Kuladeivam among Tamil Brahmins

Kuladeivam among Tamil  Brahmins

By

P.R.Ramachander

a.Brahmins  in Tamil Nadu

  There is an opinion that  there  are no Kula Deivam for Brahmins  but they have  adopted it from other castes  who worship their Grama DEvathas (called  Kaval deivangal- Gods who protect) .

     I have met large number of tamil Brahmins.To most of the people   from Thanjavur  Vaitheeswaran koil  is the Kula deiva. To most of the people of Tirunelveli district either Gomathi Amman or Sastha are Kula deivams.

    But I have also met some Tamil Brahmins  who have  the Kaval deivangal  has Kula Deivam  For example  Periya  AAndavat, Ayyanar etc.

   I read some where  that Kanchi Kamakshi   is Kula deivam of  certain Brahmins  in Tamil Nadu

I do not know  about Kula deivams  of Iyengar Brahmins, though there are references that they worshipped  Lord Narayana in many of his incarnations   in different places of Tamil Nadu    as their  Kula deivam.

   b. Palakkad Brahmins

    Most of them  have an Adima kavu .According  to ancient Malayalam Kavu  are  guardian temples of Kerala Villages and mostly whereGoddess  Statue  consecrated  below  a tree.Over time they might have built  temples  for these  Goddesses .Very much like Tamil Nadu  , almost  every Kerala village has a Kavu.

    Possibly  when Tamil Brahmins settled in {alakkad, they adopted the Kavu  of the village  where  they have settled as Adima Kavu. Once when they lost contact with  Tamil Nadu  , they must have started  calling these adima Kavu as  their  Kula Deivam

   Unlike  Palakkad Brahmins  most of the Brahmins  settled near  Trivandrum , have  their  own Tamil Nadu  Kula deivam temple  in Tirunelveli district

    I understand  Brahmins   who have settled  in Moncombu  have a kula deivam temple  near  Thanjavur

There is a very deatailed  Discussion about  Brahmins and Kula Deivatha  https://www.tamilbrahmins.com/threads/brahmins-kula-devatha.3111/

All mother’s are casteless

All  mother’s  are casteless

Rewritten by

P.R.Ramachander

(Some one send me an English tranbslation of this  from Marathi.  I put it in my own words.

Simply superb   thought process .I dedicate this  to all casteless  mothers.Thanks  to my daughter  who is a mother  for sending it)

A caste  survey was  being taken,

And a women was  asked by the surveyor,

What  caste  do   you belong?

She  laughed and asked “as mother or as a woman”

He was perplexed    and   asked her  ,

“Are  they  different?’  and she  again laughed,

“AS a woman , the  caste  of  my family,

And as a  mother, I am caste  less.”

“ As a mother  , I clean the poo,

Urine  And  vomit of my  child”

And I thoughtCleaning was done by shudhras,

And because  of that , I am a Shudra”

AS a mother  , I  protect my child,,

From all evil beings and influences,

And I Though  is a job of Kshatriya to protect,

And Because  of that  , I am a Kshatriya”

As a mother  , when child grows  up,

I teach him all  god things  including religion,

An I thought , it is the job of Brahmin to teach,

And because of that, I am  a Brahmin”

As a mother, when  my child  starts spending money,

I teach them, how wisely to spend and save monry,

And I thought, money management  is a job of Vaisya.

And because   of that, I  am  a Vaisya  too.

Old age- A hindi poem

बुढापा  Old age

Hindi poem

Translated by

P.R.Ramachander

(The  text of hindi poem below my translation.)

In the early morning,

Some body knocked at my door,

I suddenly got  up and went,

And opened   the door,

And there  old age was standing

And from coming   inside,

It stood there  adamantly

I said,

“No brother,

Not now

After all   what is my age now”

He laughed  and told

Do not  make  an unnecessary effort,

Stopping  me   is not agreeable

I told ,

Now   allow me some more time,

Till now,

I have lived for myself,

Now cleverness  has come,

So for some time  ,

For   sake of others  ,

Allow  me live with my friends”

Old age  laughed   and told,

“If that  is the matter,

Do not get worried,

Your   age   will keep on increasing,

But old age   will not come

As long as you live for sake of others,

Along with your   friends,

You will   receive   youth

“So friends from today  onwards,

Do not   get worried about  increasing age

Start   living   from today ,

To others   as well as your friends,

And make   your old age  in to youth”

Provide   help to others,

And   arrange  entertainments    to your friends

As long  as  you live  ,

Live  as a young man

FOREVER

YOUNG & HAPPY

बुढापा   old age

 ——-

सुबह सुबह किसी ने

 द्वार खटखटाया

मैं लपककर आया

जैसे ही दरवाजा खोला

तो सामने बुढ़ापा खड़ा था

भीतर आने के लिए

 जिद पर अड़ा था..

मैंने कहा

"नहीं भाई!

अभी नहीं

अभी तो मेरी उमर ही कया है..''

वह  हँसा और बोला

बेकार कि कोशिश ना कर

मुजे रोकना ना मुमकिन है

मैंने कहा

".. अभी तो कुछ दिन रहने दे,

अभी तक

 अपने ही लिए जीया हूँ ..

अब अकल आई है

तो कुछ दिन

दूसरों के लिए और

दोस्तों के साथ भी जीने दे..''

बुढ़ापा हस कर बोला

"अगर ऐसी बात है

तो चिंता मत कर..

उम्र भले ही तेरी बढ़ेगी

मगर बुढ़ापा नहीं आएगा,

तू जब तक दूसरों के लिए और

दोस्तों के साथ जीएगा

खुद को जवान ही पाएगा..''

तो दोस्तों चलो आजसे ही

बढ़ती उम्र का लुत्फ़ उठाइये

दूसरों और दोस्तों के लिए

जीना सुरु करे

और अपने बुढ़ापे को

जवान बनाए

दुसरो को सहायता करे और

दोस्तों की महेफिल सजाते रहे

जब तक ज़िंदा रहे

जवान रहे

A new way of looking at marriage of God Vishnu and Goddess Lakshmi

A new  way of looking  at  marriage  of God Vishnu  and  Goddess  Lakshmi

By

P,R.Ramachander

       All of us know  that Goddess  Lakshmi  came out of the ocean of milk  and Lord Vishnu  claimed her   as his., In the Bhajana Padathi  , the  marriage is celebrated as if it is Brahmin  marriage

      About ten days back   I started  translation of  a great Kannada prayer  called  “Lakshmi  Snobhane”.This also  deals  with marriage  of Lakshmi  with Lord Vishnu .Here  after   coming out of the ocean of milk, she holds  a SWayamvara, rejects  all Gods  for various reasons  and decides to marry lord Vishnu

   Her father (the god of ocean Varuna )  celebrates  in a great  manner. After   the marriage Lord Vishnu   takes  the form of Mohini to  solve the dispute   between Asuras  and devas.

    Goddess Lakshmi  happens to  Lord Vishnu  in a form of mohini and says  “You are  much prettier than me  .Why did you marry me?”

I have never heard   about this incident between Goddess Lakshmi and Mohini

Hammer not key opens lock easily

Hammer not key  opens lock easily

By

P.R.Ramachander

(based on whatsapp message in tamil.Thanks to original author)

A wife  gave  a cup of coffee  to her husband ,

And he saw  an ant  floating  in the coffee,

He became very angry   , called his wife,

And poured  the hot coffee  over her head,

The   wife got angry  , they shouted at each other,

And both were  sad  and upset  all the day.

Another  wife  gave  a cup of coffee  to her husband,

And he also saw an ant  floating in the coffee,

He called wife and told  “Your coffee  appears to  be great ,

See  an ant attracted by it , fell on it to  drink it and committed suicide,

The wife realized , her mistake and rushed to make another coffee,

And took  all care  to avoid ants in  sugar and both were  greatly happy.

Joy or sorrow   of life depends  on how   we handle  life,

Please never think   you only can get angry   and,

Know that   anger and shout  spoils your life.

But If you find an error, if you jocularly  point it  out to her,

That error  will never be committed by her  again.

The hammer  asked   the key  , “I am stonger than you,

But I am not able to open the lock easily   but you do it in a jiffy.

And the key replied,”To open the lock  you hit on its head,

But I  touch   the heart  of the lock  with softness  and care”

And further he   told the lock ”love and humour not anger  rules the world.”

To cheat God is a difficult job

To cheat  God is a  difficult job

Translated by

P.R.Ramachnder

One man was standing in a queue  to visit a temple,

There was money box on their way to drop contributions

This man had a torn ten rupee  note   in his hand,

And he thought,if I put  it, even god  cannot find out

AS he neared  the box some one  behind  gave him,

A two thousand rupee note and thinking it wasthat man’s,

Contribution to God  , he put it in contribution box

And when he came  out of the temple  , he saw that man.

He told him, “Sir you are  really great  to put  two  thousand ,

As your contribution “ and  that ma said,”It was your money,

And it fell down from your pocket    and I  only gave it to you”

He heard God laughing and saying “trying to deceive me?”

Story of a very intelligent king

Story  of a very intelligent  king

Translated  by

P.R.Ramachander

There  was a kingdom  on a huge  river shore

 In  which  any one  wanting  to become   a king  can become ,

A king for  five years  and later   they  would,

Be left to the  other  shore  of  the  river.

The other shore   was a huge , thick forest,

Which was  full of very dangerous   wild animals,

With no human beings living there,

And all kings will cry horribly while going there.

It was time for  one king to go  to the other shore,

 He boarded the royal boat with lot of joy,

And was  cracking  jokes   with all and the boat man,

Asked him, “don’t you know you will die within a day?”

He  told , “first year  I sent thousand  hunters   to hunt,

And kill   all the animals there and they killed all animals,

Nexrt year I send thousand expert  farmers  , next year,

Thousand   expert builders   who made a great town.

Last year  I transferred  two thousand  government servants,

With double salary, with  needed  labour and  ,

They have made it in to a great town, and I am going there,

To be the king of the town   for ever   and ever.

The boatmen understood   and along with  the king,

Settled  in the new town   with double  the salary.            

My recollection of the people of my village 70 years back

My recollection of  the people of my village  70 years back

By

P.R.Ramachander  of Chelakkara

Through my write up about Pulakkottu  madam  , I renewed my contacts with some  of the people of  Pulakkottu  madams

   Then I thought , why not I write  about the people  my village  Gramam(Agraharam) .There was a problem with that  , In my 80 years of life , I have  stayed  in my village  only for 3-4 years. I have forgotten most  of the mamas(70 years back ) of my village. Then I thought  , recollect some  of the prominent ones

    There  were nearly 120  houses in the village . (when some auspicious function takes place in any house , they will break 108 coconuts before Ganapathy  and distribute one coconut per home in my village. We used to get 2 or 3 coconuts free per month) Two of the families  had migrated  from Ayilur (Chami  Vadhyar  and station Master) Two families had migrated  from Puthucode(Mine and that  of Anantha rama sastrigal).There was one family   from Pazhambalacode. AS I had mentioned in my earlier write up about 5-6 families  had settled  there from Pulacode  Many teachers who retired  from the local  Government  school  as well as government servants   who retired  in chelakkara preferred to settle there. I remember PRP meshu, Venkidachala iyer , Uruli mesh  , Yettan mesh, viswanatha iyer , Revenue  inspector, anchal  meshu, station meshu , Vaidhyan Narasimha iyer  from Kuzhal mannam   etc. one Ayyan satrigal  who was a Sanskrit teacher(I do not know his original village) had settled there. His  home was in the shore of our kulam.His home was called Kulangara  madam., There was one family  who had migrated from Kambangudi. The peculiarity of these families  were   that they  did not have  relations  in chelakkara.  

    There were  few who were not tamil Brahmins  .Embranthiri, Psharodi  , Pappada karan, Chelkkan  etc were   some oif them

     Before 80 years  the number  of educated  families were very few. Most interestingly   two  were graduates  but preferred  to run a shop in chelakkara. Some of them were   school teachers  in local  village schools. There were two astrologer families, I remember  few families who  had come back after  retirement  .One of  them was  Kasi viicha Vaitha mama  .Most of the  of the venkam pattar family, the  vaidhyanathan konthai family  the Yettayakottu   family and  Mruga vaidhyan family  were educated even at that time

  Two brahmins were running  grocery shops  in the village one  kada Rasa and another  Venkatraman(he was an iyengar  and went away) I knew  6 people who had shops in Angadi  ,There was  a vaidhyan  Krishnan from gramam  who was practicing  in Angadi . His younger brother was running a typewriting short hand institute. There was a stationary shop owner who was agent for Hindu, a cloth merchant , vessel merchant., a coffee powder shop owner who later  started  a pickles factory  in the village, Strangely there was a Mama who built a Pukkah  building Cinema theatre  in the gramam.There  were two professional cooks and one retired nurse.

   Most  of the chelakkara  families were vadamas   but there  were few Brihathcharanam also.There was a person called  Kutti Krishnan Karnor(I do not know much about him)  and there  was a person called  Kanakezhuthu  Shivaraman who used to keep accounts  in another Brahmin house .

  Large amount of migration took place from Chelaklkara .There is a Chelakkara  Welfare  association in Mumbai   who rent a marriage hall one day in every year and all members  with their family spend 24 hours there. There is a chelakkara  Friends  Association in Palghat,The descendents of Chami  Vadhyar family are running thefamous Thangam Pickles in Palghat

  My googfle search revealed that there  was famous artist from chelalakkara  in a  cheriya gramam , Chelakara .I neither recollect cheriya gramam   nor any artist  in Chelakkara  (  http://wikimapia.org/17736941/Artist-Anantharama-Iyer )

A humble request to all sons

A humble  request   to all sons

By

P.R.Ramachander

(I  read an English write up about this by  my friend  Sri Devanathan Srinivasarangan based on a telugu  poem. I liked it and am presenting it  in the form that I want  with grateful thanks to my friend)

 

Mom carries  you for nine months,

Dad carries you for twenty five years,

You keep Mom  in the Front  and Dad at the back

Mummy works   day and night without pay,
dad pays   all he earns   to the family,
You keep Mom in the Front  and Dad  at the back

Mummy cooks    all that family wants,

With all   groceries that   Dad buys,

You keep Mom in the Front  and Dad  at the back

Your  Mummy has  an almirah full of Saris and dresses,

Your dad  has few cloths in a   corner  of shelf,

You keep  Mom in the Front  and Dad  at the back

Your mummy  has  several ornaments made of Gold,

Youd Dad  has one dhothi  with gold coloured border,

You keep Mom  in the Front  and Dad  at the

Mom buys cheaper Sari  during festivals  when times are hard,

Dad never   even thinks  of the cloth store  at that time 

You keep Mom  is in the Front  and Dad  at back

When you call from usa  you talk to your Mom,

But when time is over, you say  , next time to Dad,

You keep Mom in the Front  and Dad  at the back

All dads  are  at back  , because  they  are,

The back bones  of the family and due to them

All of us are able  to stand  erect and straight

And So please  honour  Dad   and Mom equally well

Old age +Solitude = Torture

Old age +Solitude  = Torture

Translated by

P.R.,Ramchander

(Translation after  Tamil Text)

Some one sent me in whatsapp :-

*முதுமை + தனிமை= *கொடுமை !

பிள்ளையை... பெண்ணை... பெற்று, வளர்த்து, படிக்க வைத்து..., ஆளாக்கி..., மணமுடித்து... வைக்கிறோம்!

வேறு ஊரில்..., வேறு மாநிலத்தில்..., வேறு நாட்டில்... வேலை நிமித்தமாக சென்று விடுகிறார்கள்...

இங்கு... 70 வயதிற்கு மேல்... வாழ்ந்த வீட்டிலேயே தனிமை...

இங்குதான் என் மகள் படிப்பாள்...

இங்குதான் விளையாடுவாள்...

என் மகன் கிரிக்கெட் ஆடி உடைத்த ஜன்னல் இதுதான்...

என்று ஏதோ ஆர்க்கியாலஜி போல அவைகளை நினைத்துப் பார்த்து....

என்ன சமைப்பது?...

என்ன சாப்பிடுவது?...

அரை டம்ளர் அரிசி வடித்தாலே மிச்சம்..

பல காய்கள் உடலுக்கு ஒத்துக் கொள்ளாது...

தனிமை... வெறுமை...

அவர்கள் இருக்கும் இடத்திற்கு போகலாம் என்றால்...

பயணம் ஒரு கொடுமை...

லோயர் பர்த் கிடைக்கவில்லை - என்றால் எல்லோரிடமும் பிச்சை எடுக்க வேண்டும்...

சென்னை சென்ட்ரல் - போய்ச் சேருவதே ஒரு யாத்திரை ஆகிவிட்டது...

ஓலாவும், ஊபரும்...

நமக்கு தேவைப்படும் நேரத்தில்,

பீக் hour சார்ஜ்

போட்டு களைப்படைய

செய்கின்றனர்...

நான்கு அடி உயர பச்சை குதிரை தாண்டிய கால்கள்....

இன்று சென்ட்ரலில், அரை அடி படி ஏற... இறங்க... கைப்பிடி கேட்கிறது...

எல்கலேட்டரில் போக மனசு குதித்தாலும்...

வாட்ஸ்ஆப் வீடியோக்கள் மனதில் வந்து, வந்து பயமுறுத்துகின்றன!

இவை வேண்டாமென ஒதுங்கி...

பிள்ளையை வாட்சப்பில் பிடிப்போம்...

பெண்ணை வீடியோ காலில் அழைப்போம்...

என்றால்...

அந்த நேரம் அவர்கள்...

ஏதோ ஒரு மாலில்...

ஏதோ ஒரு ஓட்டலில்...

ஏதோ ஒரு சினிமா தியேட்டரில்...

பிசியாக இருப்பார்கள்...

"ஏதாவது அர்ஜன்ட்டா? அப்புறம் கூப்பிடறேம்ப்பா..." என்பார்கள்...

"இல்லை" என்று ஃபோனை கட் பண்ணி விடுவோம்...

நாலு நாள் கழித்து...

"எதுக்குப்பா ஃபோன் பண்ணினே?" என்று கேட்பர்...

நான் பாசத்தோடு வளர்த்த என் பிள்ளைகள்...

அவர்கள் டைமிற்கு...

நம் தூக்க நேரம்...

பாசத்தை என்றும் மிஞ்சுகிறது தூக்கம்!

நமக்கு பேரப் பிள்ளைகளின் மேல் இருக்கும் பாசம்...,

அவர்களுக்கு, நம்மிடம் இருக்காது.

மூன்று வயது வரைதான் தாத்தா... பாட்டி... என்று அடிக்கடி ஃபோனில் கூப்பிட்டு பேசுவர்...

பிறகு எப்போது அவர்களை ஃபோனில் அழைத்தாலும்...

அவன் வெளியே விளையாடறான்...

அவன் கம்ப்யூட்டர் கேம்சில் இருக்கான்...

அவன் டியூஷன் போயிருக்கான்...

யோகா போயிருக்கான்...

என்று ஏதோ ஒரு பதில் மட்டுமே கிடைக்கும்...

எப்போதாவது குழந்தை முகம்... ஃபோனில்... வீடியோ காலில்...

முகத்தைக் காட்டி... ஹாய்... என்று ஒன்றைச் சொல் சொல்லி விட்டு...

ஓடி விடும்...

என் தாடி வளர்ந்த வயதான முகம் அதற்கு நெருடலாய் இருக்குமோ?...

நமது பண்பாடு... கலாச்சாரம்... தாத்தா பாட்டி உறவுகள்...

அனைத்தையும் டெக்னாலஜி முழுங்கி விட்டது!...

எத்தனை நேரம்தான் டிவி பார்ப்பது...?

இந்த அரசியல்களும்...

இந்த பொய்களும் B Pயை உயர்த்துகின்றன!...

என் சொந்த வீடே... எனக்கு அனாதை இல்லமாகிப் போனது...

ஏதோ... வாட்சப்... Facebook... இருப்பதால் பைத்தியம் பிடிக்காமல் இருக்கிறது...!

மகனும், மகளும் போடும் Status-தான்... என் அன்றாட சுவாரசியங்கள்...

"எப்படிப்பா இருக்கே?" என்று மற்றவர்கள் கேட்கும்போது...

( விட்டுக் கொடுக்க முடியுமா... என் பிள்ளைகளை...)

"எனக்கென்னப்பா... ஜாம் ஜாம்ன்னு... பசங்களோட..., பேரனுங்களோட... அட்டகாசமா..."

( மனதுக்குள் ஏதோ...)

வாழ்கிறேன்!

பல குழந்தைகளின் தாத்தா, பாட்டிகளுக்கு... இது சமர்ப்பணம்!

And  I wanted  to  write it in English my own way (dedicated  to many thathas  and Pattis  who live like that)

Old Age + Solitude  = Torture

Struggling hard  , taking loans ,

Sacrificing   all our needs  ,

We nurture  our children ,

WE make them great ,

See to it that they get  married.

They go to some other place ,

Some other   state    and ,

Some other  country  ,

For getting  higher  earning,

Better life , all alone  ,

A much longer  honey moon for us

We   are  both  very old and ,

When we see  a broken windowglass,

WE remember   that my son broke  it,

Whe we  see  the extra  bedroom,

WE see our  children studying there.

What  to cook?  How much to cook?

Even if  we cook one small cup of rice,

With half a brinjal   and quarter cabbge,

At the end of the day, all vessels  will be full.

Lonliness  is a torture , travel    at this age,

Worst  torture , and if we decide after great thought,

To travel, It is torture to reach Chennai central,

With uber  and ola  quoting high fares  and several times saying no,

It is torture   to beg   for lower berth  from young ones.

It is torture  for us to get down from the train,

With tins of sweets and savories, which are heavy.

We then decide  not  to go again  and call  son,

In Whatsapp , daughter  in Google Duo,

And they will say  ,” We are  busy in office,

In Mall, in cooking etc   etc and  we switch off,

The cell phone  shedding a drop  of tears on it

Then after  a week  we will get a  phone call ,

From them when we  are in deep sleep,

But affection   will over take sleep   and that night ,

WE both   will not sleep   at all and get tired

When ever we close  our eyes  we   dream our ,

Grand children  who till  they attained three ,

Were  brought up by us and  at our midnight  ,

When our children talk to us  , they will be playing,.

Gone to tution  and  doing home work in computer

If we humbly request  to have a glimpse   at them,

One baby face will appear  in the cell phone  ,

Which will say  to  us “Hi”   and vanish,

WE will then think that our old  customs,

Have taken them far   away from us  for ever.

How much time to see  the boring serials   and,

Really horrible news in TV and nothing  much,

To talk between us  and our own home,

Has become orphanage  to two old people.

The Status  that children put  , Whatsapp,

And Face book keep us sane   and when,

Some one asks  “How are you”

WE say Terrific surrounded by  bevy,

Of Children  and grand   children.