Mangalya dharanam

[Guest guest]

srimathe ramanujaya mnamaha.

 

The following is what I managed to take out from a few

ancient Tamil texts on the mangalya dharanam.

 

There is reference to ThAli (mangalya sutram) in

Purananuru, (verse 77) but this is interpreted as

‘Impadai-th-thAli’ which is made in the form of

Vishnu’s Panchaayudha and worn around the child’s neck

on the fifth day after it is born. It seems that

only the male child is made to wear this and the child

continues to wear it through his boyhood.

In Periyazhwar Thirumozhi (1-3-5) there comes a line,

“azhagiya Impadaiyum aaramum kondu” meaning that the

child-krishna was decorated with this thAli. Many

ancient texts such as Agananuru and Pura nanuru refer

to Impadai-th-thali as thAli only.

 

Interestingly while writing the meaning for the verse

127 of Purananuru which talks about ‘vizhai aNi

magaLir’, the writer who is none other than the famous

Sri U.Ve. SwaminathaIyer interprets this as ‘women who

have no jewellery other than their mangalya sutram’. I

don’t have access to interpretations by other authors.

While the original verse does not seem to indicate any

specific AparaNam in these words, it looks strange

that Mr Iyer had chosen to interpret it in this way.

Probably the context that speaks about extreme

conditions of despondency and poverty has warranted

such interpretation. Any way I would like to see

interpretations from other writers too. Because

NOWHERE ELSE in purananuru there is mention about any

Aparanam that signifies mangalya sutram. Dr Iyer might

have well been influenced by present day conditions

where even those women in dire poverty give

importance to wearing manjaL charadu with just a

piece of turmeric tied to it.

 

The Choodamani nikandu, which is one of the oldest

thesaurus giving the meanings and synonyms of very

ancient terms in Tamil is also conspicuously silent

about mangalya sutram. According to the nikandu, the

AbhooshaN worn around the neck were ‘maNi vadam,

charam, kAzh, Aram, thAmam’ etc.

 

Would like to know more on this subject,

jayasree