Fw: [t'venkatam] The Vedic origins of "maattu-poNNu": - Part 10 (to be concluded)

[Guest guest]

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

 

-

"kausalya_puthri" <kausalya_puthri

<tiruvenkatam>

Saturday, September 03, 2005 2:05 AM

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