Sumangali Prarthanai

Sumangali Prarthanai

 

Translated by

P.R.Ramachander

 

(The details  of doing  the pooja  is  written in tamil by my  elder  sister  in law,Humble  Namaskarams  to her)

This is a prayer function  by iyer  ladies to those ladies of their family who have died as sumangalis.( i.e. died before their husbands). Generally we also  do sumangali prarthanai before or after  wedding, poonal ,seemandham or grahapravsesham too. Sometimes they pray to the ancestors and wish for anything and do this also. If we didn’t have any occasion at home for 3-4 years,

 The blessings of these sumangalis are sought by inviting 5-8 Sumangalis for a special pooja and a traditional feast. Normally the married daughters and sisters of the family are included in the list of invitees. All Sumangalis come to the feast in a traditional attire of a nine-yard sari. Here the Sumangalis invited represent the dead Sumangalis of the house and they are first woshipped and fed. It is interesting to note that this is the only iyer function in which women eat before men. Apart from Sumangalis a kanya is also invited. There is lot of variation of this pooja, which almost differs from  family  to family.

 

       The Sumangali prarthanai is not performed on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Also, The Tamil month of Aadi and Margazhi is not auspicious to do this function. Also ashtami, navami, pradamai, amavasai and pournami are not considered auspicious to do. Any Muhurtham day will be very good and also the good time to do this pooja on the day is also fixed in advanced. Raghu kalam and emagandam are not good and so a good time will be seen considering these factor

 

A.Needed  materials

 

1.9 yards pudavai , pavadai  blouse

2.Turmeric , Paakku , betel leaves

3.Turmeric powder, Kumkumam , Chandanam(sandal wood pate) , Maruthani,(Henna)  , Chukku(dried ginger) , Jaggery

3.Jasmine flowers 6 muzham, Uthiri poo(not tied) , Roja poo

4.Draw  long kolam(Rangoli) . in the centre put 8 lines, 2 kola makanam ,

In the centre you have to keep one mirror

5.Keep two palakai(wooden flat seat) , In one keep the  9 yards sari, In another keep pavadai –The nine yard sari is given to  one of the sumangslis and pavadai to the Kanya pen who is invited  at the end of the function)

6.Put a garland to the mirror, Put a garland to 9 yards sari and one gold chain

7,

A,2 Swami leaves, 4 sumangalis(Ladies with husband alive) and One Kanya pon like this 7 leaves

or

B 6 sumangali, 2 swami ilai  and one kanya pen like this  9 leaves

 

B.Arrangements and carrying out the function

 

1,For each elai  put a small  kolam

2.Keep in on one  thambalam Uthiri po, Kumkumam  ,chandanam, Akshathai applied with turmeric, Grind maruthani

3.Carrying  out the function

Previous day each sumngali  should be invited giving  Manjal oil , Cheekkai.If possible Sumangalis  should  tie  pathinettu  muzham pudavai

Whoever  is doing the function

(Karthaa) should touch  with one finger little kumkum , sandal paste ,and maruthani,(Hennna)  take some untied flower, pour little water  by utharani round swami ilai and put twice on the sari and once on pavadai,

Then like this all ladies of the house should put,Before this all dishes  should be served  on the leaves,Then show Dhoopam(Agarbathi)  deepam(lamp),Then they should do namaskaram to thegents in the house,After  giving water to drink to every body  She should do namaskaram thinking of the elders

They should keep chukkumanam(Water in which dried  ginger  is dissolved)  , Panakam , Neer more, water, little milk  These should be kept before palakai   earlier itself

 

Befor eating each sumangali  should be given Kumkumam, chandanam , one piece flower

You should keepSome coconut milk added   with jaggery  After  serving rasam little  of this should be given to drink to each sumangali

 

Namaskaram ,And before that  we should tell Arinchava  , Ariyathava, THerinchavaa , Theriyaathavaa  All people should come and take and do namaskaram

 

We should then put floweFor pudavai 3 times, For pavadai 3 times,All others once

After  sumangalis finish  eating, They should be given Thamboola They should be offered Chukkumanam , Panakam Neer mor

 

Later  each of them should be given Betel leaf paakku, Turmeric, one coconut, one blouse piece and cash of 51 or 101

 

C.Items  to be prepared  for  the feast

 

1, thayir pachadi

2 Mangai pachadi  or  Mathan puli  vitta pachadi

3.Koottu –ilavan chenai

4.Koottu , Brinjal with kara mani or  Chenai (yam) masiyal

5,Thoran-Vazhakkai

6.Thoran-Avarakkai or beans

7.Koottan/Kozhambu  - Pavakkai  poricha  kozhambu

 

Also Paal payasam , vadai  , Neyyappam , Mangai oorukai,THokayal  and pazham

Raja Thatha teaches religion to his grand children

 Raja Thatha teaches religion to his grand children

As usual Raja Thatha was sound asleep. His pet grand children Maithree, Rohan and Goldy were getting bored of the vacation. So they took a twig and put it in Thatha’s nostrils. Poor Thatha woke up with a start. Though he was angry, when he realized that it was his grand children who woke up he was pacified. Maithree was already holding a steaming cup of coffee. Raja Thatha was pleased. He asked the children what they wanted.

Maithree replied, “Thatha, you told us lot of stories about our religion from Gita. Are there any other books? Are there any stories in them?”

Thatha replied, “Maithree, Rohan and Goldy, our religion follows four books called Veda. Veda simply means “Book of knowledge”. At the end of these great books, there is what is called Upanishads.”

Rohan got impatient. ”Today you are telling very difficult names. I understand about Veda being books of knowledge. What are these Upanishads?”

Thatha replied, “If you approach a teacher and ask him to teach you some thing, He would tell you first, “come and sit near me”. Upanishad means “Come and sit near me.” The teacher first teaches something. The students ask questions, He then replies. This is Upanishad,”

Goldy spoke at last, “Thatha this is just like my nursery class. Only thing is, most of the students do not ask anything.”

Thatha replied,” That is true even then. These Upanishads contain few stories, I will tell you all some of them.”

Rohan, Maithree and Goldy who were impatient till then started shouting “Story, Story, and Story.”

Thatha understood that he cannot be further postpone and started telling a story.” There was a great king called Jana. He was very rich. But Jana was such a good king that he gave lot of what he has to every body all people in his city called him “Jana the great. Jana was very proud about this. One day some golden swans came to the garden of King Jana.”

Maithree asked, “Are there really golden swans Thatha?”
Thatha replied, “We do not have them now but old books all over the world tell about them. They were talking with each other. Jana the great knew the bird language”

Rohan, “Thatha you are telling a lie. I have heard of several languages but never heard anything called bird language,”
Thatha replied, “You are right, Rohan. But birds and animals are able to tell each other how they feel. Only thing is we do not know that language. But Jana the great knew their language. One swan told the other swan, “Dear, do you see the person there? He is the greatest king; He gives a lot of money in charity.”

But the other swan replied, “That is nothing compared to Raikwa-the cart driver.” Then without telling anything further, the swans flew away.

The king was very much amused. He could not imagine a cart driver doing more charity than him. Maithree said, “That is true Thatha. The cart driver is a poor man and a king is a rich man.” Rohan told, “I agree with Maithree Akka. A cart driver will not be even able to give one rupee for a beggar.”

Goldy asked, “Thatha, how much does a cart driver earn? What cart was Raikwa driving?”

Thatha replied, “Be patient. Along with the king let us find out who Raikwa is? The king’s police searched all over the world for Raikwa. At last they found him out in a small village near Calcutta. He was dressed in torn cloths but kept smiling. He seemed to be happy. The police approached him and asked. “Hey Raikwa, what type of cart do you drive? How much money do you earn? How much do you give to charity?”

Raikwa replied. “I drive a horse driven cart. I earn daily 4 rupees. Of this, I give one rupee as loan. I give another rupee as repayment for loan. I give one rupee as charity and I spend the other one rupee on my food.”

The police were confused. They were not able to understand Raikwa. They went back to the king and told him everything. The king also did not understand. He thought that he would help Raikwa to be happier by giving more money. So he went and met Raikwa along with lot of money. Raikwa politely refused and told the king he would be sad if he had more money the king asked him, “I could not understand how you spend your money. Can you please explain it?”

Raikwa told, “I work hard and earn four rupees. Out of this I spend Rupee one towards looking after my parents. This is because they have looked after me when I was a child and this like returning the loan. One rupee I spend to look after my children. This is like giving a loan. I spend one rupee on my food. The remaining money I give it as charity. Though I spend only one rupee as charity, it is one fourth of what I earn. After spending this I will not have any money left.”

The king understood how Raikwa was far superior to him.
Maithree said, “I too understand Thatha. Charity is not how much you give but how much you can afford to give so much.”