timesofindia.indiatimes.com

CHENNAI, INDIA, May 10, 2008: They’re known for their ability to evoke sorrow, to mourn the passing of relatives in a family, singing of the deceased’s life and achievements. The wailing women squat around a dead body singing oppari (dirge) songs choked throats. But these days, as there is nobody to sing these songs, the house-in-mourning plays songs of filmy melancholy on loudspeakers. During a visit to Madurai, this correspondent witnessed relatives weeping, while En piranthay makane en piranthay (why were you born son, why were you born?), a hit number rendered by veteran T. M. Soundar Rajan, played on a loudspeaker. The dolorous song that blared out of the loudspeaker had the desired effect on the women who wept and wailed. When asked about the appropriateness of the film song, the reply was this. “These days not many women know oppari songs. So we replaced it with a film song. In fact, this is what most people do these days.”

Death-related customs among Brahmins are also changing fast. Subramania Sasthrigal says, “Similar to oppari, Brahmins have the plakkanam. There is also a custom of beating the chest thrice a day for 11 days. Among the present generation, only a few women know how to sing plakkanam.” Thaliyarukkal, when the widow’s mangalsutra is pulled off and her bangles broken is another ritual that is being phased out. The 10-day ostracizing ritual called pelai is also not observed. During this temporary period of untouchability, the closest relatives of the deceased are barred from entering temples and drawing water from public wells. Neelakanda Sharma says, “In this busy world, how can anyone keep himself isolated for 10 days? Not many observe pelai, not at least in the cities.”

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PUDUCHERRY, INDIA, May 10, 2008: High-end devices have come to the aid of Lakshmi and Ganesh, the two temple elephants in the Union Territory. Micro chip implants would now help tracking the elephants and prevent illegal trading of the animals. On Monday, 17-year-old Lakshmi, belonging to the Manakula Vinayagar Temple, underwent the procedure for the micro chip implant. The “rice-sized” chip was implanted behind her left ear. “There are a lot of complaints of illegal trading of elephants from forests, mostly from Assam. To prevent this, the Government of India has decided to allot numbers to the elephants to help locate or trace them,” Chief Wildlife Warden P. Devaraj said.

The situation was especially difficult in States such as Tamil Nadu and Kerala as there were large number of elephants making monitoring difficult, he added. “The 1.5 inch implant will not affect the elephant in any way. Using a scanner, the number assigned for the chip can be read. Through this chip, the location of the elephant and its entire history, including date of birth, age, height, weight and when the chip was implanted, can be obtained. This makes it easy to trace the elephants,” Mr. Devaraj said.

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MAY 14, 2008: The World Council of Religious Leaders has released the final report of the first Hindu leadership summit and meeting with Jewish leaders in Delhi last year. The report (18MB in size) can be downloaded at the URL above until May 21, 2008.

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KAUAI, HAWAII, May 14, 2008: Hinduism Today magazine produced remarkable material over the last 29 years, gems about Hindu spirituality and culture, metaphysics and philosophy, temple worship and enlightened saints. The best articles were compiled as a gorgeous 416-page book called “What Is Hinduism?” Now, remarkable plunge into Hinduism is about to become a series of documentaries.

The Editors of Hinduism Today are looking for offers from Hindu musicians who might release their royalties for music to be used in this project. You can look at the book’s exquisite art http://www.himalayanacademy.com/resources/books/wih/ and see how much the book’s potent imagery calls for a good traditional soundtrack. Please contact hpi@hindu.org

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Sitting in a state of meditation, you must be more alive and alert than a tightrope walker suspended without a net on a taut cable three hundred feet above the surface of the Earth.
   Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (1927-2001)