Colour blindness
By
P.R.Ramachander
Colour blind we are not,For we search a ghori for our bride.
Caste blind we are not,
For we search for Yadavs,
Dalits and Brahmins ,
While we tender our votes.
Religion blind we are not,
For we search and burn ,
Temples , masjids and Church.
But it looks like Americans ,
Have become colour blind
Have become caste blind,And also religion blind .
How else would they vote,
For a black man and not white one
Whose forefather were of religion unknown,
And ancestors were slaves in USA?
Thoughts of a 79 year old retired Indian scientist , who is an astrologer, a translator of prayers and poems and a story teller to children.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Monday, October 13, 2008
Story telling in India
Story telling started in India from the Vedic times. Though most of the Vedas are either emphasis on spirituality or rituals or philosophy, many of these are illustrated by stories. Possibly this was done with a view to make these hard core thought processes, reach the common people. While the stories about the role of nature (symbolized by the five aspects of Fire, earth, water, wind and air) are found in the main textual portion of the Vedas, large number of stories illustrating the principles of philosophy are found in the Upanishads.
In spite of all that, these did not reach the common man and the next great development in Indian thought process started immediately after the Vedic period. These were the 18 mega epics which are essentially collection of intricately woven stories mainly of Gods, their incarnations, their devotees, the enemies of their devotees etc. Unless some body reads the mega tome called Maha Bharatha (loosely translated as “Great India”) and read the thousands of stories contained there, people may not believe the story telling culture of India. All these epics were spread by a group of sages called “Sootha Puranikar” by word of mouth. Naturally they underwent many changes. Alterations, deletions and additions are very much expected in this story telling process. Each of the epics is told by a sage to another sage or a king or to a representative of the common man,
This tradition took deep roots in India. You may wonder whether they were fairy tales. Fairies did not exist in the Indian lore. There were Gods, demi gods, Ogres , Yakshas (minstrel divine singers) , ghosts, spirits etc. Many of the stories of that time had these characters. Even at that time , in spite of religious back ground, it was not always good winning over bad. There were stories to illustrate the path to succeed in life , either by fair or slightly unfair means. In the past two to three thousand years, these stories were spread to the breadth and length of the country by word of mouth or by musical discourses, dance dramas etc.
The next great collection of stories was the “Brihat Katha Manjari” (The giant bouquet of stories) written in a language called Paisachi (loosely translated devilish) which was the forerunner of Sanskrit (refined). Here intricate love stories, stories about Heroes etc are found in plenty. The story within another story (some times seven to eight tiers deep) were found in this book.
It was possibly at this time that the religion of Buddhism was born in India. This religion depended a lot on story telling to propagate its principles. The stories of Bodhi sathwas were an integral part of this religion. These characters were incarnations of Budha . Many times the Bodhi Sathwa was not necessarily human but animal or bird or even tree which did charitable and noble deeds. Apart from moral these tried to teach the common man the philosophy of Budhism. These were written in a language called Pali, which originated from the spoken language of the Vedic and Puranic period, which was called Prakrit(Meaning “Very natural”). This pali is believed to be the fore runner of the present day national language of India –Hindi.
Side by side with these developments was the Golden period of the Gupthas. Among them was a great king called Chandra Guptha II otherwise known as Vikramadithya(The valorous Sun). Many very interesting tales sprung round this great king. In the beginning due to some accidents in life, he decided to rule the country for six months and live in the forest for six months. Every trip to the forest gave rise to an adventure. These stories of Vikramadithya which included the stories of Vikramadithya and his Vampaire are hot favourites of many generations of Indians. This dynasty was later followed by the Mauryas. And one of the greatest common man scholar of that period was Kautiliya also known as Chanakya and also known as Vishnu Sharman. He is credited to have composes the Pancha Thantra (Five tricks) which is a compilation of five stories. Most of the characters in these were animals. Again the idea was not to propagate ethics but teach people the method of living.
These stories descended to the common man and story telling became the art of the common man. The same story was told to a toddler to the young boy/girl , to the lad /lass and to man/woman. But the style and content of the story was altered by the story teller depending on the age group of the audience he is addressing, Story telling became an integral part of the common man’s lingua to drive home , the points that he was talking about.
Along with the religion of Islam came a moderate group who took to the Indian tradition of story telling. They were called Sufis. They illustrated their talks by peppery stories. Storied of Khalil Gibran and Naseruddin Hodja caught the imagination of the common man in India. When the British came , they came with Grimms fairy tales, Aespos fables, Andersons fairy tales and large number of stories frm the bible. Some how these were rarely Indianised.
Every village in India had a temple , a hero a great devotee of god and great women. The very imaginative Indians wove stories round them. Many of them illustrate why a temple is considered as particularly holy,hw a devotee got salvation, what a great hero did to the village and how by sacrificing her life along with her husband a woman became great etc.
The modern education spearheaded by the British laid emphasis on the fairy tales of Europe but the fairy tales of India did not vanish. They were preserved word of mouth. A great story teller during the modern period is Saint Ramakrishna. He illustrated his preaching with lots and lots of stories.
In spite of all that, these did not reach the common man and the next great development in Indian thought process started immediately after the Vedic period. These were the 18 mega epics which are essentially collection of intricately woven stories mainly of Gods, their incarnations, their devotees, the enemies of their devotees etc. Unless some body reads the mega tome called Maha Bharatha (loosely translated as “Great India”) and read the thousands of stories contained there, people may not believe the story telling culture of India. All these epics were spread by a group of sages called “Sootha Puranikar” by word of mouth. Naturally they underwent many changes. Alterations, deletions and additions are very much expected in this story telling process. Each of the epics is told by a sage to another sage or a king or to a representative of the common man,
This tradition took deep roots in India. You may wonder whether they were fairy tales. Fairies did not exist in the Indian lore. There were Gods, demi gods, Ogres , Yakshas (minstrel divine singers) , ghosts, spirits etc. Many of the stories of that time had these characters. Even at that time , in spite of religious back ground, it was not always good winning over bad. There were stories to illustrate the path to succeed in life , either by fair or slightly unfair means. In the past two to three thousand years, these stories were spread to the breadth and length of the country by word of mouth or by musical discourses, dance dramas etc.
The next great collection of stories was the “Brihat Katha Manjari” (The giant bouquet of stories) written in a language called Paisachi (loosely translated devilish) which was the forerunner of Sanskrit (refined). Here intricate love stories, stories about Heroes etc are found in plenty. The story within another story (some times seven to eight tiers deep) were found in this book.
It was possibly at this time that the religion of Buddhism was born in India. This religion depended a lot on story telling to propagate its principles. The stories of Bodhi sathwas were an integral part of this religion. These characters were incarnations of Budha . Many times the Bodhi Sathwa was not necessarily human but animal or bird or even tree which did charitable and noble deeds. Apart from moral these tried to teach the common man the philosophy of Budhism. These were written in a language called Pali, which originated from the spoken language of the Vedic and Puranic period, which was called Prakrit(Meaning “Very natural”). This pali is believed to be the fore runner of the present day national language of India –Hindi.
Side by side with these developments was the Golden period of the Gupthas. Among them was a great king called Chandra Guptha II otherwise known as Vikramadithya(The valorous Sun). Many very interesting tales sprung round this great king. In the beginning due to some accidents in life, he decided to rule the country for six months and live in the forest for six months. Every trip to the forest gave rise to an adventure. These stories of Vikramadithya which included the stories of Vikramadithya and his Vampaire are hot favourites of many generations of Indians. This dynasty was later followed by the Mauryas. And one of the greatest common man scholar of that period was Kautiliya also known as Chanakya and also known as Vishnu Sharman. He is credited to have composes the Pancha Thantra (Five tricks) which is a compilation of five stories. Most of the characters in these were animals. Again the idea was not to propagate ethics but teach people the method of living.
These stories descended to the common man and story telling became the art of the common man. The same story was told to a toddler to the young boy/girl , to the lad /lass and to man/woman. But the style and content of the story was altered by the story teller depending on the age group of the audience he is addressing, Story telling became an integral part of the common man’s lingua to drive home , the points that he was talking about.
Along with the religion of Islam came a moderate group who took to the Indian tradition of story telling. They were called Sufis. They illustrated their talks by peppery stories. Storied of Khalil Gibran and Naseruddin Hodja caught the imagination of the common man in India. When the British came , they came with Grimms fairy tales, Aespos fables, Andersons fairy tales and large number of stories frm the bible. Some how these were rarely Indianised.
Every village in India had a temple , a hero a great devotee of god and great women. The very imaginative Indians wove stories round them. Many of them illustrate why a temple is considered as particularly holy,hw a devotee got salvation, what a great hero did to the village and how by sacrificing her life along with her husband a woman became great etc.
The modern education spearheaded by the British laid emphasis on the fairy tales of Europe but the fairy tales of India did not vanish. They were preserved word of mouth. A great story teller during the modern period is Saint Ramakrishna. He illustrated his preaching with lots and lots of stories.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Kunjan Nambiar- some tales
Kunjan Nambiar
By
P.R.Ramachander
Kunjan Nambiar was a great poet and story teller of Kerala. He was a disciple of one great story teller called Pothiyil Rama chakyar. Pothiyil used to be an expert in the art form called Chakyar Koothu in Kerala. In this the story teller would come to the stage and tell us a story illustrated by Sanskrit slokas. They were also licensed to tease the audience and even the king. Pothiyil Rama chakyar one day teased Kunjan Nambiar too much. This irritated Kunjan Nambiar. So at the same time when Pothiyil Rama chakyar was presenting a story, at a near by stage Kunjan Nambiar introduced a new art form called –Ottan thullal. Literally translated it means jumping while running. A new genre of poem in Malayalam was written by Kunjan and since he used simple Malayalam words, he could easily draw away the complete audience of the Chakyars. There are many stories of wit about Kunjan Nambiar (Kunjan for short) prevalent in Kerala. I am giving below a few of them:-
The packet of Khus khus.
It seems n the debut day; he brought a packet of Khus Khus and showed it to the audience. Packet is called pothi in Malayalam and Khus khus is called Ramacham. He opened the packet in front of the audience saying “Pothiyil Ramacha akki yar?”
Meaning “who put the kuhs khus in the packet as well as teasing his rival whose name was the same thing.
Deepa Sthambam
Once Kunjan was attending a function in which the lamp pillar (deepa Sthambam) was being inaugurated by the king. The king naturally wanted all the poets to sing about his Deepa Sthambam. He gave them lot of money for each poem. Kunjan Nambiar was reluctant and when he was forced to do it, he sang
Deepa Sthambam mahascharyam,
Namukkum kittanam panam,
The lamp pillar is greatly wonderful,
I also should get the money.
The king realized his mistake and carved the pardon of this great poet,
The king’s boarding house
Kunjan Nambiar being poor was eating from the free boarding house (called Ootu puraii in Malayalam) maintained by the king. The managers and servants there were giving sub standard food after stealing the money granted by the king. One day Kunjan and the king were walking on the main road. Suddenly they saw a cow having watery motion. Kunjan rushed near the cow and enquired “Are you also eating in the king’s Ootu puraii?”
The king who heard this made enquiries and dismissed the corrupt officials and set right the Oottu puraii.
Who is more pretty?
One day Kunjan Nambiar was taking a morning walk along with his friend. The queen and her maid were going for bathing in the temple tank.
The friend of Kunjan asked him, “Nalla Thali (good shampoo)”
And Kunjan replied “Kathilola (Studs in the ears.”
Actually they were using their mastery in Sanskrit to enjoy themselves.
What the friend asked was “Ka athi lola?(who is more pretty) and what Kunjan replied was
Nallathu AAli(the maid is better.)
By
P.R.Ramachander
Kunjan Nambiar was a great poet and story teller of Kerala. He was a disciple of one great story teller called Pothiyil Rama chakyar. Pothiyil used to be an expert in the art form called Chakyar Koothu in Kerala. In this the story teller would come to the stage and tell us a story illustrated by Sanskrit slokas. They were also licensed to tease the audience and even the king. Pothiyil Rama chakyar one day teased Kunjan Nambiar too much. This irritated Kunjan Nambiar. So at the same time when Pothiyil Rama chakyar was presenting a story, at a near by stage Kunjan Nambiar introduced a new art form called –Ottan thullal. Literally translated it means jumping while running. A new genre of poem in Malayalam was written by Kunjan and since he used simple Malayalam words, he could easily draw away the complete audience of the Chakyars. There are many stories of wit about Kunjan Nambiar (Kunjan for short) prevalent in Kerala. I am giving below a few of them:-
The packet of Khus khus.
It seems n the debut day; he brought a packet of Khus Khus and showed it to the audience. Packet is called pothi in Malayalam and Khus khus is called Ramacham. He opened the packet in front of the audience saying “Pothiyil Ramacha akki yar?”
Meaning “who put the kuhs khus in the packet as well as teasing his rival whose name was the same thing.
Deepa Sthambam
Once Kunjan was attending a function in which the lamp pillar (deepa Sthambam) was being inaugurated by the king. The king naturally wanted all the poets to sing about his Deepa Sthambam. He gave them lot of money for each poem. Kunjan Nambiar was reluctant and when he was forced to do it, he sang
Deepa Sthambam mahascharyam,
Namukkum kittanam panam,
The lamp pillar is greatly wonderful,
I also should get the money.
The king realized his mistake and carved the pardon of this great poet,
The king’s boarding house
Kunjan Nambiar being poor was eating from the free boarding house (called Ootu puraii in Malayalam) maintained by the king. The managers and servants there were giving sub standard food after stealing the money granted by the king. One day Kunjan and the king were walking on the main road. Suddenly they saw a cow having watery motion. Kunjan rushed near the cow and enquired “Are you also eating in the king’s Ootu puraii?”
The king who heard this made enquiries and dismissed the corrupt officials and set right the Oottu puraii.
Who is more pretty?
One day Kunjan Nambiar was taking a morning walk along with his friend. The queen and her maid were going for bathing in the temple tank.
The friend of Kunjan asked him, “Nalla Thali (good shampoo)”
And Kunjan replied “Kathilola (Studs in the ears.”
Actually they were using their mastery in Sanskrit to enjoy themselves.
What the friend asked was “Ka athi lola?(who is more pretty) and what Kunjan replied was
Nallathu AAli(the maid is better.)
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Which Man has a womb?
Which man has a womb?
Vennila
www.koodal.com
Translation attempted by
P.R.Ramachander
The food we eat,
The words that we talk,
All are meant to the baby,
When we are carrying him
I would deliver your child,
After floating in blood ,
For four to five hours,
So that he travels with you,
And puts your initials,
In front of his name.
If I request,
You would kiss me,
You would fondle and hug me,
And you would console me.
Do we give milk to the baby.
After he requests for it?
Which man has a womb,
To carry the girl,
Doing penance for a child,
To carry him in her womb.
Vennila
www.koodal.com
Translation attempted by
P.R.Ramachander
The food we eat,
The words that we talk,
All are meant to the baby,
When we are carrying him
I would deliver your child,
After floating in blood ,
For four to five hours,
So that he travels with you,
And puts your initials,
In front of his name.
If I request,
You would kiss me,
You would fondle and hug me,
And you would console me.
Do we give milk to the baby.
After he requests for it?
Which man has a womb,
To carry the girl,
Doing penance for a child,
To carry him in her womb.
Computers-mansions vs Mud huts
Computer
Ja Mariyammal
www.koodal.com
Translation attempted by
P.R.Ramachander
In the middle of all these human beings,
Who tell lot of falsehoods and lies,
She is the perennial God,
Who only tells the truth.
She who roams and roams,
In thousands of souls,
Is a dream girl,
Called computer,
Which never gets,
In to the hands of God of death.
She lies on several laps,
Of rich people in mansions,
And when will she come,
To the doors of these mud huts.
Ja Mariyammal
www.koodal.com
Translation attempted by
P.R.Ramachander
In the middle of all these human beings,
Who tell lot of falsehoods and lies,
She is the perennial God,
Who only tells the truth.
She who roams and roams,
In thousands of souls,
Is a dream girl,
Called computer,
Which never gets,
In to the hands of God of death.
She lies on several laps,
Of rich people in mansions,
And when will she come,
To the doors of these mud huts.
Your God !
Your God
Yasmin
(from www.koodal.com)
Translation attempted by
P.R.Ramachander
I am asking your God,
Why he created your heart,
Within you ,
For , only because of that,
I am not able to know,
Whether I am inside your heart.
Yasmin
(from www.koodal.com)
Translation attempted by
P.R.Ramachander
I am asking your God,
Why he created your heart,
Within you ,
For , only because of that,
I am not able to know,
Whether I am inside your heart.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Sagothra marriages
There was some very relevant point raised about the need of lifting the ban on sagothra marriages.. It is commonly understood that Gothra is the paternal lineage, which is important to Hindus of all shades except the group practicing matrilineal inheritance in Kerala. The Dharma sashtras, I understand also ban the marriages within Pravaras. Pravaras are important note worthy individuals among the ancestors of the Rishis who lead the Gothra. If we agree that sagothra marriages are not to be performed, then it is meaningful not to perform Sapravara marriages. I want to mention the fiollowing points:-
1.Caste among Hindus in Dharma Sasthras depend on the mother rather than the father.A Brahmin woman marrying a Brahmin , only begets a Brahmin child. If she marries outside the caste she gives birth to Chandala(with Shudhra), Sootha(With Kshatrya), and Vaidehaka(With Vysya). On the other hand the caste of the child born to a Brahmin father to the different caste mothers is same as the caste of the mother. What is the implication of this to the Gothra system?
2.Take Pravara for example. Angirasa occurs in the pravara of following Gothras viz Gargya, Angeerasa, Gowthama, Pourugutsya, Badharayana, Bharadwaja, Moudgalya, Vishnu vriddha, Shadamarshana Sankrithi and Haritha. As is known all these occupy a very large percentage of Brahmins.Apart from that Kasyapa another Rishi who is the brother of Angeerasa occurs in Many other pravaras. Realising this our forefathers have decided to perform Sapravara marriages. I really do not know when this happened and how the decision was imposed on the Brahmin community. Is it not time for us now to review the status of Sagothra marriages? Who has to do it? Who will give us the guidelines so that all of will follow?
3. I read recently in a stotra about Hanuman that he belongs to the Kaundinya Gothra. I understand that Padmavathi (A kshatriya) belongs to the Sree Vatsa Gothra. It is also common knowledge that each Gothra has followers from different Vedas. Does all this mean that the gothra consists of people from different castes and even animals? Does this mean that Gothra is not at all patrelineal lineage?
4.whatever may be the decision, if sagothra marriages are to be permitted, the Hindu law on marriages has to be amended, because it makes Sagothra marriages illegal.This is not as simple as it seems.If a sagothra marriage is performed and the boy later marries a girl belonging to a different gothra, the first wife will not be a legally wedded wife.
I am sure that very learned people are members of this group. I request them humbly to react. This is very major issue facing us now while performing marriage.
Ramachander.P.R.
1.Caste among Hindus in Dharma Sasthras depend on the mother rather than the father.A Brahmin woman marrying a Brahmin , only begets a Brahmin child. If she marries outside the caste she gives birth to Chandala(with Shudhra), Sootha(With Kshatrya), and Vaidehaka(With Vysya). On the other hand the caste of the child born to a Brahmin father to the different caste mothers is same as the caste of the mother. What is the implication of this to the Gothra system?
2.Take Pravara for example. Angirasa occurs in the pravara of following Gothras viz Gargya, Angeerasa, Gowthama, Pourugutsya, Badharayana, Bharadwaja, Moudgalya, Vishnu vriddha, Shadamarshana Sankrithi and Haritha. As is known all these occupy a very large percentage of Brahmins.Apart from that Kasyapa another Rishi who is the brother of Angeerasa occurs in Many other pravaras. Realising this our forefathers have decided to perform Sapravara marriages. I really do not know when this happened and how the decision was imposed on the Brahmin community. Is it not time for us now to review the status of Sagothra marriages? Who has to do it? Who will give us the guidelines so that all of will follow?
3. I read recently in a stotra about Hanuman that he belongs to the Kaundinya Gothra. I understand that Padmavathi (A kshatriya) belongs to the Sree Vatsa Gothra. It is also common knowledge that each Gothra has followers from different Vedas. Does all this mean that the gothra consists of people from different castes and even animals? Does this mean that Gothra is not at all patrelineal lineage?
4.whatever may be the decision, if sagothra marriages are to be permitted, the Hindu law on marriages has to be amended, because it makes Sagothra marriages illegal.This is not as simple as it seems.If a sagothra marriage is performed and the boy later marries a girl belonging to a different gothra, the first wife will not be a legally wedded wife.
I am sure that very learned people are members of this group. I request them humbly to react. This is very major issue facing us now while performing marriage.
Ramachander.P.R.
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