Few months back I read a review of this book “Nine Lives” by William Dalrymple, I picked up a copy in my next visit to Landmark store. Over the next week or so, I finished reading the book, but what an impact this book made on me. I was thinking on it for weeks now, so I got delayed in doing this post.
The book is about “Nine people” and “Nine lives”, the story is about different faiths that prevail in the Indian subcontinent. William Dalrymple, I learned is a scottish born writer who now lives with his family in a farm outside Delhi in India. What was striking to me about the book was the stories narrated in the People’s own voice, rather than the author who tries to stay away for most part and not introducing his judgment, speculation or colour it with his experiences.
The first story on a Jain Nun was very revealing for me, before it I hardly knew anything about Jain Religion other than having visited few of the Jain temples in Rajasthan. The other stories include one about a Buddhist monk who took up arms to resist the Chinese invasion of Tibet, a Tantric skull feeder in a remote cremation ground in Kolkata, A Theyyam dancer in Kerala worshipped as a deity for few months returning to his job as a Prison warden, a tribal leader from Rajasthan keeping alive an ancient 4,000-line sacred epic that he knows by heart, a devadasi or temple prostitute called as Yellamma’s children initially resists her own initiation into sex work yet pushes both her daughters into a trade she now regards as a sacred calling, a story of worshippers of of Lal Shahbaz in rural Sindh, Pakistan highlighting the difference between Orthodox Islam vs Sufism.
Overall, a must read book. I was exposed to the various faiths that are being practised in our modern India.
In a family friends’ daughter marriage today I noticed this beautiful set (below). When I was wondering what it is, my wife correctly identified it to be a decoration done over Kuthuvillaku (Lamp). How nice!
I have joined the rest of the world in posting common happenings in YouTube. Handling the camera for this 20 seconds itself, took me good amount of persuasion of my wife, so not sure whether I will post any more of these.
Video Description: Every year few days after the Ganesh Chathurthi (Birthday) celebrations, the clay idols are dropped in to water well or sea. It is a common tradition in many parts of India. The video shows me dropping the idol in our water well.Since the idols used in houses are made in clay with no chemicals added it is environmentally friendly too.
Technical Details: This video was recorded with Flip Ultra HD camera and I used the new “Windows Live Movie Maker” (WLMM) to edit the video and publish it to YouTube. You read it correct – WLMM now supports MP4 formats and a direct one button upload to Google’s YouTube.
I was invited by one of the team members in Vishwak’s media team for his marriage (nikah) today. Many of us from Vishwak attended his marriage today which happened in a Hotel in Egmore, Chennai. This was the first time I was attending a Muslim wedding religious act (the earlier muslim weddings I have gone have been for the reception events). It was very interesting for me to see different ritual methods for a wedding from the common Hindu weddings I am used to. I was lucky I had seated next to me a team member from Vishwak who was a Muslim and who got married recently (which is more important, since he remembers them vividly), explain me in simple terms about the rituals.
I am sure there are more religious explanations, but in simple lay-man terms the Muslim wedding I attended to, happened like the following:
The wedding hall was divided into two sections – one for Male guests and the other for Female guests. In general, I believe female guests (especially non-muslims) can be seated in the Male area, but not vice-versa
The bridegroom comes to the stage in Male area escorted by his friends/family male members
The bride comes to the stage in Female area escorted by her friends/family female members
Then the religious ceremony was conducted by religious elders / priest. The priest reads verses from the Quran
Thereafter the groom signs a legal document of marriage, along with his father & bride’s father, witnesses sign, then it goes to bride to sign
Then the friends and family wished the bride and the groom separately and take photographs
A good meal (Non-Vegetarian and Vegetarian separately) was served for all the guest to enjoy
Then after some time, the bride and groom see each other and jointly welcome the guests
Today is Maatu Pongal. The 3rd day of Pongal festival in Tamilnadu (India) is celebrated in honour of friends of the farmer – the cattle’s. In villages this is celebrated with much funfare, but in cities like in Chennai it is limited to visit of cows to your houses. The below picture shows a beautifully decorated cow visiting my house today. In Hindu religion cows are sacred and it is believed that the goddess of wealth “Lakshmi” resides in the back of cows and offerings given to cow brings you blessings. Like every year, my son was super excited to see this but was too scared to give “banana” to the cow
போன சனிக்கிழமை குடும்பத்தோடு நாங்கள் ஸ்ரீமுஷ்ணம் கோயிலுக்குச் சென்று இருந்தோம். ஸ்ரீமுஷ்ணம் என் பாட்டியின் பிறந்த ஊர். ஆனால் இதுவரை நாங்கள் பலர் அங்கே போனதில்லை. இந்த முறை உறவினர் ஒருவர் அழைப்பை ஏற்று அங்கே போயிருந்தோம், நல்ல தரிசனம் கிடைத்தது.
வைஷ்ணவத்தில், இந்த பூலோகத்தில் சுயம்வக்த (சுயம்பு, தான்தோன்றி, Natural, Not man made) க்ஷேத்ரங்கள் (புனிதத் தலங்கள்) என எட்டு க்ஷேத்ரங்கள் பெரியவர்களால் கூறப்பட்டுள்ளன. அதில் ஸ்ரீமுஷ்ணம் (தூய தமிழில் திருமுட்டம்) விசேஷமான ஒன்று, விருத்தாசலத்திலிருந்து இருபது கிலோமீட்டர் தூரத்திலிருக்கிறது. சென்னையிலிருந்து விருத்தாசலம் 220 கிலோமீட்டர் தூரம் – NH45ல் சென்று விழுப்புரம் தாண்டிய பிறகு உளுந்தூர்பேட்டையில் இடது (Left) பக்கம் திரும்பி 20 கிலோமீட்டர் செல்லவேண்டும்.
இங்கே இருக்கும் புஷ்கரணி (குளம்) – பூமியைப் பெருமாள் (விஷ்ணுவின் அவதாரமான பூவராஹ ஸ்வாமி) தூக்கும்போது பெருமாளின் வேர்வையிலிருந்து உருவானதாக ஐதிகம் (நம்பிக்கை). இங்குள்ள ஸ்ரீ வராஹப் பெருமாளை (மூலவர்) வேண்டினால் சொத்து சம்பந்தமான தடைகள், பிரச்னைகள் விலகும், பூமி/சொத்து இவை கிடைக்கும் என்பது ஐதிகம். அது போல குளத்தின் அருகிலிருக்கும் அரசமத்தின் அடியில் ஸேவை தரும் அஸ்வத்தநாராயணனின் (ஸ்ரீ நரசிம்ஹர் ஸ்வாமி) சந்நிதி சென்று பிரார்த்தனை செய்தால் குழந்தை பாக்கியம் கிடைக்கும் என்பதும் ஐதிகம்.
Last month returning from a trip to Danvantri Temple, Walajapet went with my family to Sripuram Golden Temple near vellore. It is built by Sri Narayani Peetam and is situated some 5Kms from Vellore downtown. When we went thousands of people were in the temple, after locking you in cages (like in Tirupati) they send you in batches to control the crowd. I suppose most of the crowd visiting were curious and interested to see the new golden temple rather than the deity. The temple, covering 55,000 sq ft, has intricate carvings and sculptures in gold. Except for the pathway, the entire structure has been made of gold and copper. About 400 goldsmiths and coppersmiths, including craftsmen from Tirumala-Tirupati Devasthanam, have completed the architectural marvel in gold in six years. The approximate cost of the temple is Rs 600 crore.Visit the official website here for more details and photos.
It was a long walk to the temple and inside the temple – as they make you walk a kilometre or two in a path formed in the shape of Srichakram (the holy sign of Vaishnavism in Hindu Religion). The main temple and surroundings have been done built aesthetically and maintained very well, the whole place is so beautiful and calm.
I keep travelling Mumbai quite often for client meetings, in the last 5 years I should have done atleast half-a-dozen trips to mumbai every year. Most of the trips are same day return trips and I hardly get time to make it to airport for return journey. So it is not surprising I haven’t seen many tourist/important places in Mumbai. It was only few months back that I went to the famous ”Gateway of India” and saw it in person.
Luckily today my meeting for the day got over early (at 4PM) and we (myself and my co-workers) had plenty of time; we were infact in Prabhadevi locality. So we walked to Siddhi Vinayak Temple and got a great darshan. The whole place around the temple was cordoned off with security and 8 feet wall. After Ganesh Darshan, we took a taxi and had a good darshan at Shree Mahalakshmi Temple. Since today was a working day and it was raining, may be because of that there was hardly any crowd in both the temples.
Being a “Chennaiaite” and a South-Indian it was an interesting experience for me to go to a Western-India temple and see the Idols, Decoration, Puja methods, etc. there. Then again temples in North India and East India are different as well, each with the local favour. The difference is what makes India interesting I think.
தமிழ்நாட்டில் போன நூற்றாண்டில் வாழ்ந்த தலைச்சிறந்த இந்துமத சொற்போழிவாளர்களில், திருமுருக கிருபானந்த வாரியாருக்கு ஓரு தனியிடமுண்டு. அவரின் சொற்போழிவை நான் நேரில் கேட்டதில்லை, ஆனால் சிறுவயதில் தொலைக்காட்சியில் கேட்டதுண்டு. அவரின் எளிய நடை, அற்புதமாக பாடும் குரல் நினைவில் இருக்கிறது.
அவரின் ஒலிநாடாக்களை (Cassette) வாங்க ஆசையிருந்ததுண்டு - இந்த முறை நடக்கும் சென்னை புத்தகக் கண்காட்சியில் தான் அவரின் ஒரிரு ஒலிதட்டுக்களை (CD) வாங்கியுள்ளேன். “சிறுவர்களுக்கு அறிவுரை” என்ற ஒலிதட்டில், வாரியார் அவருக்கேயுரிய பாணியில் மிக அழகாக சொல்லுகிறார். அந்த ஒலிதட்டின் பின் அட்டையில் நான் படித்தது – வாரியாருக்காக www.variyarswamigal.com என்ற இணையதளம் இருக்கிறது, அதில் அவரின் எல்லா ஒலிநாடாக்கள்,ஒலிதட்டுக்கள் பற்றிய விவரங்களைக் காணலாமென்றும.
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