Does this topic not pertain to Indian culture?
<img src='http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060509/images/09puja.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
Sachin Tendulkar and wife Anjali feed a cow as part of the gau puja the ace batsman performed at the Kukke Subramanya temple, 45 km from Mangalore, on Monday. <b>The puja was done to overcome the sarpa dasha (the curse of the serpent) in his horoscope.</b> Sources in the temple trust said Sachinâs ancestors had apparently killed a cobra and the curse had to be rectified by a series of rituals, spanning two days<b>. Apart from the gau puja, Sachin performed the pinda prachana (offering rice in memory of the dead), naga pratishtha (installing a stone statue of a serpent) and brahmachari aradhana, an arti.</b> All this in a silk angavasthram. He left for Mumbai by an afternoon flight on Monday. Telegraph picture
damned if we dont become a laughing stock of the cricketing world when they learn that tendulkar was made to believe that his bad form was due to his ancestor killing a snake !!!
<!--QuoteBegin-Dr. Jogeshwar mahanta+May 8 2006, 02:37 PM-->QUOTE(Dr. Jogeshwar mahanta @ May 8 2006, 02:37 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->I think, there is a great misconception about divorce in India. Most people say that there was no custom of divorce among Indians.
Chapter 9 of Manusmriti gives the conditions under which one ought to resort to divorce.
There was contract marriage between Pururaba and Urbashi. When contract was allegedly broken, Urbashi deserted Pururaba.
Lord shiva had mentally deserted Rati and she was under depression before she burnt herself.
Bhim and Hidimba too had contract marriages.
Jaratkaru deserted his wife as she broke contract.
  Before The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 came into being every caste had customary laws of divorce. Was there any caste which did not have the customary dicorce law?
regards
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Divorse in Tamil nadu/ Madurai/ Piramalai kallar community is very commom and the procedure is very simple.
If a male or female dont want to live together , their community first take efforts to compromise the couple. If this does not materialise , they will be seperated . They also make arrangements for their remarrage with suitable persons
Ben, Let his bat do the talking - damned be the world.
Dr Mahanta
Welcome to India Forum.
Very interesting topic.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Before The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 came into being every caste had customary laws of divorce.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
It would be nice if you could post some more information on divorces and remarriages for various jati-janjatis.
Thanks.
Dear Namasivayam,
So nice of you to give information from south. Will you please find the local name for divorce and remarriage? In orissa divorce is called ChChadaptra and remarriage is called Sangha or dwitiya.
regards
Dear Rajesh,
This is the very objective of this thread. Please see namasivayam has already given information from the south. To which part of India do you belong? Please post whatever you get from your locality?
regards
Dear friends,
I think, by and large contemporary Indianness has the following charasteristics.
1.Start the day with Harekrishna, harerama or the like.
2.Indulge in self agrandizement and belittling others.
3.Blink eyes to the reality.
4.When water goes over the head cry-mar gaya, mar gaya....bachao, bachao....
I think, my depiction of Indianness is filled with cynicism. Will the non-cynic Indians give their perceptions?
regards
<!--QuoteBegin-rajesh_g+May 9 2006, 09:58 PM-->QUOTE(rajesh_g @ May 9 2006, 09:58 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->Dr Mahanta
Welcome to India Forum.
Very interesting topic.
<!--QuoteBegin--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Before The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 came into being every caste had customary laws of divorce.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
It would be nice if you could post some more information on divorces and remarriages for various jati-janjatis.
Thanks.
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Dear Rajesh,
Thank you for welcoming. sorry. I had not noticed the portion above the quote.
regards
I'll go with your characteraization
From my experience I will just strike off point 1~it's not that much a character of indianess any more. May be wake upto the sound of azan mikes of the neighbourhood
What are the key differences between the term yavana and the term mleccha. I know the guys whom I call mlecchas~but is mleccha==yavana??
Another Q. Are Aghoris tantriks or an unrelated hetrogenious sampraday? I have heard they descended from the ancient lines of pasupats...can shri hauma clarify this?
Regards
<!--QuoteBegin-Singhi Kaya+May 12 2006, 08:51 AM-->QUOTE(Singhi Kaya @ May 12 2006, 08:51 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->Another Q. Are Aghoris tantriks or an unrelated hetrogenious sampraday? I have heard they descended from the ancient lines of pasupats...can shri hauma clarify this?
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The aghorIs as they exist today appear to be a modern derivative of the more ancient shaivas. They have some features of the kApAlikas but are not kApAlikas. They do have tantric rituals which seem to be somewhat down-graded derivatives of the bhairava tantras of the classical tantric shaiva-s.
<!--QuoteBegin-Singhi Kaya+May 12 2006, 07:57 AM-->QUOTE(Singhi Kaya @ May 12 2006, 07:57 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->What are the key differences between the term yavana and the term mleccha. I know the guys whom I call mlecchas~but is mleccha==yavana??
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In later India literature they might be used interchangeably. Originally yavana (<ionia) meant greek. Then it was also applied to romans. mlechCha more precisely meant unclean tribes from the west. It included various westerners, and more lately was inclusive of Moslems.
Similarly the term chIna and hUna meant Chinese, Mongols and other eastern unclean tribes.
HH
Who are prachya and turushkas ?
<!--QuoteBegin-rajesh_g+May 12 2006, 11:05 AM-->QUOTE(rajesh_g @ May 12 2006, 11:05 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->Who are prachya and turushkas ?
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prAchya-s are assorted easterners: chInas, hUnas, tibetans etc.
turushkas are turks. After the turks converted to Islam all the islamic ravages of India were conducted by turks or turko-mongols. Hence the turushka became synonymous with Moslem.
turuShka-daNDa= jaziya tax
<!--QuoteBegin-Singhi Kaya+May 12 2006, 06:24 PM-->QUOTE(Singhi Kaya @ May 12 2006, 06:24 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->I'll go with your characteraization
From my experience I will just strike off point 1~it's not that much a character of indianess any more. May be wake upto the sound of azan mikes of the neighbourhood
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Thank you Singhi. This is the base line from where we are to move to Indianness with harmony, health and happiness.I admire your courage against idiosyncratic imperialism.
It will be highly welcoming if you post your view of future of Indian ness with harmony, health and happiness.
regards
Thanks Shri Hauma for the answers. I'm trying to seek answer to another belief about the revered naga sect of shaiva sadhus. It is generally regarded that they were unlike other ahimsha sadhus extremely millitant and fought toe-to-toe battle with moslems....Is this true? Internet search doesn't reveal anything particularly scholastic about the history of nagas and their role as protector of the sanatana dharma. Survival of hinduism through 600 years of moslem rule is a fascinating subject and I keep trying to understand what saved us, when everywhere else moslesm were completely triumphant (except over christianit, but we know why). We have lost much much more in 60 years of secularism (when looked at the rate) than a mellinium of moslem aggretion~and even then I think it were the buddhist who gave up first to create a demographic effect. So I'm always who were those who saved us from extinction apart from the great effort of a few khastriya clans from time to time.
Thanks
Op-Ed in Pioneer, 16 May 2006
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Jainas, cream of Hindu society
Sandhya Jain |
The Union Minister for Minority Affairs' determination to impose minority status upon Jainas has come as a shock to a community that has long regarded itself as the cream of Hindu society. Obviously, Mr AR Antulay is only continuing the UPA policy of fragmenting the nation by offering reservations to Muslims in Congress-ruled states and extending 27 per cent reservations to OBCs in higher education. Coupled with the Prime Minister's hints that the private sector should open its doors to caste-based employment, this has made Ms Sonia Gandhi's supremacy in Indian politics the most implosive period in the nation's modern history.
Barring some wealthy Digambara Jaina families with ambitions for maulvi-like control over the community, Jainas have neither sought nor desired minority status. Jainas have never shirked hard work or competition, and therefore excel in all spheres of life, from trade and industry to professions where merit alone assures ascendance. <b>Far from furthering their cause, minority status could actually deprive them of access to institutions of higher education as Jainas are a minuscule community, never having crossed even half percent of the population. With merit criteria removed, minority status will push Jainas from the penthouse to the basement.</b>
Despite their size, Jainas enjoy disproportionate influence over the Hindu community and are perceived as the pinnacle of Indic spirituality.<b> Jainas share common roots with Hindus and aver that 22 Tirthankaras hailed from the Iksvaku dynasty of Shri Rama, while two belonged to the Hari clan of Shri Krishna. </b>No wonder the Indian constitution classifies Jainas and other native spiritual traditions as 'Hindu,' though like the others, Jainas retain their distinction on the Indic spectrum, adhering to particular forms of belief and worship. This is hardly the same as being 'separate,' a mischievous colonial concept invented to promote opposition and division.
<b>Jainas profoundly influenced India's cultural and social life. Early on, they compelled Hindus and Bauddhas to accept the supremacy of ahimsa (non-injury to all creatures) and vegetarianism, and fashioned these into cornerstones of Indian culture. </b>According to Jaina theology, the universe and everything in it, even rocks and stones considered inanimate in other traditions, is a living organism with a soul (jiva, atma). Long before modern science accepted that plants are living organisms with senses, Jainas were aware that plants were living beings worthy of respect. The knowledge that plants breathe oxygen at night is behind the Indian sentiment against plucking flowers or cutting trees after sunset.
Jaina awareness of nigoda (single celled) life-forms led to the injunction against animal sacrifice and consumption of meat. Meat is a perfect breeding ground for nigodas, hence consumption of meat leads to a fall in spiritual evolution. Sufferings inflicted upon living creatures are revisited upon one through the karmic trajectory, and man suffers for misdeeds committed in any lifetime. <b>Jaina tradition emphasizes man's personal responsibility for other species ("parasparopagraho jivanam") and the environment.</b> This compassion towards lesser beings made Jainas pioneers in setting up hospitals for birds and animals.
Jaina tradition does not bestow special sanctity on the cow as it respects all life without distinction, but Jainas tend to take the lead in movements against cow slaughter as it is historically and culturally a humiliation of the Indic tradition and Jainas cannot stay aloof from such a flagrant act of violence for this gentle animal. <b>Among Hindus, Vaishnavas became vegetarian. Devotees of Devi continued to practice animal sacrifice on ritual occasions and many coastal and other groups retained meat in their diet. However, once the vegetarian ethos was entrenched as morally superior, it could never be dislodged through the centuries that followed.</b>
<b>Jainas similarly absorbed Hindu beliefs, even if these did not enter the official theology. The Mahabharata expounds four debts that the individual must discharge: deva rna by worship; pitr rna by continuing the family; rsi rna by acquiring and disseminating knowledge; and manava rna by service to humanity. </b>Jainas have a story that Aristanemi, the twenty-second Tirthankara, wished to renounce the world without getting married. His paternal cousin, Sri Krishna (himself the avatara of Vishnu), reminded him that all previous world Saviours had married and raised families before renouncing the world in pursuit of the spiritual quest; hence he should marry and please his father.
Hindu and Jaina traditions are like the weft and woof of the unstitched garment favoured by our saints; they cannot be separated without severe haemorrhage to both. The shared spirituality of the Indic tradition is like an unstitched garment - whole, inclusive, interlinked, and unthreatened by the inevitable loss of culture, tradition and diversity that accompanies monotheistic traditions. The latter may be compared to stitched garments - elegant, structured, appealing, but ever haunted by the inward sense of loss that accompanies the rejection of diversity in divinity.
<b>Minority status is a historical millstone round the nation's neck, caused by the fact that the Constituent Assembly offered some privileges to the Muslims in order to avert partition, but retained the provisions despite partition. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel had the vision to foresee that a political minefield lay ahead on this route; he favoured a seamless society without religious barricades.</b>
<b>In fact, there is a serious flaw in the argument that India's religious minorities need special constitutional guarantees to preserve themselves. Unlike monotheistic faiths, the sanatana dharma accords space to other creeds and India has been a civilisational haven to persecuted communities such as Jews, Syrian Christians, Parsis, Tibetans and Bahai's. It has also sought to accommodate historically aggressive communities. </b>
<b>These communities have received an unwarranted bonanza from the Sonia Gandhi-led UPA, in the form of exemption from implementing the 27 per cent OBC quota in educational institutions run by them. This will give minority-run educational institutions an unfair political and economic clout, while aggravating social divisions in the larger society by inducing competition on the basis of caste, rather than merit.</b>
As recently as August 2005, a Supreme Court Bench comprising then Chief Justice Mr RC Lahoti and Justices Mr DM Dharmadhikari and Mr PK Balasubramnyan, had directed the national and State level Minorities Commissions to find ways of reducing and ultimately ending the list of notified minorities, rather than increasing them. The court warned against encouraging fissiparous tendencies in the nation; it seems the warning fell on deaf ears.
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