MANGALSUTRA - ABOUT

May 17, 2004

Mango Season is here in Chennai !!!

Dear All;

Mango Season is here in Chennai !!!

Summer is always steaming hot in Chennai.

We always want to beat the thirst.

Besides drinking Tender coconut water, Butter milk, Lassi, or just plain water – PANNA is a great drink.

Fresh raw mangoes are used to make a wonderful cooling chilled drink called "Aam ka panna".

I was introduced to “PANNA” about 10 years ago by Sundar, a good friend of mine.

I like panna for its tangy, minty taste.

Though PANNA is made from raw mangos, both the Salt and the Sweet versions are popular.

It is said that the sweet version is remedial for heat strokes, while salt used with raw mango replenishes the sodium chloride and iron lost through dehydration.

My Sister-in-law, Shyamala (raghu’s wife), made Panna two weeks ago at home.

She grew up at Chandrapur and Nagpur (both in Maharashtra – Central India).

So we got ourselves a authentic PANNA drink.

I do not know if there is any specific variety of mangos you select

As long as it is Raw and firm it should be O.K

Please find the recipe for the same below. In case you are unable / not in the mood to make it at home... Buy Panna of Haldirams.

SALTY PANNA

3 medium-sized green mangoes
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. black salt
8 tsp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. roasted and ground cumin seeds
1 1/2 tsp. dried mint powder or a few finely chopped mint leaves
4 cups water

Wash the mangoes and boil them in water until tender, then drain them and let them cool.
Remove their skins and extract the pulp, mashing it with your hands until the flesh is still slightly pulpy.
Add condiments and mix.
Add 4 cups of water to the mixture to get a slightly thick drink.
Stir it well and ' chill it for an hour.
The sourness of the mangoes may vary, so you can add salt and sugar to your taste.

SWEET PANNA

2 medium-sized green mangoes
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp. freshly crushed cardamom seeds
1 1/2 tsp. saffron strands and a pinch nutmeg

Prepare mangoes as described above, but blend the pulp to a fine paste and strain it through a sieve.

Put the paste in a pan, add condiments, and bring the mixture to a boil.

Stir continuously so that the paste does not stick to the pan.

Take from the heat and allow to cool.

Add 2 to 3 teaspoons of paste to each glass of water, chilled, as required.

The paste can be stored in the refrigerator for about a week.

Please find a illustration of the many artistic ways of Polishing off a good mango !!!!!!!!

Mango Facts

Mangoes are very nutritious and excellent source of carotene as compared to other fruits.
100 gms of edible portion of the mango contain about 1990ug of beta-carotene (vitamin A), which is much higher than in other fruits.
The total carotenoids ( Studies have reported that a high intake of fruits and vegetables containing beta carotene, lycopene, and other carotenoids may reduce the risk of heart attack ) in mango increase with the stage of ripening.
Eating mangoes in the season may provide a store of vitamin A in the liver, sufficient to last for the rest of the year
Highly beneficial for the prevention of vitamin A deficient disorders like night blindness.
Mangoes, both ripe and unripe are very good sources of vitamin C.
16mg of vitamin C is present in 100 gms of mango.
Both vitamins A and C are anti oxidants and help to prevent free radical injury and thus reduce the risk of certain cancers.
Ripe mango provides a good source of calories.
A ripe mango supplies 74kcal per 100 gms (mainly derived from fructose).
Raw mango has fewer calories compared to ripe mango.
The ripe mango fruit is also a good source of potassium and only traces of sodium makes it suitable for hypertensive patients.
Those on potassium restricted diet like renal failure diet, should avoid mangoes

Regards

Hari

Posted at 02:04 pm by FIXOSIGN
Comments (2)

Apr 29, 2004

MANGALSUTRA-ABOUT

Dear All;

Sometime ago, I had been to a jeweller, near my place, on some business.

I was wonder-struck by the variety of designs in the humble "THAALI" that our women wear.

I did some "surfing" to find the following:

There are many designs suiting the cultures of the different regions of India.

The "Thali" (mangalsutra) consists of two pieces, ONE FROM EACH FAMILY, traditionally dangling on a yellow thread. I found from the web that the variations in the Mangalsutra and the way it is made / arranged varies from region to region.

It contains images of the Shiva Lingam - Iyers
The Namam and Sudarshana Chakra - Iyengars
A pair of shell (shakha) and red coral (paula) bangles - Bengali
Ivory -Punjab and Rajastan
Gold chain with black beads and a gold pendant - West and other parts of India.
Kashitali - gold chain with coral beads and two black beads on either side of a diamond shaped gold pendant - Karnataka, specifically "Konkini"
Soft 24 Karat Gold is fashioned into necklaces modelled on the local flora and fauna—earrings like the hona, which replicate the orchid, and the lokaparo, which consists of two birds placed back to back. - Assam
Gold is used to craft imitations of the human head and long funnel-shaped beads which are used in combination with shells, animal claws and teeth and precious and semi-precious stones. - Nagaland
Rice grains, the Cobra’s hood, Melon and Cucumber seeds are some of the common motifs of nature inspired jewellery. - Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
Silversmiths craft large ornaments, which have a very delicate and intricate appearance. Headdresses called chak, long earrings and large nose rings with papal leaf or bird motifs are the specialties of the region. - Himachal Pradesh
Turquoise, Cornelian ( sort of reddish quartz), Coral and Agate - Ladakh and East Indian States

Our humble "THAALI" had a very humble Beginning.

In ancient days the leaves of the palm tree called "Thaala Vriksha" were strung together and used in the place of a cord or thread.

In this context, it is interesting to learn that the tying of the mangalsutra, which means auspicious thread or cord, is not a religious practice but a social one, and that too of recent origin.

It is surprising but true that this practice was not in vogue in ancient days in Hindu weddings. The "Grhyasutras" ( laws of domestic rituals) do not mention the mangalsutra but only a "kankana bandhana". The kankana bandhana or protective cord was worn by the couple to protect them from all kinds of pollution before the samvesana (consummation).

It appears the mangalsutra evolved more as a popular practice than as a scriptural observance.

For Hindu women, the mangalsutra or "Thali" is the one single symbol of their wedded state.

Three knots are tied - the first one by the bridegroom, the other two knots by his sister to make the bride a parts of the boy's family.

The Vedic hymn recited by the bridegroom when he ties the knot, is:

"This is a sacred thread. This is essential for my long life. I tie this around your neck,

O maiden having many auspicious attributes!

May you live happily for a hundred years (with me).

( Praying the Almighty that I be blessed with a long life )
Oh soubhaygavati.

(Note: The next time you hear "Mangalyam Tantunanena... in any movie, soap-serial,......you can recall the above meaning)

The Hindu marriage customs are designed to drive home the fact that the husband and wife are two equal and indispensable wheels of the vehicle of Life. The act of exchanging garlands is therefore an intimate gesture signifying that an integral part of one has been shared with the other, and there is no question of one being superior to the other.

It was also made mandatory that nobody else could share the same sacred intimacy - hence once a woman garlanded a man she was taken to be his wife. So much so that the very act of exchanging garlands, with or without the 'mangalsutra' [the external symbol of married status], was taken to symbolize wedlock.

I am enclosing a collage of a variety of "THAALI" pendants.

Hope you liked it,

Regards,

Hari

Posted at 03:58 pm by FIXOSIGN
Comments (2)

Apr 26, 2004

SHRADDAM OF RUKMINI PATTI-2004

Dear All;

It was my Paternal Granny's "Shraddam" ( Death Anniversary) today.

She would have been 102 years old, if she had been living today.

LEFT to RIGHT: Bhushan, Vishnu(Senior), Radhika, Raguvar, Vishnu(Junior), Swaminathan

Regards

Hari

Shraddha is an act done through Shraddha, faith; that is to say, faith in the existence and power of the pitris.

For these ceremonies have the satisfaction of the pitris as their end. The pitris could be satisfied only by vasana, mental desire, which cannot be communicated to them unless shown in acts under complete magnetic rapport, established through faith.

Shradda is of four kinds:

Akoddishta (that in which only one pinda [Literally the word means any individual body, and is here used to mean a ball of cooked rice or of rice-flour, meant as a symbol of the body of the pitri.] is given),
Sapindana (the unifying the pinda),
Sarvana (Shraddha performed on any parva i.e. every fifteenth day of the month, as well as any auspicious day of the year), and
Nandi (the Shraddha of joy).

# 4 - NANDI - It has for its object the conveying of a message of congratulations and thanks to the pitris at:
- The birth of a son; that is to say, of one who is expected to continue to feast them,
- or on the occasion of other auspicious ceremonies such as marriage,
- Simantonnayana, or
- Upanayana(Sacred Thread Ceremony) , with the same object, only in an indirect manner.
# 3, #2, and #1 - The other three Shraddhas are for the dead. The soul of a dead man/woman is supposed to become a preta (that which has passed out of the body), and to hover between this earth and the abode of the pitris (the moon), or of the gods (the sun). In order that the preta should not be prevailed upon by earthly tendencies to become an earth-bound spirit (bhuta), these ceremonies are undertaken.
- Akoddishta is of three kinds - Nava, Navamishra, and Purana.
  - The first performed every day from the day of death to the tenth after death;
  - the second includes all performed on the anniversary day, and has for its object the relief of the preta from the influence of the earth.Almost all things that the dead man liked while living are given away in gifts to Brahmins, all kinds of food, including fruits, sweets, etc., are given to deserving persons; -- all with a view to disentangle the Kama (desire) of the preta from such things.
- Sapindana, is meant to unify the preta with the pitris. In all ceremonies relating to Shraddhas, balls of cooked rice or rice-flour are worshipped with kusha-grass, flowers, sandal-wood ointment, and water mixed with Seasamum seeds, -- the whole act being accompanied by the repetition of proper mantras. The balls represent the preta and the pitris; and at the Sapindana the ball representing the preta is cut up into parts, which are carefully unified with the balls representing his immediate pitris. The object of the ceremony is obvious:
- Parvana is a ceremony whose meaning is plain enough. The Ashtaka is a kind of Parvana Shraddha performed every eighth day of the dark half of the months from Margashirsha to Falguna (December to March). It includes the Shraddha on the day preceding (called purvedyu) and that on the succeeding (called anvashtaka). Special stress is laid upon this one rite on account of the great auspiciousness of the time enjoined for it.

The Feeding of Brahmanas

.................it was prescribed that during a sraddha ceremony it was also required that brahmanas be fed. The brahmanas were not to be considered as mere human beings, but as representative of the pitrs. The position of the brahmana in a sraddha rite was therefore very high and they were regularly worshiped by the performer of the sraddha. When the brahmanas ate they ate on behalf of the pitrs. Their satisfaction was the satisfaction of the fathers. Although the germ of paying homage to the brahmanas is found in the Rg-Veda, the practice of feeding brahmanas was not in practice. In the Vedic period offerings for the dead were poured directly into the fire, which then carried the food to the fathers. The feeding of brahmanas was a practice that developed from the Grhya period. In the later periods, the brahmanas even came to occupy the position of the sacrificial fire. And so food and other such articles formally offered to the pitrs began to be offered to the brahmanas as their representatives on earth. In a further extension to this idea the brahmana began to represent, not only the pitrs, but even Brahman Itself. Consequently, when a brahmana ate Brahman ate, which meant that the whole world also ate.

Posted at 04:56 pm by FIXOSIGN
Comments (2)