Am I going astray?

[vgane]

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As I was ruminating about the thread in this site on the Vedic Agraharam in Bengaluru, I have penned this


I am a Tamil Brahmin…I am an Engineer & working for an MNC….I have a modern outlook without the tag of alcoholism, smoking or late night swing parties


I am proud of my culture, my traditions and my community


I have lived in several colonies, streets, nagars inhabited by Brahmins only in Chennai…However though in the North I have lived in Hindu colonies with a mix of Bania, Punjabi, Rajput and Brahmin cultures, yet I miss all the Tamil festivals be it Deepavali (In the North they do not celebrate Naraka chadurdashi), Pongal, Vinayaka chaturthi (In North it is not celebrated as in South or West), Thiruvadirai or Karadaiyan nonbu (for the ladies)…

I miss the traditions..I also miss the people from my community...So,in future too I cherish to like to live in a Agraharam where my co-people follow my traditions and values…


What are these traditions that I treasure the most?


Getting up early, completing my morning ablutions before taking a morsel of food, praying to God, celebrating the festivals with gusto, offering Tharpan to the departed souls in the family, participating in Samardhanai, Enjoying the Margazhi Bhajans, participating in the Annual Aradhanai in local temple’s, conducting Sastha Preethi etc


I will like my children to understand the importance of various rituals and celebrations so that they can imbibe the spirit behind them, appreciate our traditions and not belittle them.


I do not ill treat any community..I show respect to all communities..I do not belittle any caste…I am living my own life which is on my terms…I send my children to schools that help imbibe the thread of modernity without losing track of traditions and values such as Honesty, Integrity, Discipline and Non Violence!


Am I going astray by yearning to live in an Agraharam where my co members will also to a very large extent appreciate my way of life? Is it a crime?

 

[sangom]

As I was ruminating about the thread in this site on the Vedic Agraharam in Bengaluru, I have penned this


I am a Tamil Brahmin…I am an Engineer & working for an MNC….I have a modern outlook without the tag of alcoholism, smoking or late night swing parties


I am proud of my culture, my traditions and my community


I have lived in several colonies, streets, nagars inhabited by Brahmins only in Chennai…However though in the North I have lived in Hindu colonies with a mix of Bania, Punjabi, Rajput and Brahmin cultures, yet I miss all the Tamil festivals be it Deepavali (In the North they do not celebrate Naraka chadurdashi), Pongal, Vinayaka chaturthi (In North it is not celebrated as in South or West), Thiruvadirai or Karadaiyan nonbu (for the ladies)…

I miss the traditions..I also miss the people from my community...So,in future too I cherish to like to live in a Agraharam where my co-people follow my traditions and values…


What are these traditions that I treasure the most?


Getting up early, completing my morning ablutions before taking a morsel of food, praying to God, celebrating the festivals with gusto, offering Tharpan to the departed souls in the family, participating in Samardhanai, Enjoying the Margazhi Bhajans, participating in the Annual Aradhanai in local temple’s, conducting Sastha Preethi etc


I will like my children to understand the importance of various rituals and celebrations so that they can imbibe the spirit behind them, appreciate our traditions and not belittle them.


I do not ill treat any community..I show respect to all communities..I do not belittle any caste…I am living my own life which is on my terms…I send my children to schools that help imbibe the thread of modernity without losing track of traditions and values such as Honesty, Integrity, Discipline and Non Violence!


Am I going astray by yearning to live in an Agraharam where my co members will also to a very large extent appreciate my way of life? Is it a crime?

Dear Shri Gane,

I find the post confusing, sort of. It appears as though you yourself have chosen what to follow, cherish, continue, observe, and so on, and no one else has any right in that. This is the "modern" notion of individual freedom. Having decided on that, I think there is no sense in saying, expecting, etc., the next generation to "to understand the importance of various rituals and celebrations so that they can imbibe the spirit behind them, appreciate our traditions and not belittle them." Axiomatically, they will decide whatever they want to follow or throw out or belittle.

I presume that you are a tabra and not some other kind of 'bra'. Our caste has gone down over the last century or more, simply because some of our previous generation people started thinking on the very same lines given above and threw out the caste norms and community's say over individual members and families/households. Result? We as a community have come very near to extinction both in numbers and in preserving our "culture". You are just a continuation of that process of going "astray". But there is no home, no target, no brahmin culture today and all are going astray like molecules in a hot gas.

Hence, the truth is that you have been going astray, but so are most tabras and there is no way to rectify this. Let us therefore accept stoically that we are all going astray.

 

[vgane]

Dear Shri Gane,

I find the post confusing, sort of. It appears as though you yourself have chosen what to follow, cherish, continue, observe, and so on, and no one else has any right in that. This is the "modern" notion of individual freedom. Having decided on that, I think there is no sense in saying, expecting, etc., the next generation to "to understand the importance of various rituals and celebrations so that they can imbibe the spirit behind them, appreciate our traditions and not belittle them." Axiomatically, they will decide whatever they want to follow or throw out or belittle.

I presume that you are a tabra and not some other kind of 'bra'. Our caste has gone down over the last century or more, simply because some of our previous generation people started thinking on the very same lines given above and threw out the caste norms and community's say over individual members and families/households. Result? We as a community have come very near to extinction both in numbers and in preserving our "culture". You are just a continuation of that process of going "astray". But there is no home, no target, no brahmin culture today and all are going astray like molecules in a hot gas.

Hence, the truth is that you have been going astray, but so are most tabras and there is no way to rectify this. Let us therefore accept stoically that we are all going astray.

Dear Shri Sangom,

If I decide to live in an Agraharam & practice my way of life am I going astray..This is the question that I posed in OP......Am I blundering, going off course by this decision...I personally feel however that living in Agraharam is good for our community!

 

[sangom]

Dear Shri Sangom,

If I decide to live in an Agraharam & practice my way of life am I going astray..This is the question that I posed in OP......Am I blundering, going off course by this decision...I personally feel however that living in Agraharam is good for our community!

Dear Shri Gane,

What I tried to point out is my personal view that as a caste/community, we tabras had started going astray for a few generations now and it is really next to impossible for any one of us or any one family to correct our course and get back to the right track. Hence your deciding to live in an agraharam or doing some other old-world brahmin style daily routine, is unlikely to get you back into the lost tabra/brahminical way of life.

Time has taken its toll on the traditional tabra way of life and we should not grieve about it. Let us look forward and move on - with the times; it does not matter if we go astray a bit more.

 

[auh]

I tend to completely agree with what Shri Samgom has said in the above two posts, but my personal feeling is that somewhere along the path, once the materialistic targets are well met, the tiny niggle in the conscience that must have been brushed away for all these years starts thumping more and more, and the mind seeks redressal in spirituality, and tends to adapt the traditional ways of living to the extent possible.

More like the Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

Of course this is not for all but for those urbanized/NRI brahmins only.

 

[kunjuppu]

Dear Shri Sangom,

If I decide to live in an Agraharam & practice my way of life am I going astray..This is the question that I posed in OP......Am I blundering, going off course by this decision...I personally feel however that living in Agraharam is good for our community!

one tends to forget the claustrophobia that an agraharam life tends to be. when looking back at the lifestyles of my relations in kalpathi or tali, i used to envy the closeness to the brahmins.

later on i came to find out, there was absolutely no privacy. people who moved out of agraharams, were thankful they were able to. and could never dream of going back. in the concept of today's values, it makes more sense, to live, if at all there is a need, to live near like minded people with likeminded interests ideas values and food habits. atleast we can share a few things in common.

there is no guarantee that in agraharam all this is possible. if this forum be viewed as a cyber agraharam, i am not sure how many would like me to be their neighbour. and vice versa ofcourse!!

 

[Nara]

.....If I decide to live in an Agraharam & practice my way of life am I going astray..This is the question that I posed in OP......Am I blundering, going off course by this decision...I personally feel however that living in Agraharam is good for our community!

vgane, if you personally feel that living in Agraharam is good for your community, then the question are you going astray by not doing so is very easy to answer, of course you are going astray. But the real problem is believing living in Agraharam is good for your community.

 

[sangom]

I tend to completely agree with what Shri Samgom has said in the above two posts, but my personal feeling is that somewhere along the path, once the materialistic targets are well met, the tiny niggle in the conscience that must have been brushed away for all these years starts thumping more and more, and the mind seeks redressal in spirituality, and tends to adapt the traditional ways of living to the extent possible.

More like the Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

Of course this is not for all but for those urbanized/NRI brahmins only.

Shri auh,

I feel it is not the matter of the materialistic targets being met, but an inborn feeling of "brahmin uniqueness" and a desire to live up to that uniqueness. The cloak of religiosity/spirituality, traditional ways of life, etc., are donned only in order to buttress that unique status. That is why today I find many tabras who were leading almost mleccha life style, suddenly turning to such cloak of religiosity/spirituality, traditional ways of life, etc., the moment they retire from service. Our society also, following the so-called dictum, don't attempt to trace the origin of a river nor the past of a saint, start deifying such life-end brahmins (like week-end brahmins) as though they are saints!

 

[Nacchinarkiniyan]

Many people especially the younger generation have a glorified concept of a Brahmin Agraharam. This is because of the talk about the good od days by the older generation. That is real propaganda. We have discussed this in this forum a number of times.

The idyllic Agraharam is an Utopian concept. It never existed except in the writings of some of the Brahmin writers.

Thi. Janakiraman is one writer who did not glorify the Brahmin agraharam.

In this forum we have not been able to even arrive at a consensus about the concept of Brahminism or the Brahmin values. Every one swears by his own concepts.

Some people talk about how Brahmins have lost their values. To which period are they referring? 50 years back, 100 years back or 1300 A.D. We have very little information about how we lived then. So these are only individual perceptions. Not facts.

Sri. Vgane. Please examine your idea of an ideal Vedic Agraharam. Did they really exist?

Al of us dream of an idyllic life in an idyllic village. Since this is only a dream this can never be fulfilled. The fault is not with us. It is Life.

 

[vgane]

Shri auh,

That is why today I find many tabras who were leading almost mleccha life style, suddenly turning to such cloak of religiosity/spirituality, traditional ways of life, etc., the moment they retire from service. !

Shri Sangom,

I agree to this part as there is a yearning to go to the roots....As I came out of an Agraharam type lifestyle I am neither here nor there...Not satisfied with the current way of life would like to return to the older way of life...But it is not easy..At best it can happen only after my retirement...Till then I have to cling onto the current dead wood where man eats man..The current fast paced metro life style has no place and time for pursuing the pastimes ..It is mechanical without any tinge of remorse...There is hardly any emotion in relationships

 

[sangom]

I agree that an idyllic agrahaaram possibly did not exist, at any time in history. But brahmins, and especially tamil brahmins had generally been 'nomads' shifting from place to place, at least in historical times and it probably was optimum for them to move in groups and settle down in groups in the new location so that they would be able to help each other in all matters and also to defend and preserve their unique customs, beliefs, aachaarams and so on in an easier manner.

The community or samudaayam was very powerful in those times and individual brahmins or individual families risked the ostracization by the jaathi or community if such individual or single family tended to go astray from the commonly held values.

Even if anyone desires such a dominant "samudaayam" and a community life under its control, today it is impossible to recreate such a condition. Hence our only option is to go along with the times. If we get some feeling (tiny niggle in the conscience, as Shri auh has very aptly put it) then we should try to get over it and try to live "in the present". That is what I would say.

 

[vgane]

Sri. Vgane. Please examine your idea of an ideal Vedic Agraharam. Did they really exist?

Al of us dream of an idyllic life in an idyllic village. Since this is only a dream this can never be fulfilled. The fault is not with us. It is Life.

The Vedic Agraharams did exist in Villages which was primarily agrarian...However due to industrial revolution people moved to towns and cities...People migrated to the centers of Government such as Chennai and other metropolitan cities...Here too, as in the villages, all Brahmins resided together because of the cultural fit...

The concept of Agraharam broke in places where the community was scarce and work /job at different locations in sprawling metros made it difficult to stay together.... Yet the community tried to get into groups as in Matunga, Mulund,Thane in Mumbai or in Karol Bagh,R.K.Puram in Delhi to create semblance of groups

Should an Agraharam be only Vedic in nature..It can be a thriving modern Hindu condominium also where besides the traditional the modern pursuits in Computers, Internet and advanced Medical Bio tech research are pursued by its inmates..The members will learn Veda and Music ..Also have the capability to do research on life on Mars or the car which will run without any fuel for the next 100 years

The above can be true of any community in India..So long as communities do not fight over trivial matters each of the communes can develop into a microcosm of a developed nation...The Republic of India will be proud of each of its communes who will become the back bone of the country!

 

[biswa]

Agraharam or not, I think most people (or lets say Indians) have a longing for their childhood way of life. I have very fond memories of my childhood and my wife is very nostalgic about hers, though in reality our respective childhoods were quite different.

It is really about that time period in life where we were under the care and protection of our parents, had structure from schooling and could form friendships unhindered. Many of us did not have a care in the world. I remember even my parents had fond memories of their youth.

 

[prasad1]

I have never lived in an agraharam, but you see minorities tend to band together to live in community. This is true in all ages and all locations. Sometimes living among people of your kind is good, but it comes at a cost of privacy. So depending on what is more important to you, you choose that path. When you are young you do not need others and tent to favor privacy more than being in a community. As you grow older your insecurities make you wish that you should be near your community. Unfortunately you can not have both at the same time.

 

[sarang]

There is nothing wrong in yearning for or aspiring for a way of life that one holds dear. What was easier to do in the past is perhaps a little more difficult now. There was royal and vaishya patronage, social acceptance and prestige for exclusive brahmin agraharams, that helped the entire society in all activities related to temples, worship, rituals, yagnas and in spiritual matters. This may not be case in non-villages, as the population was more, density was high and many had administrative, financial and political powers. I believe those brahmins in the service of king and administration, lived in city capitals and business towns and ports lived in mixed neighbourhood.

Today amitab bachan has tweeted that our culture survived british rule, but now it, is under great pressure from our systems. Our brahmin society too has to face this external pressure and evolve a system to chart its path. Modernization need not be westernization, education need not be just english, living in today's world need not be giving up everything we consider as basic, important and worth following.

There are people from all age groups - retired from mnc, public/private sector, who have settled in temple towns to participate in daily rituals, some have become priests and active do-all in temple and mut related activities, and youngsters who wholeheartedly get involved in temple/ritual/kaikaryam, despite working for a living in different places.

Our basic theory and practices are very very strong and will not vanish. Many youngsters have become adept in following a modern high-fly corporate life without diluting traditional way of life, have the support and approval of their acharyas.

So he who wants to restore past, has all the facilities and tools, to follow his/her heart and brain; learning of scriptures, doing nitya and other religious karmas and samskaras, promote institutions with financial support and involvement are easy to do. Finding a place in an agraharam or creating one is more difficult, but not impossible.

Easiest way to do is to approach your acharya or guru; faith and practice will follow without any effort.

 

[Vaagmi]

The fond memories of a vedic agraharam by a brahmin are a harking back to those days when he lived in such an agraharam with neighbours who were holding the same similar cultural values. These days too we live in such agraharams though we do not call them that. A mylapore, a triplicane, a nanganallur or a mambalam today is nothing but a condominium of brahmin households. In these urban districts you will find many apartment complexes which are exclusive brahmin residences. Even in cities like Mumbai we have Matunga, Chembur, Mulund and Dombivli where SI brahmins have settled down in groups. They have built their own temples and sabhas in these places. So brahmin agraharams do exist and they will exist for ever.

Why do we see this phenomena? When you get up in the morning you do not want to see across your balcony in the neighbours balcony a lamb being skinned to be shared by a couple of families. Nor do you want to struggle in the strong waft of air coming from your neighbour's kitchen where he may be happily frying freshly bought fish. So you look for a neighbourhood in which you can live with your values in tact. This is what is after all an agraharam.

The basic reason for the existence of an agraharam being on solid grounds, it will continue to exist. Every brahmin house, as long as it is situate in a brahmin neighbourhood is part of an agraharam. There is no need to go looking for the old agraharam for revival of the culture. This is the compromise that brahmins have made moving with times.

I have lived in an agraharam for sufficiently long and I know what a great experience it is.

 

[V.Balasubramani]

Sir,

I wish to share, copy of article published in the Hindu dt:16.05.2013 which speaks about Udayalur and Tippirajapuram agraharams.


Where the roots are preserved

By Suganthy Krishnamachari

Modernity has not affected the agraharams of Udayalur and Tippirajapuram.

Pallava, Chola and Pandya kings established Brahmin settlements called Chaturvedi mangalam in many places in Tamil Nadu. Sociologist Andre Beteille writes in his book:“Later the term agraharam came into use to refer to a community of Brahmins, to the street on which they lived and sometimes to the entire village.” Ganapathyagraharam is an example of an entire village bearing the name ‘Agraharam.’

During the Maratha reign in Thanjavur, many agraharams were attached to the chatrams,established by the rulers. In 1765 a chatram was built in the name of Rajakumaramba Bayi, the second wife of Tulaja II. In 1777, an agraharam was built attached to this chatram. In the Chakravarambapuram Agraharam, which was attached to the chatram of the same name, there were 24 houses, of which 12 were destroyed in a fire. In 1831, new houses were built to replace the ones lost in the fire. Tamil scholar K.M. Venkatramaiah records that Subramania Sastri, one of the residents here, was an Eka Santa Grahi, that is, one who,with just one reading, could retain in his memory what he had read.Sulakshanamba Bayi donated lands to the chatram established in her name and theyield of 3,000 kalams of paddy from these lands, was shared among the 30 families in the Sulakshanamba Bayi agraharam.

Gift to minister

In addition to these agraharams attached to chatrams, agraharams were established elsewheretoo, sometimes as a gift to a minister. Dabir Agraharam in Kumbakonam is one such. It was named after Dabir Pandit, Dabir being a reference to his official position. His name was Naroo Pandit. He appears to have been a minister under Pratap Singh (1739 to 1763) and later under Tulaja II. He suggested a new system of revenue collection called Dabir Muri. At that time the ‘amani’ system was in vogue. The Dabir Muri would have ensured more revenue to the government,but for some reason, both the Nawab and Tulaja, who was restored to the throne in 1776, were unwilling to implement the Dabir Muri, but continued with the amani system. However, much later, in the 1800s, the Dabir Muri system was adopted by J. Cotton, the Collector of Thanjavur.

Agraharams seem to have been lively places, with their residents even staging plays! It was necessary to get government permission. A Modi record says that residents of all 40 houses in Dabir Agraharam applied for permission to stage the play ‘Harishchandra’ during the day and ‘Hiranyavadam’ during the night.

In an agraharam, houses shared a common wall. While this would make lateral expansion of a house impossible, it enhanced social interaction among the residents. Every house had a thinnai, which was an elevated open verandah on the outside of the house, and this writer remembers childhood visits to her grandfather’s village, where, as the elders sat on the thinnai, discussing politics,the children would play hide and seek. Hide and seek seemed an ideal game to play in an agraharam, where the doors to all houses were kept open through out the day, and the children could find umpteen hiding places, behind huge wooden barrels, behind the wooden chests to store paddy (kudir), and even in the lofts. Beteille observes: “Nothing happens within an agraharam which is not sooner or later – sooner rather than later- brought to the knowledge of the entire community.” He says one of the ways in which news travels in the agraharam is from one thinnai to another!

But what is life like in agraharams these days? Most of the agraharams of old have become commercial nerve centres of the towns in which they are located. First Agraharam in Salem, for example, is now home to showrooms and shops. In Kumbakonam and Thanjavur too agraharams have disappeared and even those who live these have replaced the old houses with modern ones

.Ancient buildings

Enquries reveal that the villages of Udayalur and Tippirajapuram still have the old structures in tact, and what’s more, most of the houses are occupied too. And so it is,that I make my way to these villages. Pattabhiraman of Udayalur, who takes me round the agraharam says that the films ‘Arasu’ and ‘Dhanam’ were shot here. He shows me the place where, in the film ‘Arasu’, Vadivelu walks along jauntily boasting of his job. While many of the residents of the agraharam have left in search of better prospects, Pattabhiraman has stayed back to cultivate the lands belonging to the family. Every house here has a kudir - those huge wooden chests to hold paddy. The mandatory thinnai here has been enclosed in many cases with bamboo sticks. Pattabhiraman says it is to keep stray dogs from dirtying the thinnai. No house in Udayalur has a first floor. That is because there is a belief that if a house is higher than a nearby Amman temple, then the family that has built such a structure will be ruined. Udayalur agraharamis quiet, when I visit, because most of the people are away in the fields.

But Thippirajapuram is lively even during the afternoon. No one seems to be having an afternoon siesta. One doesn’t see any youngsters around, many of the people being senior citizens, who have come back to their ancestral village. They are making the most of their retirement years. Mornings begin with a visit to the Varadaraja Perumal temple in the village and in the evenings they worship at the Siva temple. Most of the houses have retained their period look, with their wooden pillars surrounding the courtyard, hick wooden doors with brass knobs,carved lintels and cavernous lofts. The loft in some houses is so long that it spans two rooms, making the loft seem like the first floor of the house. The TVserial ‘Chellamma’ was shot in Tippirajapuram, says ‘Maadi’ mani, who has himself acted in serials and films.

The houses here have carved Burma teak cots, swings, wooden barrels to store grains in and wooden ladle holders. Tippirajapuram and Udayalur, fortunately, have not given up their antiques to determined collectors. I also notice that every house in Tippirajapuram has a little teak chest with a mirror, which, a century ago,used to be the equivalent of the present day vanity case. At the time of her wedding, every girl was presented with such a chest, in which she would keep her kumkum, hair oil and comb.

Imagine if, upon retirement, a person could go back to the village in which he grew up, and enjoy the company of his childhood playmates, who too have come back after their retirement. The good-natured ribbing among the men folk, unpolluted environment, quietness broken only by peels of laughter make Tippirajapuram the sort of idyllic place one would want to retire to.

Tippirajapuramand Udayalur are living agraharams. They have not lost their residents to the march of modernity. To one used to the cold anonymity of city life, the sense of belonging that the villagers have, and the houses they live in afford a peep into a past that one has heard his/her grandparents describe. It’s just the sort of back to the roots life any old person would like to have.


Source: The Hindu - Friday Review - History and Culture - dated: May 16, 2013.

 

[Vaagmi]

Sir,

I wish to share, copy of article published in the Hindu dt:16.05.2013 which speaks about Udayalur and Tippirajapuram agraharams.


Where the roots are preserved

By Suganthy Krishnamachari

Modernity has not affected the agraharams of Udayalur and Tippirajapuram.

Pallava, Chola and Pandya kings established Brahmin settlements called Chaturvedi mangalam in many places in Tamil Nadu. Sociologist Andre Beteille writes in his book:“Later the term agraharam came into use to refer to a community of Brahmins, to the street on which they lived and sometimes to the entire village.” Ganapathyagraharam is an example of an entire village bearing the name ‘Agraharam.’

During the Maratha reign in Thanjavur, many agraharams were attached to the chatrams,established by the rulers. In 1765 a chatram was built in the name of Rajakumaramba Bayi, the second wife of Tulaja II. In 1777, an agraharam was built attached to this chatram. In the Chakravarambapuram Agraharam, which was attached to the chatram of the same name, there were 24 houses, of which 12 were destroyed in a fire. In 1831, new houses were built to replace the ones lost in the fire. Tamil scholar K.M. Venkatramaiah records that Subramania Sastri, one of the residents here, was an Eka Santa Grahi, that is, one who,with just one reading, could retain in his memory what he had read.Sulakshanamba Bayi donated lands to the chatram established in her name and theyield of 3,000 kalams of paddy from these lands, was shared among the 30 families in the Sulakshanamba Bayi agraharam.

Gift to minister

In addition to these agraharams attached to chatrams, agraharams were established elsewheretoo, sometimes as a gift to a minister. Dabir Agraharam in Kumbakonam is one such. It was named after Dabir Pandit, Dabir being a reference to his official position. His name was Naroo Pandit. He appears to have been a minister under Pratap Singh (1739 to 1763) and later under Tulaja II. He suggested a new system of revenue collection called Dabir Muri. At that time the ‘amani’ system was in vogue. The Dabir Muri would have ensured more revenue to the government,but for some reason, both the Nawab and Tulaja, who was restored to the throne in 1776, were unwilling to implement the Dabir Muri, but continued with the amani system. However, much later, in the 1800s, the Dabir Muri system was adopted by J. Cotton, the Collector of Thanjavur.

Agraharams seem to have been lively places, with their residents even staging plays! It was necessary to get government permission. A Modi record says that residents of all 40 houses in Dabir Agraharam applied for permission to stage the play ‘Harishchandra’ during the day and ‘Hiranyavadam’ during the night.

In an agraharam, houses shared a common wall. While this would make lateral expansion of a house impossible, it enhanced social interaction among the residents. Every house had a thinnai, which was an elevated open verandah on the outside of the house, and this writer remembers childhood visits to her grandfather’s village, where, as the elders sat on the thinnai, discussing politics,the children would play hide and seek. Hide and seek seemed an ideal game to play in an agraharam, where the doors to all houses were kept open through out the day, and the children could find umpteen hiding places, behind huge wooden barrels, behind the wooden chests to store paddy (kudir), and even in the lofts. Beteille observes: “Nothing happens within an agraharam which is not sooner or later – sooner rather than later- brought to the knowledge of the entire community.” He says one of the ways in which news travels in the agraharam is from one thinnai to another!

But what is life like in agraharams these days? Most of the agraharams of old have become commercial nerve centres of the towns in which they are located. First Agraharam in Salem, for example, is now home to showrooms and shops. In Kumbakonam and Thanjavur too agraharams have disappeared and even those who live these have replaced the old houses with modern ones

.Ancient buildings

Enquries reveal that the villages of Udayalur and Tippirajapuram still have the old structures in tact, and what’s more, most of the houses are occupied too. And so it is,that I make my way to these villages. Pattabhiraman of Udayalur, who takes me round the agraharam says that the films ‘Arasu’ and ‘Dhanam’ were shot here. He shows me the place where, in the film ‘Arasu’, Vadivelu walks along jauntily boasting of his job. While many of the residents of the agraharam have left in search of better prospects, Pattabhiraman has stayed back to cultivate the lands belonging to the family. Every house here has a kudir - those huge wooden chests to hold paddy. The mandatory thinnai here has been enclosed in many cases with bamboo sticks. Pattabhiraman says it is to keep stray dogs from dirtying the thinnai. No house in Udayalur has a first floor. That is because there is a belief that if a house is higher than a nearby Amman temple, then the family that has built such a structure will be ruined. Udayalur agraharamis quiet, when I visit, because most of the people are away in the fields.

But Thippirajapuram is lively even during the afternoon. No one seems to be having an afternoon siesta. One doesn’t see any youngsters around, many of the people being senior citizens, who have come back to their ancestral village. They are making the most of their retirement years. Mornings begin with a visit to the Varadaraja Perumal temple in the village and in the evenings they worship at the Siva temple. Most of the houses have retained their period look, with their wooden pillars surrounding the courtyard, hick wooden doors with brass knobs,carved lintels and cavernous lofts. The loft in some houses is so long that it spans two rooms, making the loft seem like the first floor of the house. The TVserial ‘Chellamma’ was shot in Tippirajapuram, says ‘Maadi’ mani, who has himself acted in serials and films.

The houses here have carved Burma teak cots, swings, wooden barrels to store grains in and wooden ladle holders. Tippirajapuram and Udayalur, fortunately, have not given up their antiques to determined collectors. I also notice that every house in Tippirajapuram has a little teak chest with a mirror, which, a century ago,used to be the equivalent of the present day vanity case. At the time of her wedding, every girl was presented with such a chest, in which she would keep her kumkum, hair oil and comb.

Imagine if, upon retirement, a person could go back to the village in which he grew up, and enjoy the company of his childhood playmates, who too have come back after their retirement. The good-natured ribbing among the men folk, unpolluted environment, quietness broken only by peels of laughter make Tippirajapuram the sort of idyllic place one would want to retire to.

Tippirajapuramand Udayalur are living agraharams. They have not lost their residents to the march of modernity. To one used to the cold anonymity of city life, the sense of belonging that the villagers have, and the houses they live in afford a peep into a past that one has heard his/her grandparents describe. It’s just the sort of back to the roots life any old person would like to have.


Source: The Hindu - Friday Review - History and Culture - dated: May 16, 2013.

Hello Balasubramani,

Thanks for copy pasting. I live in a vertical agraharam in Chennai. In my younger days I lived in an agraharam deep down south. I have written about my agraharam earlier too in this forum. Your post brought to me nostalgic memories of those days. Every time I decide to go live in my village house in the agraharam, it becomes just another prasava vairagyam. The only bright spot in that yearning is the yearly visit I make to my village on the varshabhishekam day of the local temple which we have renovated. I meet my old friends who have stayed back in the village looking after agriculture and recall those days we spent together. The retired local post man, the amman koil pujari, the local tasmac worker, the local weaver were all my class mates once. Some one said human life remains for ever an unfinished painting. How true!

 

[V.Balasubramani]

Hello Balasubramani,

Thanks for copy pasting. I live in a vertical agraharam in Chennai. In my younger days I lived in an agraharam deep down south. I have written about my agraharam earlier too in this forum. Your post brought to me nostalgic memories of those days. Every time I decide to go live in my village house in the agraharam, it becomes just another prasava vairagyam. The only bright spot in that yearning is the yearly visit I make to my village on the varshabhishekam day of the local temple which we have renovated. I meet my old friends who have stayed back in the village looking after agriculture and recall those days we spent together. The retired local post man, the amman koil pujari, the local tasmac worker, the local weaver were all my class mates once. Some one said human life remains for ever an unfinished painting. How true!

Sir,

The article 'Where the roots are preserved'
with description of row of houses in an Agraharam which have pillars(thoon). Rezhi, Muttham, and above all Thinnai,etc , it is certain to takes one's memory to his boyhood days.

I had no occasion to live in an agraharam. But, for the past 15 years, I live in a place adjacent to Chennai Air Port and my neighbours are Santhana Gopalan, Keerthivasan, Rukamani Mami, and the like. This is mainly bcos as you said "When you get up in the morning you do not want to see across your balcony in the neighbours balcony a lamb being skinned to be shared by a couple of families. Nor do you want to struggle in the strong waft of air coming from your neighbour's kitchen where he may be happily frying freshly bought fish"


We all live here happily and our collective activities include attending Sath Sangam on Sundays, Sri Vishnu Sahasranama Mandali on Saturdays, Soundharya Lahari class for Ladies on Fridays, Chanting Sri Rudhram on Pradhosham days, etc

Though life is full of care as written by William Henry Davies in his poetry: 'Leisure'," What is this life if, full of care,We have no time to stand and stare", we do take opportunity to find time to thank the God for all His blessings and to spread love.

With regards

 

[kunjuppu]

Though life is full of care as written by William Henry Davies in his poetry: 'Leisure'," What is this life if, full of care,We have no time to stand and stare", we do take opportunity to find time to thank the God for all His blessings and to spread love.

With regards

wow!!! a fellow admirer of w.h. davies!! wowowowowowow!!!

have you read his 'autobiography of a supertramp?' awesome travelogue across canada...davies losing one of his legs in the bargain.

my own faviourite is 'sweet stay at home'.. which unfortunately i am not

Sweet Stay-at-Home, sweet Well-content,
Thou knowest of no strange continent;
Thou hast not felt thy bosom keep
A gentle motion with the deep;

Thou hast not sailed in Indian seas,
Where scent comes forth in every breeze.
Thou hast not seen the rich grape grow
For miles, as far as eyes can go:

Thou hast not seen a summer's night
When maids could sew by a worm's light;
Nor the North Sea in spring send out
Bright hues that like birds flit about
In solid cages of white ice --

Sweet Stay-at-Home, sweet Love-one-place,
Thou hast not seen black fingers pick
White cotton when the bloom is thick,
Nor heard black throats in harmony;
Nor hast thou sat on stones that lie
Flat on the earth, that once did rise
To hide proud kings from common eyes.
Thou hast not seen plains full of bloom

Where green things had such little room
They pleased the eye like fairer flowers --
Sweet Stay-at-Home, all these long hours.
Sweet Well-content, sweet Love-one-place,
Sweet, simple maid, bless thy dear face;

For thou hast made more homely stuff
Nurture thy gentle self enough;
I love thee for a heart that's kind --
Not for the knowledge in thy mind.

 

[Vaagmi]

wow!!! a fellow admirer of w.h. davies!! wowowowowowow!!!

have you read his 'autobiography of a supertramp?' awesome travelogue across canada...davies losing one of his legs in the bargain.

my own faviourite is 'sweet stay at home'.. which unfortunately i am not

Sweet Stay-at-Home, sweet Well-content,
Thou knowest of no strange continent;
Thou hast not felt thy bosom keep
A gentle motion with the deep;

Thou hast not sailed in Indian seas,
Where scent comes forth in every breeze.
Thou hast not seen the rich grape grow
For miles, as far as eyes can go:

Thou hast not seen a summer's night
When maids could sew by a worm's light;
Nor the North Sea in spring send out
Bright hues that like birds flit about
In solid cages of white ice --

Sweet Stay-at-Home, sweet Love-one-place,
Thou hast not seen black fingers pick
White cotton when the bloom is thick,
Nor heard black throats in harmony;
Nor hast thou sat on stones that lie
Flat on the earth, that once did rise
To hide proud kings from common eyes.
Thou hast not seen plains full of bloom

Where green things had such little room
They pleased the eye like fairer flowers --
Sweet Stay-at-Home, all these long hours.
Sweet Well-content, sweet Love-one-place,
Sweet, simple maid, bless thy dear face;

For thou hast made more homely stuff
Nurture thy gentle self enough;
I love thee for a heart that's kind --
Not for the knowledge in thy mind.

Now let me try to add a caption. "A wanderlust's Pensive Moments" will fit?

 

[V.Balasubramani]

wow!!! a fellow admirer of w.h. davies!! wowowowowowow!!!

have you read his 'autobiography of a supertramp?' awesome travelogue across canada...davies losing one of his legs in the bargain.

my own faviourite is 'sweet stay at home'.. which unfortunately i am not

Sweet Stay-at-Home, sweet Well-content,
Thou knowest of no strange continent;
Thou hast not felt thy bosom keep
A gentle motion with the deep;

Thou hast not sailed in Indian seas,
Where scent comes forth in every breeze.
Thou hast not seen the rich grape grow
For miles, as far as eyes can go:

Thou hast not seen a summer's night
When maids could sew by a worm's light;
Nor the North Sea in spring send out
Bright hues that like birds flit about
In solid cages of white ice --

Sweet Stay-at-Home, sweet Love-one-place,
Thou hast not seen black fingers pick
White cotton when the bloom is thick,
Nor heard black throats in harmony;
Nor hast thou sat on stones that lie
Flat on the earth, that once did rise
To hide proud kings from common eyes.
Thou hast not seen plains full of bloom

Where green things had such little room
They pleased the eye like fairer flowers --
Sweet Stay-at-Home, all these long hours.
Sweet Well-content, sweet Love-one-place,
Sweet, simple maid, bless thy dear face;

For thou hast made more homely stuff
Nurture thy gentle self enough;
I love thee for a heart that's kind --
Not for the knowledge in thy mind.

Sir,

This one of W.H. Davies is my favorite - 'Leisure' - especialy the opening lines which are famous and I love it -

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.


His style of descibing the nature and the way we run from dawn to dusk without enjoying the nature that is around us, is thought provoking.

2. Similarly, I also love 'Stopping by woods on a snowy evening' by Robert Frost especially those concluding lines

And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

3. Last but not the least is that of "Lay of Last Minstrel" by Sir Walter Scott on Patritism and Nativity.

Breathes there a man with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said
This is my own, my native land!
Whose heart hath ne’er within him burn’d
As home his footsteps he hath turn’d
From wandering on a foreign strand!
If such there breathe, go mark him well,
For him no minstrel raptures swell,
High though his titles, proud his name,
Boundless his wealth as wish could claim,
Despite those titles, power, and pelf,
The wretch concentered all in self,
Living, shall forfeit fair renown,
And doubly dying shall go down
To the vile dust from whence he sprung,
Unwept, unhonor’d and unsung.

There are lot of loveable things, and the only thing is we don't have time.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts Sir,

I yearn for your comments on Mr. Vaagmi's more apt caption Sir.


With regards


P.S: Mr.Vgane Sir, Please excuse me for derailing the thread.

 

[renuka]

Am I going astray by yearning to live in an Agraharam where my co members will also to a very large extent appreciate my way of life? Is it a crime?

I dont get it??


Why was the word astray even used?

Is it so bad to yearn to live in an agraharam?

I really can never understand the mind of a TB??

Why would you even want to use words like "is it a crime".....as if you are moving into a Mafia Don Drug Cartel area that you feel that you are going astray!LOL

You guys are the best yaar...you love to praise yourselves and also find fault with yourselves!LOL

Each human to a certain extent craves for what they enjoyed best especially in their childhood.

The human body is designed to survive with the least energy expenditure.......so when we are in a familiar surrounding its less stress on us and hence less energy expenditure...its just a natural choice for the body to do something less stressful.


I grew up surrounded by jungle and till today when I see jungle I feel like climbing trees!..deep down inside I am still a jungle girl....in fact when I am older I hope to buy a house near a jungle and a water fall.

So its a matter of a personal choice..I dont even see any problem if anyone wants to stay anywhere...after all we are not moving into prison!LOL

 

[amala]

Another WH Davies fan here, and this coming from someone who can't stand poetry as a rule. My absolute favourite of his is also Leisure. But my favourite is his last verse

A poor life this if, full of care
We have no time to stand and stare

 

[vgane]

I dont get it??


Why was the word astray even used?

Is it so bad to yearn to live in an agraharam?


Why would you even want to use words like "is it a crime".....as if you are moving into a Mafia Don Drug Cartel area that you feel that you are going astray!LOL

It is a sort of reaction to those considering Agraharam as a retrograde decision....Vaagmi has clearly delineated why an Agraharam is required be it in a Village or Town or a towering Metro with multitude of several condominiums!