Rahu kaalam - How to find it without a calendar

Long long ago, so long ago, my dad told me about a tamil sentence, with which you can find out the Rahu kaalam on a particular day. I remembered about it suddenly and got that line from him today. Here it is

திருநாள் சந்தடியில் வெளியே புகுந்து விளையாட செல்வது ஞாயமோ 

Now take the first letter of each தி ச வெ பு வி செ ஞ (திங்கள் , சனி , வெள்ளி, புதன் , வியாழன் , செவ்வாய், ஞாயிறு ) and start assigning the time from 7.30 am. The rahu kaalam lasts for 1.5 hrs. 

திங்கள் - 7.30 am - 9 am

சனி  - 9 am - 10.30 am

வெள்ளி - 10.30 am  - 12 pm

புதன்  - 12 pm - 1.30 pm

வியாழன் - 1.30 pm - 3 pm

செவ்வாய் - 3 pm - 4.30 pm

ஞாயிறு  - 4.30 pm - 6

There you go. Now you don't need a calendar to remember the rahu kaalam. 

பொன் கிடைத்தாலும் ....

During my recent trip to Thirukkadaiyoor, I happened to come across the meaning of this saying "Pon kidaithaalum budhan kidaikaadhu' (பொன் கிடைத்தாலும் புதன் கிடைக்காது)

Budhan (புதன்) is the Lord of Education. It simply means, even though you can get wealth (Pon or Gold refers to wealth here) it is not easy to get education. Don't you think it is right!!!.. just thought of sharing it... that is all..
Ciao!!!

sivan soththu...

During my recent trips to Pallavoor temple (a very very very old Siva Temple in Palghat) we saw the huge nellikaai (amla) tree in the premises and we had a few of them. But my mom said that we cannot take anything back from Siva's temple because "Sivan Soththu Kula Naasam" so we can better have it here as much as we want. I asked my dad about why we say this and he said that the theory he had heard.

Siva is a very emotional God. He is very quick in giving Varam's and He is equally very quick in getting angry too. If you read Siva Puranam, you get to see that there has been more destruction due to Siva's quick blessing. And a blessing is like a soththu.. that is why people say so. Nothing else.

This had me thinking... So I googled about it and came upon this link which had a very different rationale to it. And I was wondering if this was true. Then when I discussed it with my people, they decided to find out more about it. And they found this link Which was much more practically right. Now back to the question!! what is the right answer. I guess all three are right. There is no written element which can state the reason of the statement made. There are only interpretations by people. But I prefer to go by a simple logic. Why do you really want anything from a temple other than the peace of mind and God's blessings ? You get prasadam , you eat it. You get vibhudhi and kumkum, you apply it. What else do you want from a temple ???

But these links have more rationale than my simple logic and it definitely introduced me to new concepts. Thanks Google :)

தீட்டு

I dont have the correct english word for this. So I am going with the same tamil word Theetu (if you know the word that exactly describes it, please update me). Theetu in broader terms means being unholy (due to child birth, or your menstrual cycle, or a death in a family etc etc)

Disclaimer:

I may be slightly incorrect with the number of days of observing theetu in these occasions as I am not fully aware of the exact rituals that are followed, because I am not interested in that aspect. I am more interested in the 'why' part of the ritual.

Ok, Let us start from Child birth:
After the child birth, Theetu is applicable for the mommy's ( daddy's are spared here) and they shouldnt go to temple, or light a lamp etc. And this is applicable for almost 10 days and when the Punyajanam is done on 11th day, then only the mommy's are cleared of their theetu. (I hope I am right about the days here, having recently attended these functions :) )

-> Ok, this might sound a little stupid if you dont believe in it, but there is a certain scientific reason that this was followed for so many years. Typically during child birth, or after it, both the mom and the kid will be very weak for a few weeks. The happy mommy will have lost so much of strength (especially in case of normal deliveries) and will be more suspectible for any kind of viral attacks which might spoil their health. Now if only the mommy's are healthy, peaceful and calm, they can get their strength to feed and nourish their kiddos. And the initial few weeks of good feeding of mother's milk is very essential for the immune system of the kid. If there wasnt any concept of theetu, what would have happened was, within a day or two after the child birth, the mommy's will be forced to work again and take care of the whole household and hence it might have had a bigger impact on herself and the kid's health. So our good old elders devised a plan or rather a ritual sort of thing to ensure that the mom and child are healthier, by isolating them. Generally 16-20 days is required for the mom to be back to her normal self (with respect to health). I guess now you would have known the reason why daddy's arent associated with the theetu :) [Boy, they really dont loose anything do they ?].

Next comes the menstrual cycle for the girls: Generally during the menses time girls follow theetu for 3 days. Again here the reason is that girls need more rest as the body undergoes heavy loss of stamina (especially in form of iron and heamoglobin). They may be in need for more oxygen too. There is also the body odour due to the changes in the hormones of the girls. In order to give them complete rest, this theetu was formed. Earlier clothes were used for sanitary napkins which was more unhygenic and hence it was always better to be isolated and not spread any kind of viruses to others. That is the funda as far as I know. In this age, does this apply still ? Well again that depends on where you are , how much of hygiene ways you follow etc etc.. If you take care of yourself you may not need this theetu do you ? What will people who live alone do during such theetu..obviously not starve to death right ?

Last but not least , the death: In cases of death, you follow theetu for almost 10 days and if you happen to visit the house where death has taken place or you see the dead body you follow theetu when you come back home and not touch anything until you bathe it off. The reason being that the presence of the dead body will expose us to various bacterias (which would be working upon the already decomposing body) and if you visit that house and come back , a good bath is the one that can get you rid of those,. That is why they ask you to bathe first before you start spreading it to everything / everyone else. Its the same case if there is a death in the house, they say it takes around 10 days for the cleansing because you have been there through out till cremation.

Ok, now having said the basic reasons for these kind of theetu's (I know there are many more..but these form the basics) and as to why they were done (as far as I have heard or known) it is now left to your common sense to apply or disregard the same. Let us not reject everything as baseless or unnecessary and not accept everything without knowing as to why they were said/done in the first place.

Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it.
Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many.
Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books.
Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.
Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations.
But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.
-Buddha (563 - 483 BC)

Dont's after dark & why no garlic and onion during pooja

4. Do not sweep/mop/wash clothes after dark


விளக்கு வெச்சதுகப்புரம் கூட்டி பெருக்கினால் லட்சுமியை வெளியில தள்றதா அர்த்தம் - [Sweeping the floor after lighting the lamp in the evening is a way to push Lord Lakshmi out of the home]
It would apply not only to sweeping , but also to mopping and they also would say things about washing clothes @ night. I guess in olden days, people didnt listen to any thing that the elders told them to, if they told it straight forward. They needed some kind of threat to really make them do things ;). Just kidding ....

Ok, the reason is the same as my first entry (for cutting nails remember ?). At night generally your vision is not clear either due to bad light (as in olden days) or due to your bad eyesight ( மாலை கண் நோய் ) or whatever. So if you either sweep or mop or wash clothes it may not be clean anyways and also you might be very tired after your day's work and so you might end up doing things lethargically or for the sake of doing it. All in all, you will not do the cleaning part well. I think in olden days, in order to help people help themselves, elders made use of their belief in God and told them to follow what they say or else God will punish them or leave them.
If you have a washing machine you can go ahead and wash your clothes @ night. You arent going to spend your effort there isnt ? (unless you put some clothes which might give out colors along with other clothes due to your lethargy... you shouldnt blame anyone in that case other than yourself, especially God...)

Also if you have spilled food or cleaned up your house after your shopping, it is better to sweep / mop it up even it is dark. You may not want other insects like roaches, ants etc roaming in your floor when you get up right ?


5. Avoiding Onion and Garlic during pooja or vrata days

Many people who are very religious (mostly brahmins - iyers and iyengars as far as I know) generally do not include onion and garlic in their food. And most non-brahmins (again this is only as far as I know it) do not use onion and garlic during the days when they have a pooja @ home. In olden days, brahmins were the people who performed pooja @ temples and they are the people who are supposed to be satvik (அமைதியின் பிம்பம் sort of ) in nature. And garlic and nnion (and other vegetables belonging to the same family ...which one ? I dont know..) are by nature aphrodisiac (that means they can stimulate desires) and they have their own share of harmful effects on the body if taken in larger quantities just like anything else(அளவுக்கு  மீறினால்  அமிர்தமும்  நஞ்சு  ..) and if you have onion or garlic , they also say that it will result in foul odour during sweating. It has its own good effects (like they help in detoxification, a natuaral antibiotic etc).

Brahmins or people doing pooja tend to avoid these because they would want to concentrate on the pooja and reaching God in a spiritual level through the pooja and not worry about the odour or the desires that arise out of having the garlic and onion isnt ? Ok.. I have given you the basic reason for not having garlic and onion during pooja days.. now you can go ahead and decide if you really want to ;)

கால் மேல் கால் போட்டு உட்காராதே

3. கால் மேல் கால் போட்டு உட்காராதே

I am sure you would have heard this, if you are a woman. Your mom would have chided you if you sit cross legged. They might have said பெரிய மனுஷி மாதிரி கால் மேல் கால் போட்டு உட்காராதே. Trust me, it has nothing to do with acting like a பெரிய மனுஷி . It is a belief that only successful / head strong women sit cross legged to portray their power and/or ego. Well, just because they used to say that, many women started believing the same and so now women sit cross legged when in command. But guess what, it is not always the same reason with all women. Women sit cross legged because their leg would have got cramped due to sitting for long hours, or they might have been sitting in a chair which doesnt allow their feet to be placed on ground so they balance one leg over the other etc etc.

Coming back to the point, since the elders have said not to sit cross legged (for whatever reasons) there might be some rationale behind it. Actually there is a medical reason. Women, in general, are more susceptible to get varicose veins in legs, mostly in the thigh region. This might be due to the long hours of standing or sitting. Varicose veins are more common in women than in men. Sitting cross legged with restrict the blood flow in that region and hence it can lead to varicose veins much earlier in their life. Some say that it might also have bad impact on the uterus. But medically nothing has been proven on that front. But yes, for varicose veins, doctors do suggest women to not sit cross legged or atleast make it a point to keep shifting the weights between the legs so as to not restrict the blood flow.  In olden days, since women did the house hold work of brooming and mopping, it was sort of an exercise and hence these varicose veins didnt happen that much. But nowadays since most of us work sitting in a place and hardly any exercise is done, these kind of health problems do occur. Have you wondered how the house maids keep themselves trim and hardly fall sick ? it is because of the hard physical work they do. I am not suggesting anything here, but just reiterating the fact about doing physical exercises to get rid of such health related problems.

As long as you take care of your health by doing proper exercises and not straining your legs, you can sit cross legged as much as you want :)

Cutting your nails and hair

1. Dont cut nails @ night

Saying: 'if you cut your nails @ night you will run into bad luck'

I guess you would have heard it many times and probably would have an answer now to why this is forbidden. May be this is just a reiteration of the same.

In olden days, there were no electricity, only oil lamps or lanterns. So @ night you wudnt have enough light to clean up the cut nails strewn over the floor. And if you have a small kid in your home, things can get worse as the kid(s) might put it in their mouth and that is something very harmful. This is the only reason they tell you not to cut your nails @ night and nothing else.

2. Cut/trim your hair during the new moon - full moon cycle

Saying: If you cut your hair in வளர் பிறை (i.e. in terms of the lunar cycle it will be from New Moon -> First Quarter) it will grow long and strong.

Most of us just follow this blindly without knowing the reason why, including me :). Just because they used to say that cutting your hair during the தேய்பிறை (i.e. in terms of lunar cycle it will be from Full Moon -> New Moon) will reduce your hair growth, I preferred to not do it @ that time , which means, that I invariably followed the saying.

Here is the reason:
The Lunar cycle, as science has established, has its own impact on the health of the human beings, just as it has on the tidal waves in the Oceans. It has to do more with the gravity. The more the closer is the moon towards the earth, more the gravity and vice versa. The higher the gravity, higher the rater of growth of the hair. They say that if you cut your hair during thirthiyai or moonram pirai (i.e. on 3rd day of the new moon phase) it will grow faster and stronger.. because that is when the gravity is high till the 11th day.

Here are the collated tips for cutting your hair :)
a. If you want it long and strong (just like they say in Garnier Fructis ad..) cut/trim your hair from 3rd to 11th days of the new moon cycle.
b. If you want it short then cut it during the full moon waning cycle.