friends, i congratulate the members and wish them nice event on the forthcoming conference. i will attend such meets in future.
last 30 days there were a series of thee midhis(fire walking) in chidambaram at the verious amman temples. starting from the street corner temples to the thillai kali temple there are about 40-50 amman temples in chidambaram town limits.
no other religious occasion is so deeply attached to the people than these amman festivals. 80% of the people are amman followers. only the remaining are exclusively siva or perumal worshipers.
the thee midhi, various type of body piercings, pal kudam oorvalam, karakatam and musical recitals(mostly old L.R.Eswari songs)are halmark of these festives. women involvement is maximum. the devotees are mostly from the downtrodden communities. i have not found th seriousness among these people on these days than anyother occasion.
a true occasion of collective unconscious assimilation of the masses. a testimony to the jungian theories of psycho-analysis.
mother god worshiping is the oldest continuing tradition which has not been replaced by buddhism,saivism,vaishnavism,islam or christian waves in tamil country. even the modern atheistic or liberal religious movements have not immobilised these faiths among the majority of tamil community.
hero worshiping and animist beleifs have waned by and large in tamilnadu. if we do not count muruga cult as hero worshiping ofcourse. i have noticed some remnants of hero cult in salem rural district pockets and some animist practices among the aborigines of kalvarayn hills.
in all these mother god worshiping is that stays after 2500 years of our religious evolution in tamilnadu.
Hi Gandhi, very intersting observation on mother goddess worship. Theemidhi has been adapted even to modern motivation in the west with appropriate safety measures attached. I have seen lot of it in Kovai. Some of it inspiring, a lot of it resulting in serious burn injuries.
On sharing the contents of this mail in some other group, I received this reply from:http://jataayu.blogspot.com/
The thee midhi is an ancient living tradition - a hallmark of unclinching faith of the masses. These festivals, usually mocked by the Dravidian politicians of TN are a true heritage of Shakti worship in Tamil nadu..
But the poster's mindset of viewing this as some "unique" practice separate from Shiava, Vaishnava religion and mainstream Hinduism is highly flawed.. and is probably a result of Euro-Christian-colonial style of viewing Hindu culture only as bits and pieces and fragment and not as whole and holistic..
In fact, even a casual analysis of thee midhi ritual is indicative of its holistic Hindu character. The "Amman" that is worshipped durign this festival are various manifestations of the Devi - viz. Sakthi amman, Kali amman, Mari amman, Gangai amman, Lakshmi amman, Thirumani amman, Draupadi amman etc.. The *only* theo-religious principle that *unites* all these ammans is the Shakthi matham (or Shaktam) that has a deep philosophy and great mystic symbolism. In fact, Devi Mahatmyam (also called Durga Saptashati), a highly revered text in Shakti worship which is part of Markandeya Purana in its last chapter states taht Devi will take literally thousands of incarnations on the earth in Kali Yuga to bless her devotees in each and every village. Many forms of Devi are also praised. Mariamman is mentioned ("mahaa maarii swaroopeNa) in teh same breath as Vaishnavi Devi in these verses!
... every one of these Amman temple has Trishulam that is Shiva's emblem and lion (Simha vahanam) that is Shakti's mount .. and in most of the Amman temples (mainly Draupadi Amman temples), the firewalkers shout "Govinda Govinda" while jumping into the fire.. So, how does the poster say that mother Goddess worship is not influenced by Shaivism, Shaktism and Vaishnavism?
Its all part of a great syncretic Hindu Dharma that trasncends the ideas and barriers of "high culture" and "low culture" that is so blatantly visible in other religions/cultures.. It is *this fact* that calls for great pride and celebration!
Dear Srinivasan, I wish I had the reference, but I remember reading that the Trisula was originally Devi's emblem, not Shiva's. Have you ever heard this? Kathie B.
Dear Natarajan, the concept of Thee midhi is one of unflinching faith and great courage/trust. In practice though it does lead to lot of accidents, often times hidden to the general public so that the appeal does not go away. I have seen myself personally lot of burn wounds on person's feet in Kovai during thee midhi for Koniamman Thiruvizha.DK protests may be anti religious but have some validity for humane reasons such as these.
There is a saying in Srimad Bhagavadam that pure faith is not possible in Kaliyuga. This is one of those things.
The accident factor you mention is to be considered seriously.
No point in insisting this as all the devotees are aware of the risk of getting serious burns. Based on the intelligent and intellectual levels of the individuals they select the way of practising their Bakthi. Instead of criticising this we can preach alternate ways. These practises are getting lesser and lesser nowadays.
//during thee midhi for Koniamman Thiruvizha.DK protests may be anti religious but have some validity for humane reasons such as these.//
Never ever praise this DK guys for anything. Their motives are not for good, and they practise much more deeds not suitable for their PAKUTHTHARIVU.
> //during thee midhi for Koniamman Thiruvizha.DK protests may be anti religious but have some validity for humane reasons such as these.// > > Never ever praise this DK guys for anything. Their motives are not for good, and they practise much more deeds not suitable for their PAKUTHTHARIVU.
natarajan
why dont you take this in the broader perspective of karma
like whenever ramas story is told ravana must be mentioned. likewise there is a statue of periyar facing almost all our major temples.
I agree what Venkat says, all forms of beliefs including athiesm CO EXIST for a reason they compliment and validate one another in various ways.
Secondly true devotion is beyonds stunts or even miracles - in other words the real 'thee' is actually courage to face life challenges and come out successfully not show other people you can walk on fire - with or without assistance of God.
The Rama-Ravana and Hindu-DK are not comparable. But your theory of existence of antibodies as Karma is logical. They are always to be faced and countered and never to be praised.
Who were the antibodies before DK? Who are the antibodies in other parts of India?
//I agree what Venkat says, all forms of beliefs including athiesm CO EXIST for a reason they compliment and validate one another in various ways.//
True.
//Secondly true devotion is beyonds stunts or even miracles - in other words the real 'thee' is actually courage to face life challenges//
Calling Theemidhi as a stunt in Devotion seems to be like an acute criticism. The term true devotion itself is relative. I can never dare to call Kannappa Nayanar sacrificing his eyes as stunt.
Dear Natarajan, I didn't mean all forms of extreme devotion as 'stunt' sorry for the misunderstanding, I only deem them unnecessary. Just fyi to you a huge number of thee midhis are used as stunts almost arranged like circus with an organiser and participant, soon after the participants are whisked away so that audience does not see any injuries on her foot. Usually these are very poor women doing it for a living. It is not related to authentic devotion in the least and those of us who believe also must strongly discourage.
I remember watching a program in Discovery - Myth Busters - regarding this 'thee midhi'. They demonstrated that, if a person walks quickly, may be a sort of slow sprint on the burning charcoal, nothing happens..may be a few blisters but nothing serious would happen.
If we notice, most of these rituals, people will run and dont walk slowly for 5 mins, singing song as they show in karagatakaran.
The motivational speaker Anthony Robbins adapted thee midhi as a strategy for people to overcome chronic fears. Of course with appropraite safety measures attached. If you walk very fast and step in the right places you can do it but if one coal decides to turn up and burn brightly your feet is what it needs to feed on. All said and done in present day this has nothing to do with devotion so perhaps better enjoy goundamani for a few laughs :))