaceremony). My note- Kindly note that pithrushave libation/Liberation from Pithru status Panigrahana (the groom takingthe hand of the bride in his), mangalyadharana, saptapadi (the bridal pairtaking the seven steps round the sacrificial fire ) are important rites of themarriage function. There is a controversyabout whether or not mangalya-dharana is a Vedic rite. It is an unnecessarycontroversy. Mangalya-dharana is a custom that is thousandsof years old and it ia essential part of the marriage samskara. AsI said before, after completing his student-bachelorhood a young man must takea wife for the pursuit of dharma. The latter should dedicate herself to him soas to become pure within. Thepurpose of marriage is a life of harmony and the procreation of virtuouschildren. Grhasthasramais called illaram in Tamil and it is extolled by the wise in the Tamil countryalso. "Grha" means a house. A young man who returns to his house fromthe guru's and practises dharma is a "grhastha". One who resides in ahouse, a grha, is a grhastha. The Tamil wife calls her husband"ahamudayan", "ahattukaran", "vittukaran": these terms have to do with the houseor the home. Only the wife can refer to her husband thus, not others. Sheherself is called "grhini", not "grhastha". The latterwould mean no more than "one who resides in a house". But "grhini" means thehouse belongs to her (the wife), that she manages the household. Thehusband is the illaratan in Tamil and it means one performs the dharmic ritesin the house, "il-arattan".The wife is "illal", one who owns the house. | | | | Reference for 0 from the Chapter "Grhasthasrama", in Hindu Dharma DOUBLE SACRED THREAD : What is called the 'sacred thread'or yajnopavita has three strands that are knotted toget... | | | Thehusband is not called illan (illan, as it happens, means one who does notpossess anything or one who is indigent). The wife is also called illattarasi(queen of the house), "manaivi"(owner of the house), or"manaiyal"; but the husband does not have similar appellations like"illattarasan"(king of the house), "manaivan"or"manaiyan"(owner of the house). In Telugu the wife is called"illu" (corresponding to the illal of Tamil). Panigrahana, mangalya-dharana,saptapadi and other rites are performed on the day of the wedding. Aupasana begins with marriageand is performed every day until one becomes a sannyasin or untill one's death. The sacred fire that is witnessto the marriage is preserved throughtout and aupasana performed in it everyday. The sacred fire has animportant place in the Vedicreligion. The student-bachelor performs samidadhana twice a day offeringsamidhs (sticks of the flame of the forest or palasa ) in the fire. This rite is not continued afterhis marriage. When a person becomes a householderhe has a number of rites to perform in the sacred fire. In place of samidadhana he now has the aupasana. The latter word is derivedfrom "upasana" which termis used in the sense of puja, chanting of mantras, meditation, etc. But,according to the Vedas, aupasana is a rite performed in the sacred fire by allHindus. Though members of the fourth varna do notwear the sacred thread they have the marriage samskara and, along with it,aupasana. Dharmasastras like theVaidyanatha-Diksitiyam describe how sudras are to go through the jatakarma andnamakarana ceremonies. The work deals with how the fourth varna should performpuja, the sraddha ceremony and apara-karma (obsequies ). Reformers ignore all these andallege that members of the fourth varna have no "right" to anyrituals. Insteadthey must try to persuade people of this varna to perform the rites they areenjoined upon. Aupasana is one of the "rights" of this caste and itis to be conducted every day with the recitation of certain verses. These appears as talks by Kanchi Periyaval and written while talking. I will continue in next posting -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/1745563293.789066.1622184793197%40mail.yahoo.com.
