Specialized rituals in Hinduism

 Specialized rituals in Hinduism

My mind is freshly soaked into one such ritual which seeks to propitiate the noble souls of women folk of a particular lineage, who were highly evolved to “bless”( not to be confused with benediction) the living women folk of the same lineage.

The name of this ritual is more popular in the south ( the north has a very different “version” of this same concept, and difficult for average minds to correlate it ) known as “prayer to departed non-widowed-married-women”.

The origin of this southern version of ritual is a bit unknown. Scriptures are conspicuously silent. And it is therefore…..that  the details vary a lot between each household. The daughter-in-law is supposed to adapt herself to the version of her hubby's house, but today's “madams” try to impose their mom's  version and the purpose gets defeated, oblivious to the performers.

The unique feature of this ritual is, the whole process is a sharp contrast to all other rituals, marked by the absence of chants( mantras), sacrificial-fire and the exclusivity of male members. The “results” pose a serious challenge to the males, whose mastery in invoking, propitiation of gods, demigods, departed souls of both types, evolved and stuck souls, is challenged. Perhaps the origin itself is owed to the deterioration of quality in male dominated rituals ( something like, tuition & coaching centers becoming the solemeans of fetching rank-holders in matric, & plus-two exams….whereby, regular schools, who charge exorbitant fees are shamed 😜).

I was naturally pushed to a meditative state, due to the deep impact of decades of intense spiritual practices that I was involved into. Probably this “mind-set” ( of a meditative fellow) triggered an observation which was a bit unique and uncommon. The most significant of the observations were….

a).there may not be a direct synchronicity between the benedictions  sought and the blessings-granted by the invoked+propitiated evolved souls, simply because of the difference  in the “nature” of states these 2 sets of women folk are…..   Departed ones have no sense of earthly “time” and the situation. They do have a slight awareness about the location, owing to the strong-vibes emanating from  the  “process”.

b).the women folk of past centuries were better aware of the mismatch of situation between the seekers and the sought. Therefore, they “devised” a structure plus design ( akin to excellent softwares by today's computer programmers), to institute a powerful & functional interface in place to bridge the gap between blessings offered & benedictions sought.  ( though I cannot “claim” any proficiency or mastery at weaving a seamless interface, I do try to devise one, to the best of my abilities, subject to certain level of freedom allowed to me by those around🙏).

c).trust is still a significant factor in preservation of this powerful ritual ( a tuition center remains dependent on the individual dedication and expertise of the faculty, when it does-not-follow any of the protocols of a regular school 😜)

d).interpretation of certain subtle hints, that are available only to the keen eyes of the observers, among participants and witnesses to the ritual, is crucial to the propagation & preservation of this ritual ( here i must mention that, I transcended the limitations of traditional protocols that reached my generation down the memory lane of  several generations, and with mentionworthy success. I am indebted to my own dear women-folk on my family for having placed a deep trust in me and my eccentricities, in re-shaping this ritual to reach newer types of households! 

Femininely yours,

psn ( 24 june 2024)