Guest guest Posted July 25, 2002 Report Share Posted July 25, 2002 font-family:Arial">I had heard objections from some conservative South Indians about women wearing tilak. Apparently it is not a traditional practice, according to them. With that in mind, I found the following verse from the Vaalmiiki Raamaayana interesting: font-family:Arial"> sevamaane hada.m suurye dishamantakasevitaam | vihiinatilakeva strii nottaraa dik prakaashate || raa 2.16.8 || font-family:Arial"> font-family:Arial">As the sun firmly adheres to the quarter inhabited by the god of Death (viz, the south), the northern quarter looks no more charming than a lady without Tilaka (an auspicious mark on the forehead). font-family:Arial"> font-family:Arial">This would seem to imply quite the opposite – that wearing of tilak is in fact the original practice in Vedic India. One wonders why it has fallen out of favor among Vaishnavas in India (outside our sampradaaya). In any case, the ISKCON practice appears to be appropriate, scripturally speaking. Does anyone know if women wearing tiilak was also standard in the pre-Bhaktisiddhaanta era of Gaudiiya Vaishnavism, or is it something that was (re)introduced by Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada? font-family:Arial"> font-family:Arial;mso-no-proof:yes">H. Krishna Susarla font-family:Arial;mso-no-proof:yes">www.achintya.org 12.0pt;mso-no-proof:yes"> 12.0pt"> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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