where wife should sit during religious rituals

[Guest guest]

Jai SrimanNarayana

 

 

previous mesg# 328

 

I have received two individual replies from fellow bhaktas regarding

this and both are contradicting, one message says wife should sit in

the left and one says wife should sit in the right which brings me

back to the same point where I was when I posted the question. Can

any of the bhaktas give correct explatnation for this. I wish swamiji

could clarify this issue and give us bhaktas a clear direction about

this. For those who tried to answer my query thank you

 

adiyen sri ramanuja dasan

krishna

[Guest guest]

Dear Sri Krishna Mohan,

 

The question of which side one's wife should sit during religious

rituals varies with the part of India you hail from. For most

people who have their family roots in Andhra Pradesh or

Karnataka, the wife sits on the left of the husband. For those

having roots or strong connections to Tamil Nadu, the wife sits

on the right of her husband.

 

There are a number of historical and philosophical reasons behind

this. Historically, a member of the priestly or religious

society would have his wife sit on his right side for the

purposes of supporting him in the performance of his dharma in

the form of ritualistic activities. In societies where the

predominant svadharma involved defending one's land or people,

the wife sat on the left, indicating that she had allowed her

husband to use keep his right hand free to fight for dharma.

This should not mean that only Tamils had priestly classes or

that Telugus/Kannada speaking people were warriors. These are

only the traditions that developed over time based on what was

the prevailing culture.

 

Please note, however, that in all practicing SriVaishnava

households that I know of, where service to Sriman Narayana is

the only calling, the wife sits on the right irrespective of the

origin of the family.

 

I am certain that HH Sri Jeeyar Swamy Varu can provide us with

more insight as to the philosophical reasons behind this

tradition. But I hope this helps for now.

 

Ramanuja Dasan

Mohan