UPAKARMA Dear friends,
This is a nostalgic writing about some past upakarmaperformed by me. Nothing serious other than nostalgic memories. I was writingit in parts for three days and today only I could complete. Gopalakrishnan 13-8-2022. 1. Period tillcollege days over (till 1964) after upanayanam It was practice to perform all functions related toupakarma in samooha matam on those days in my home town. The local sasthrikalwould come with his hand written book and spectacles early morning by about 8AM to conduct functions. My home samooha matam is on the western side ofAchhankovil River. 1A. Haircut It was a must all Brahmacharis to have hair cut in themorning. The local barber would come,some- times with his son for assistance ,and after haircut we had to take bath inthe river, come home, perform prathasandhya, and reach samooha matam with newsingle dhoti, to perform Kamokarshi japam. 1B. Kamokarshijapam It was a must to apply holy ash wetted with water asthree lines in forehead, arms, chests etc. On other days most of us used toapply the sandal paste prasadam given from Krishna temple. Since there was someirregularity to all to come together periappa used to conduct in three batchessankalpam and kamokarshi Japam. All dharbham, pavithrams and poonool were boughtby Periappa. My mother ensured copper and brass thambalam were wellcleaned, pancha pathram and uddirini were arranged all in the family. Rarely myeldest brother was there on upakarma day. My eldest brother was employed evenwhen I was about 10 years. On those days elders used 2nd cloth only towrap around waist, though rarely it was used as upper cloth while coming/ returning after upakarma. 1C. Kamokarshijapam Those few residing at a distance used to come only for upakarma, performingsandhya and kamokarshi japam at home. I recollect one such person was myteacher in middle school, Late Mr. Ramaswamy iyer; He would come with his sons.He was very close to my late father, probably not by working in same school,but both married from Kidangoor (near Kottayam) area. Incidentally, by correspondence initiated by ourmember Sri APS Mani, I could understand Mr. Ramaswamy was his eldest co-brother. The local sasthrikal was not fully pledged satirical,often he referred book. Even now I do not know his name; he was kochumadathilperiappa/Anna for all. He was always serious person; I have not seen a smile onhis face. A strict person, fearsome for even elder boys. Most elders came with Double dhoti and Uthareeyam,having haircut and shave at least within a week. Most important- Keeping mustache my Brahmins wasunknown among iyers on those days. After kamokarshi japam, all departed for tiffin, andinstructed to assemble by 11. 50 AM, for upakarma. We had to carry additional dressfor bath in the river. Bathing in river was compulsory. My late father, permanent president of samooham, tillhe became too aged, would ring the big bell at 11. 50 AM. It is ensured all assembledto start Maha sankalpam. We had about 33 Brahmin families in home, and ensured all arrived,unless otherwise intimated absence. My elder brother took charge as presidentafter him. By the time the number of Brahmin families had reduced to mere nine, most settling in other states andcountries. 1DMahasankalpam Wearing pavithram mahasankalpam was performed. AfterMahasankalpam, pavithram was removed and achamanam done. I recollect our sasthrikalwas reciting during maha sankalpa Narmada Sindhu Kaveri Godavari Namosthuthe. As boys we could not control our laugh looking at him,his wife’s name was Kaveri.We used to say, purposely he was including Kaveri??!!. On this title, in later time I wrote about rivers in India, somemembers gave correction to Mantra, how it has to be recited. The Pavithram was removed and achamanam done. 1E . Bath inriver After bath in river with head bath, applying holy ash,wearing new dhoti all youngsters performed namaskaram to elders before wearing newYanjopaveetham. I have never seen this practice in Tamilnadu and Kerala in laterperiods. 1FYanjopaveetha dharanam Now Periappa will issue Yanjpaveethams. Boys who hadperformed upanayanam were given one, married were given two, those who lostfather were given three. I am not sure how many where issued to boys who lostfather. Small naughty boys were issued one upaveetham. It was called kallapoonool. I dorecollect even myself worn such, before my upanayanam. I have seen this practice continued even now. Holding the knot of yanjopaveetham at top with left hand palm, using right hand palm with yanjoopaveetham touching water, it was worn standing in knee deep water. Eldersrepeated two/three times. Now with mantra old yanjopaveetham was removed and putin flowing water. It was not uncommon some elders and youngsters not able to remove folding correctly and make out the full length. Such persons weregiven a new set. 1 G Kandarshi tharpanam For Kandarshi tharpanam performed by all, wetted rice was spreadon left hand and tharpanam was performed taking rice from hand using both handsand performed tharpanam using both hands, holding new holy thread through right hand. Tharpanam was done threetimes. To tell the fact, what is meant by Kandarshi, wasknown to me very late- Those who wrotevarious Kandas. Most used to bring raw rice and if required thil fromhome for tharpanam. 1 H Pithrutharpanam After kandarshi tharpanam, pithru tharpanam was doneby those whose father had his unfortunate death. Periappa used to make a closewatch, someone having father, not listening to hisannouncement standing for tharpanam especially elder boys. Forpithru tharpanam thilam mixed with raw rice was used. 1I . Vedarambham Again coming back to samooha matam vedarambham wasperformed. The first line of different Vedas recited with other items etc. weretaught and recited. Probably not able to digest as a young boy, all detailswere clear to me in later period only. 1J Homam Homam was performed participated by those boys whoseupanayanam was done in that year. As like today no person departed after Vedarambham leaving itonly to few after offering dakshina. 1K Dakshina After offering daakshina by all and performingNamaskaram to sasthrikal all departed to home, after worshipping in localtemple by about 1.30 PM. Those came from distance went back by bus. Like today no cars or bikes, not even cycles were used bythe persons. Those who are more affordable gave more dakshina.Surely Periappa had a smile on seeing more Dakshina- Natural. Nowadays dakshina is collected by some representativeand given to sasthrikal in my area inChennai, he is sure minimum from a member would be above Rs 100-00. Upakarma isthe only day sasthrikal does not quote dakshina amount, even today. However nowadaysthe representative quote minimum dakshina with a smile. 95% offer minimum doublehis quoting amount. 1L AArathi At home elder sumangali waited with aarathi, after aarathi people entered home. Good feast would be waiting. Night only tiffin,being amavasya day. Only plantain leaves were used to take food and nighttiffin. Regarding Gayathrijapam, later period upakarma, I willcontinue in another 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/823030059.888483.1660404978885%40mail.yahoo.com.
