Thiruvadurai VOLUME 1 • ISSUE 5 • DECEMBER 2013 Tambrahm Marriages C Rajagopalachari Sudha RaghunathanPyallore Gramam Rock of Gibraltar Our Musical Heritage Editorial 1 Young TamBrahm Achievers 11 TamBrahm Extinction by 2035 AD? Padmashri Kalaimamani Sudha Raghunathan Lead Story 3 TamBrahm Kaliedoscope 13 Thiruvadurai Noorni Village: Original Home of Sastha Preethi TamBrahms who have done us Proud 6 Sastrigal Uvacha 15 Bharat Ratna Chakravarti Rajagopalachari Tambrahm Marriage Rituals Your Space, Your Pen 8 Ordinary Tambrahms, Extraordinary People 18 Eat Healthy, Eat with your Hands Rock of Gibraltar: Kollengode R. Viswanathan Dozen Siblings Football their 95 yr old mother around Our Cultural Heritage 19 Around our Agraharams 10 SaReGaMaPa: Our Musical Tradition - Part 1 Kodunthirapully Be Warned! Tambrahms to become extinct by 2035 AD? A m o n g t h e s e v e r a l "madrasis." The biggest compliment you can pay a wedding invitations I have Tambrahm boy or girl is to tell him or her, "hey you EDITORIAL received in the last don't appear to be a Madrasi". fortnight, are two from Iyer friends of long standing. For In fact I have heard some mamis addressing their their daughters' wedding. children in pidgin Madrasi Hindi "yey, too madrasi You may ask me, well, what nahi dikhti hai" (you don't look like a madrasi). is so unusual about it? A large number of kids, particularly girls, carry this Yes, it is unusual. That's why I am writing this. Both negative feeling of the community too far. They the girls are marrying non-Brahmins. One is marrying disown every bit of their heritage and end up marrying a Gujarati Patel; the other one is marrying a all kinds of people. Malayalee theeya. It is not that bad if they marry Hindus from other But these aren't the only marriages I plan to attend or communities. But it is sad that a large number of them have attended. In the past 12 months I have attended end up becoming a Mahalakshmi D''souza or a close to 19 marriages where Iyer and Iyengar Saraswati Fernandes. I don't know why our girls have girls/boys have tied the knot with men/women of this great affinity for Christians. And boys who end up other castes, other regions and other religions. But in marrying Kattlikk (Catholic) girls end up becoming this list, it is Iyer girls who predominate. Christians, with Balus becoming Pauls and Subramaniams becoming Sebastians. Who is to blame for this trend? The Tambrahm boys and girls? Or their parents who have not inculcated in Forget the parents. What about the various their children a pride and a sense of belonging to the Samajams that throw gargantuan gastronomical community, groomed them into forging the conviction orgies in the name of Ramanavamis and sastaa that Tambrahms have India's richest social, spiritual, preethis? The mosquito sized guys controlling these cultural heritage that many non others envy, and Sabhas and Samajams have not only elephant sized reared the children into strong conviction about the egos: their ignorance, lack of pride in and belonging uniqueness of being a Tambrahm and bred a strong to the community is also elephant sized. loyalty to the community? Apart from carrying on the agraharam style petty Sadly, most of the Tambrahms who moved to the politicking, nit picking and gossiping, these worthies, metros of the country themselves did not have the most of them in their late sixties and seventies, have right attitude and orientation for this. In fact, in ninety aged in years. Not in knowledge or wisdom or social nine out of hundred instances, these myopic consciousness. All they do is to cling to their chairs Tambrahms went through life suffering under an through hook or crook, live off the temple kitchens acute complex of inferiority. A majority of them even and boss around like tin pot dictators, and discuss went to the extent of trying to hide their Tambrahm- whether they should have chakkai poduttuval for the ness by picking up and handing over to their children, next major event in November and where to import the gutterish pidgin Hindi. As if being a Tambrahm the delicacy (not in season). was a matter of shame. And what they concealed only proved their "madrasiishness," thanks to the heavy Have the worthies ever bothered to think about the Tamil accent. This only provided fodder to the cheap fate of the community? Have they ever bothered to Bollywood humour mill, a la Mehmood, Dhumal and start outreach programmes for our youth, seminars Mukri via their Madrasi/Swami acts. and classes to tutor our youth in our customs, our rich culture, or way of life, create in them a sense of pride Their children are too ashamed to speak to one and belonging to the community? another in Tamil, lest they be recognized as PAGE 01 VOLUME 1 • ISSUE 5 • DECEMBER 2013 Perish the thought!!! With their minds fully occupied in satiating their gargantuan appetites through orgies of gluttony, and in satiating their elephant sized egos, these community flies who buzz around the gratification that the samajams offer, just haven't the capacity to even think of these things. As I have written elsewhere, our population is just around 7,00,000. And it is dwindling. And will dwindle further. Let us realize that when we give away a girl from our community, we are giving away not just the body of the girl, or her soul. We are giving away thousands of years of culture, tradition and values. And not only that, we are stymieing the passing on of these values to our future generations. It is only through a mother that these values are handed over to the children from one generation to the next. Even though it is too late, I will say, Wake Up Tambrahms. Do some damage control. And you Samajam worthies, get out of your posts and hand over the Samajams to people who have the welfare of the community at heart Samajams are not eating joints. They are instruments of social activism. And how much and how long can you and the community keep eating? Till doomsday? Well doomsday is near Simple Kolam Designs enough. But you worthies, don't hasten it! At least for the sake of your chakkai poduttuvals. Join Us Announcements Share with the community Births, Engagements and Weddings. Arangetrams, Poonuls and other landmarks. Share with us an obituary. As a community endeavour, we’d like to connect with you and share your news with the community too. Looking for a Life Partner? A meeting point for boys and girls. We invite readers to use this publication to invite matrimonial proposals Send all communication to [email protected] PAGE 02 VOLUME 1 • ISSUE 5 • DECEMBER 2013 Thiruvadharai - Arudra Darasanam L o r d K r i s h n a i n t h e In the month of Marghazhi, on the day when the Bhagavat Gita says, " Tiruvadirai star and the New Moon coincide, we LEAD STORY Among the months I am celebrate the ecstatic dance of Shiva. margazhi.” The month of margazhi brings to mind On the Tiruvadirai day in margazhi, Lord Natraja chilly mornings, cool noons comes out in procession to give darshan to his and cold evenings. The month also brings to mind the devotees. In Sanskrit ‘Arthirai’ is called ‘Ardhra’ and bhajana goshtis moving around the agraharam the Thiruvathirai anointing ceremony is called Ardhra streets singing devotional songs and bhajans. Songs Abisheka and the Thiruvathirai viewing as Ardhra from the thiruppavai, stanzas from Jaya Deva's Darshanam. It is held as a great achievement to view ashtapati resonate in the misty morning air. the Nataraja's procession in Chidambaram. And it is in this sacred month, that we celebrate In Chidambaram, abhishekam for the Lord on Thiurvadarai or Arudra Darashanam. Divine the Tiruvadhirai day in Margazhi is performed in a grand festival definitely is. But along with divinity, one manner and the devotees are given kalli as celebrates life through cultural and culinary delights. prasadham. Obtaining the prasadam, is attainment of Who can forget the kaikottikali of Kerala or the bliss through the Lord. delicious kalli? Story behind why Kali is given as Prasadham : ARUDARA DARISANAM is a festival, celebrated on A devotee named Sendanar had the habit of eating the day of Tiruvadirai star in Margazhi month. It is food after offering it to the Lord and then distributing it essentially a Shaivite festival and celebrates the among other devotees. He would eat only the Cosmic dance of Lord Shiva. leftovers. On the tiruvadirai day, due to constant bad weather, he couldn't get any essential items for Arudra star is one of two stars that have the prefix preparing a proper meal. He had no other option but "THIRU". Another star is Onam star - "Thiruonam" to mix water with rice flour and prepare a mashed favoured for Shiva and Mahavishnu repectively. paste. Lord Shiva understood his predicament. He disguised himself as a Siva devotee and enjoyed Arudra denotes a Red Flame. Lord Shiva has also a what was given to him as food. And as he stood for a name called "Semporjyoti" or "Golden Red Flame". It while in the Nataraja Sanctum, the Lord Showered is in the form of light in which the lord performs his the Kali all over the premises , in recognition of his function of five activities which are Creation, deep devotion. Since the day the miracle happened Protection, Destruction, Embodiment and Release. Kali is the special offering to Lord Nataraja on Nataraja is the manifestation of Lord Shiva as a Light.