Monja and dhrsthi

[Guest guest]

Dear Sri Chaitanya Das :

 

MOnja is a short for Mounji in Sanskrit .

It is tied around the waist of Bachelors

of age 8 , when they undergo Sacred thread

ceremony . This Mounji is made up of a rope

constituted by woven darbha grass .After that ,

the brahmachAri wears a regular waist band

around his waist during his life .

 

This mounja became the strong waist thread for

accomodating the loin cloth needed to maintain

Brahmacharyam . In the old times , they never

had male underwear of the kind that we use now .

For the monks also , this waist band is a must .

 

Regarding Dhrushti , the fear was about the evil eye

that may fall on one during the occcasion of a ceremony .

The idea is to appease , distract and drive away the evil spirits

lurking especailly during the occasion of starting an

auspicious rite . There is no saasthraic reference for

these (breaking coconuts , pumpkin , lime during

the sanctification of a new car/vaahana poojaa )

as far as I know. It is just folkloric acts embedded over

time to "insure " safety .

 

In marriage ceremonies , the married ladies will wave

a lamp in front of the about to be married couples or

the groom again for the same purpose (i-e) nullifying

the evil eye and bring auspicousness .

 

One has surrenderd the Self at the sacred feet of the Lord

would not worry about his own protection by himself anymore .

He(SaraNAgathan) leaves that responsibility or burden

of one's protection with the Lord .

 

In summary , these quaint and yet persistent customs

add color to the various home and temple festivals

and spring out of desire not to have any obstructions

to the initiated karmAs aimed usually at gaining some

desired fruits ( Kaamya KarmAs).

 

V.Sadagopan

 

-

"manoram chaitanyadas" <manoramjps

<>; <oppiliappan>;

<>

Tuesday, December 21, 2004 10:07 AM

Monja and dhrsthi

 

> Dear Swami's,

>

> Dandavat Pranams!

>

> Hare krsna.

>

> I humbly request vaishnavas to clarify this doubts.

>

> For what reason that Male members need to wear a

> black or a red thread around thier waist.In telugu

> this threadis called as Molthadi and another name for

> it is - monja.

>

> What is dhristhi?

> Why is it that only Coconut,lemons and Green pumpkins

> are used for this purpose.What is the actual procedure

> to do it.Any timings?For every important festival and

> Amavasya's my uncle does this for his family and

> office premises but he doesnt know the actual meaning

> behind it .He DOES this only through a rikshwala as

> he says that members in the family are not supposed to

> perform it.Is this true ?Please enlighten.

>

> Any Sastric refernce will help.

>

> Dasanu dasa,

> Manoram.

>

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