04-26-2007, 01:53 AM
A shirt-pant DIE like me will be able to tell you how plague affected London and the connection of plague with certain angrezi nursery rhymes. But how many records are there of how actual Hindu communities felt and saw epidemics?
Here are a couple of excerpts:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->In the words of our aunt Padmavathi, who told me the story, the occasion of her husbandâs death was poignant beyond grief and her brotherâs arrival at the critical moment was the only saving feature in her grief stricken condition. Padmavathi and her husband lived in Kolar in their small house along with two younger brothers of Varaha Ramachar and an aged blind aunt as well. Varaha Ramachar was the sole bread winner and he was doing fairly well as a popular priest. Padmavathi, though young, was managing the economics of the household very well. Her husbandâs immediate brother was still struggling to pass the lower secondary examination after several attempts while the youngest brother was already fairing good in the secondary school. Both of them were married but had not as yet started their own families. Things were looking promising for them. Around this time, plague struck Kolar district in a severe epidemic form and one of the very first victims was Varaha Ramachar. As soon as his fever was diagnosed as the dreaded plague, information was sent to Father who came post-haste to Kolar. When he arrived at the house, he found it vacant and on enquiries with terror stricken neighbors found his sister sitting alone under a tree next to the local water tank, with her husbandâs body next to her. The plague was such a dreaded disease when no specific treatment was available, that neighbors boycotted the victimâs family to save their own lives. Even family members would flee from the stricken homes and the community was helpless to offer the needed services to the dead and living alike. With the onset of Varaha Ramacharâ fever, his brothers fled the town to seek protection in their in-laws homes. If they had delayed fleeing in time from an infected town, they would not be admitted to other communities. When Varaha Ramachar died, the town officials insisted that the body be handed over to them for immediate mass cremation. Not wanting to commit her husbandâs remains to the humiliation of mass cremation, she had voluntarily agreed to remove the body from the town. Leaving the old blind aunt to fend for herself, Padmavathi carried and dragged her husbandâs body to the outskirts of the town and waited there, with hope against hope, that someone would turn up to perform the necessary rituals for the cremation of a bramhin. She sat with the body for an entire day. She later told me that she had no time for tears or thoughts of fear. She had made up her mind that in event no help came by nightfall, she would push the body into the water tank and follow it by jumping in herself. Her only concern at that time was the care of the old blind aunt who had been left alone in the house.
Towards evening she suddenly heard her brotherâs voice and when she looked up, she saw him walking up the road to her. At last her savior had arrived! It was only then that she wept loud and long at the tragic turn of her life. Later, brother and sister carried the body to the nearest cremation ground where Father performed the rituals to the satisfaction of his sister and cremated the corpse. Father returned to Immagondanahalli with his widowed sister and her blind aunt. There they were joined by the brothers of Varaha Ramachar and proper funeral ceremonies were held. Once the plague subsided, the ancestral house in Kolar was sold and the two brothers-in-law divided the proceeds between them, with the full consent and blessings of Padmavathi. She and the blind aunt continued to stay with Father. Her main interest in life was to serve her invalid aunt and her loving brother and his family. Gradually she got interested in the strict observance of Kanimbele practices and precepts. Towards her old age, she had become an authority on these by her own rights and was often consulted with by other family members.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Here are a couple of excerpts:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->In the words of our aunt Padmavathi, who told me the story, the occasion of her husbandâs death was poignant beyond grief and her brotherâs arrival at the critical moment was the only saving feature in her grief stricken condition. Padmavathi and her husband lived in Kolar in their small house along with two younger brothers of Varaha Ramachar and an aged blind aunt as well. Varaha Ramachar was the sole bread winner and he was doing fairly well as a popular priest. Padmavathi, though young, was managing the economics of the household very well. Her husbandâs immediate brother was still struggling to pass the lower secondary examination after several attempts while the youngest brother was already fairing good in the secondary school. Both of them were married but had not as yet started their own families. Things were looking promising for them. Around this time, plague struck Kolar district in a severe epidemic form and one of the very first victims was Varaha Ramachar. As soon as his fever was diagnosed as the dreaded plague, information was sent to Father who came post-haste to Kolar. When he arrived at the house, he found it vacant and on enquiries with terror stricken neighbors found his sister sitting alone under a tree next to the local water tank, with her husbandâs body next to her. The plague was such a dreaded disease when no specific treatment was available, that neighbors boycotted the victimâs family to save their own lives. Even family members would flee from the stricken homes and the community was helpless to offer the needed services to the dead and living alike. With the onset of Varaha Ramacharâ fever, his brothers fled the town to seek protection in their in-laws homes. If they had delayed fleeing in time from an infected town, they would not be admitted to other communities. When Varaha Ramachar died, the town officials insisted that the body be handed over to them for immediate mass cremation. Not wanting to commit her husbandâs remains to the humiliation of mass cremation, she had voluntarily agreed to remove the body from the town. Leaving the old blind aunt to fend for herself, Padmavathi carried and dragged her husbandâs body to the outskirts of the town and waited there, with hope against hope, that someone would turn up to perform the necessary rituals for the cremation of a bramhin. She sat with the body for an entire day. She later told me that she had no time for tears or thoughts of fear. She had made up her mind that in event no help came by nightfall, she would push the body into the water tank and follow it by jumping in herself. Her only concern at that time was the care of the old blind aunt who had been left alone in the house.
Towards evening she suddenly heard her brotherâs voice and when she looked up, she saw him walking up the road to her. At last her savior had arrived! It was only then that she wept loud and long at the tragic turn of her life. Later, brother and sister carried the body to the nearest cremation ground where Father performed the rituals to the satisfaction of his sister and cremated the corpse. Father returned to Immagondanahalli with his widowed sister and her blind aunt. There they were joined by the brothers of Varaha Ramachar and proper funeral ceremonies were held. Once the plague subsided, the ancestral house in Kolar was sold and the two brothers-in-law divided the proceeds between them, with the full consent and blessings of Padmavathi. She and the blind aunt continued to stay with Father. Her main interest in life was to serve her invalid aunt and her loving brother and his family. Gradually she got interested in the strict observance of Kanimbele practices and precepts. Towards her old age, she had become an authority on these by her own rights and was often consulted with by other family members.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->