Well, when I write a blog like this, the first person I am probably asking that question to, is MYSELF! I studied in a Girls Convent, then a secular college and YET I name my blog, SAMATHU IYENGAR PONNU !!I then throw open this question, to the millions of us, spread across the globe, yeah, the ones like you and me … who turn our noses up at ‘those people’, who refuse to eat outside their own home, fearing it has been cooked by a non-Brahmin (pardon the usage), those who still live in their little colonies, still make their daughters and wives sit out three days in a month, and still wrap nine yards of silk around themselves in the sweltering summer heat in Chennai.
An then there are the people, like us … the ones who conveniently eat non-veg, wear jeans and kurthis ( its comfortable you see), talk with a fake yank accent ( strictly for a few of those ‘Amerika retuns’), we call ourselves beyond all this ‘religion-caste ****’ BUT when it comes to matters of the uummm-ahenm clan ‘ , yeah yeah we are as discriminating as ever “ can you believe so and so’s daughter married a non-brahmin? Tsk tsk or Oh! You boss is name is Srikanth or Srinivasan or well .. Is he Brahmin? Oh well, he must be I guess! Honestly, ( for the person who specifically asked me this question) HOW DOES IT EVEN MATTER ???
And yet again, I would be lying if I deny shifting to ’Brahmin mode’ (using words like ‘aathu’ meaning home, ‘sathumadhu’ instead of rasam and ‘jalam’( water) instead of ‘thani’ which is considered the language of .. errr well…… ‘ I am ashamed to admit it, well I do have that ‘fixation’. Now now, don’t get me wrong about, I am incredibly proud to be, who I am but what I am ashamed of is my BLATANT HYPOCRISY, On one side, I am crying myself horse about a secular county and yet I an unable to look outside one extremely rigid barrier of caste!
Would I be ok with my cousin ( who is settled in Austria) marrying a French or a German girl? I would yes, but would I treat her just the way I would treat someone of my own ilk? I really want to say yes, but we both know that the answer is NO! This is after assuming that my cousin, would even consider marrying a non-traditonal girl non .. well .. forget it , 15-20 years in the US, Uk or anywhere in the world and then, all these boys then come back to good-old Madras to select their wives! Why?
Where is this leading us? Honestly? In a country, where people like me are the future and If …well……. Eeeer…….the broadminded ones ( like us) cannot supercede barriers like this, then where does it leave the rest of us? How can we critize television of creating stereotypes? How can we accuse other people of creating stereotypes? It is us, the self-proclaimed broadminded ones who are most narrow-minded of them all !
A footnote:
Culture/Background:
Tamil Brahmins ("priestly class"), State of Tamil Nadu, South of India
Caste's Popular Rhetoric:
Absolute Vegetarians - not vegans (they take dairy products), Virtuous, Brilliant, Pure, Efficient & Hard Working, Safeguards & Propagators of the "divine" Vedas
Caste's "Original" Requirements:
Own no (or minimal required) property - depend on "grants" from the king/govt., perform prayers in Temples daily for living, supplicate their daily diet, be learned about Vedas (males), classical Singing (females) - Astrology, Palmistry, etc are optional
Tamil Brahmins ("priestly class"), State of Tamil Nadu, South of India
Caste's Popular Rhetoric:
Absolute Vegetarians - not vegans (they take dairy products), Virtuous, Brilliant, Pure, Efficient & Hard Working, Safeguards & Propagators of the "divine" Vedas
Caste's "Original" Requirements:
Own no (or minimal required) property - depend on "grants" from the king/govt., perform prayers in Temples daily for living, supplicate their daily diet, be learned about Vedas (males), classical Singing (females) - Astrology, Palmistry, etc are optional
3 comments:
jalam illa kanna, adhukku theertham nu solluva. jalam mondu kulikkarthukkaga :)
jalam illa kanna, adhukku theertham nu solluva. jalam mondu kulikkarthukkaga :)
My dear ponnu,
I am a 27 year old tamil brahmin boy. I am a graduate with 3 masters degrees and also have varied interests in life - an avid fan of extreme metal music, the most violent, dark and often perverted form of music on the planet (Death Metal, Thrash Metal, Black Metal - google it to see what they are). I wear gaudy 'rockstar' like outfits and have been to many heavy metal concerts. I am also an aspiring fiction writer, a fan of soccer (a Real Madrid fan), a movie buff (I watch Hollywood, Indian, Korean, Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Spanish, Swedish, French, Italian, Icelandic Cinema). Other interests include astronomy and reading. I also have a working knowledge of almost every religion on the planet, from paganism and wicca to mainstream religions.
And I have travelled to several countries, so I have multicultural interactions.
But my other side is this - I wear the Srichurnam wherever I go (even to foriegn lands), I have a mastery of the Veda with its many branches, I know the inner meanings of Divya Prabandham, RAmAyaNa and MahAbhAratA. I absolutely love going to temples and I am also fond of traditional festivals like Golu and Deepavali (the old fashioned way of celebration - in agraharams, not the mordern 'diwali' folks). I perform SandhyAvandanam regularly as well.
Why am I saying all this? It is because nowadays there are several people who believe in westernizing themselves and looking down on our great culture and tradition. These people tear their 'poonal', start eating non-veg and in general, fall in that awkward category of not being a confused westernised indian. You are just 21 years old. So, dear tamil brahmin sister, please do not hesitate to mordernise. But at the same time, do not forget to do proper research and find out how great your tradition is. Read the works of Advaita, Vishishtadvaita and Dvaita traditions of VedAntA and find out more about our gurus and about perumAl. Ours is not a blind faith - it is a sweet culmination of a lofty philosophy that towers above this world like the mighty HimAlayAs.
Read the works of great iyengar stalwarts like SrI PrativAdi Bhayankaram AnnangarAchAriAr of Kanchipuram and KArapangAdu Swami.
In other words, its possible to find the middle ground like me. People from the west are always enamoured of our tradition if you explain it to them well. Do not change your culture - be proud and grateful that you are born in an orthodox brahmin family (this is of course, not intended to say non-brahmins are lower or anything).
I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors.
Adiyen Sri Vaishnava Dasan,
~Aaryamaa~ (not my real name).
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