VISHUKKOTI I was watching TVserials in Malayalam for the last three days. In most of them a new itemintroduced is Vishukkoti,giving/ complimenting new dress on the occasion of Vishu in Kerala. If myremembrance is correct giving/complimenting new clothes was a custom duringOnam only. Though people wore new clothes on the occasion of Vishu,complimenting vishukkoti was not there. Customs are changing.
Vishukaineetam wasan item given to members of the family and people associated with a family. Veryfew temples offered Vishukaineettam till recently for a limited time todevotees. Devotees used to keep it safe in cash box. Now most temples give Vishukaineetam to devoteesand that too for the full day to devotees coming to the temple. The specialityof Vishukaineettam in specified temples has disappeared. Vishukaineetam is givenin Tamilnadu temples also. Karnataka I am not sure. That too, if one devotee desireto all members in a family, in Tamilnadu temples. Vishukaineetam wasjust given and received with smile. Performing Namaskaram or touching the feet was not thereas a practice in families.Now most serials show after accepting vishukaineettam people touching the feetof elders giving it. Once such a seen appear in a TV serial or film, people graduallyfollow it as a custom. Thereis no harm in performing Namaskaram, but I mention that it was not thepractice. Another thing Ihave observed is Mehandicelebration before marriage in Kerala. Not only on the occasion offirst marriage, on the occasion of 2nd marriage also in a soap.Applying a small quantity of mylanchi in palm was a custom among Brahmin Womenin south India. It was strange to see some men also applying mylanchi in Tamilnadu. Now Mehandi, the north Indiancustom has come among all Hindu families during marriage. Manjal Kuli( Turmeric bath)- Taking bath in water addedwith turmeric powder in abundant by men and women andwearing yellow clothes. I have seen the bride wearing yellow sari and marriage ritualis somewhat covered using yellow cloth in a Telugu Brahmin marriage. Now it hasbecome a custom among Hinducommunities in Kerala including Brahmins to fix an auspicious date beforemarriage for Turmeric bath. Recently there was such a function inone of my relative’s home. Earlier we hadthree days marriage. I think it is repeating now, only exception it is not continuous but with break. Slowly customs arechanging and after a period these would become the regular custom. Whileadditions come , deletions also will be there. We are going to see them. I had a young Vadakalaiiyengar from Chennai as colleague while working in Calicut. Later he gottransfer to Chennai, and he came for training to Trivandrum. I was working atTrivandrum at that time. He wanted to know -where is Kasavukadai, to purchase sarifor his wife. I made a strange look athim since Kasavukadai sarees are white or very light cream in colour. Heexplained- Before her desire colour is not important sir. I will somehow convince my parents. He purchased three sarees from Kasavukadai. R. Gopalakrishnandated 17-4-22. -- 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/965355852.301274.1650165970254%40mail.yahoo.com.
