Isthmus of Ignatz

Brick by Brick

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

With malice towards none. You understand?

Have never caught on to the secret charms and intrigues of brahmin homes whatever the precious rituals smells and sounds they deign to generate, though theyre worth recording. Architecture yes. And textiles. (Music is too complex for this line). But artisans were never this band though they worked on supplied templates. And the far eastern influence in kerala temple archi makes you see how much more depended on the artisans; since they travlled more extensively. As for orthodoxy, nothing pinches like the Keralan Syrian Christian construct. And the only thing to learn from it is to leave it behind, never forget the evil in convolusion-exclusion, and move on to live, grow and maybe love. without bending.

I wonder since ideas of charm like that of beauty are becoming bleakly unitarian,
What is one expected to remember from visits to tribal and dalit homes? The general lack of legacy, history, anointment? What does it mean to be noble, to be horrified at the genteel erosion/decay of a priestly class. Is the decline of a single once-noble brahmin family the direct price for accomodating the rise of the dalit. And the sight of the penurious dalit?; well he began that way anyway. He should be grateful for anything else.

And to that i say 'precious balls'. Lead me home.

8 Comments:

At 12:13 AM, Blogger JP said...

Beauty is dead. Killed by Andy Warhol and Mies Van Der Rohe.

 
At 5:36 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

o-ho. so there was one? then its good it died.
-Finny

 
At 5:40 AM, Blogger Slogan Murugan said...

Kerala roof: Chinese influence??

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dbtorp/166430214/

 
At 5:24 PM, Blogger Jellicles said...

Is the decline of a single once-noble brahmin family the direct price for accomodating the rise of the dalit.

decline, you say?

i wouldnt imagine that the decline of anything brahmin would have to do with the dalits or their rise.

today, i'd imagine that we are all players on the even field. except maybe that of moolah, i suppose. the poor are the lower caste and the rich are the upper caste. it will take longer than my lifetime to level *that* playing field.

 
At 9:42 PM, Blogger Yasmine Claire said...

As long as society, people, religion, culture and whatever else keeps us divided remains, we will always view the ‘others’ as unwanted clutter. Not that we can do with any of the above, but as long as we interpret, reinterpret and define ourselves according to what is at that moment convenient to us as individuals and as a whole to the culture we belong to, we will forever remain, at some subtle level, daggers drawn.

However weather beaten, clichéd , naïve and misty eyed this may this may sound, I just wish humans would remember they are humans first, then bees in their compartmentalized hives of whatever they belong to.

 
At 10:44 PM, Blogger Finny Forever said...

Murugan:
http://www.templenet.com/Kerala/kerala_archi.html
The Kerala roof resembles those found in the Himalayan regions and those in East Asia.

http://www.kalakeralam.com/handicrafts/keralatemples.htm
Attention has frequently been drawn to the similarity of certain Napalese structures and the pent or multiple sloping roof of temples of Kerala, thus ascribing the origin of such superstructures to foreign sources.

However,
Both Soundara Rajan and Sarkar hold the view that Kerala temples are local adaptations of the south Indian temple architectural tradition, and the divergences in the structural form were introduced primarily to counteract the heavy rainfall of the region.

 
At 10:46 PM, Blogger Finny Forever said...

Another point to note as part of another discussion:
Shiva and Vishnu are worshipped with equal devotion in Kerala, and there are no distinctions based on the sub religions such as Saivism and Vaishnavism as seen elsewhere. In fact, Anantasaayi, or Vishnu enshrined in a reclining posture, is depicted with a Shiva lingam below his extended right arm, unlike in Tamilnadu.
http://www.kalakeralam.com/handicrafts/keralatemples.htm

 
At 12:15 AM, Blogger Jellicles said...

shaivism and vaishnavism in kerala is marginal. most kerala hindus are followers of the smartha tradition..i.e. they follow the vedas(not deity, but One Supreme Being)..altho' some say that shaivism and vaishnavism are merely intellecutual arguments of the smartha tradition rather than seperate hindu sects. this gradually transitioned into cultural differences..which is a lifestyle difference rather than philosophy...

 

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