Normally I read all the incidents and then only they get posted..However, recently I posted an article recently that I read in facebook where Periyava approved a re-marriage for a widow etc. I somehow missed to notice this..We all have our doubts if Periyava would have approved a re-marriage. Neither myself nor anyone has time or knowledge to do the research on the Periyava’s yathra, the year and place where He camped and cross check with incident mentioned. However, it is not an excuse for my slip. Sincere apologies for the inconvenience.
For a long time, I have been thinking that all these incidents are typed based on some books – more authentic sources. It seems that that is not the case always…There has been some imaginations going on with the folks also…
This blog is not a place where we can let some wrong messages go around as if they come from Periyava. Going forward, I will be lot more vigilant to avoid such slips….
Thanks to Shri Balaji, Vijay etc for pointing this out in the comments. I am taking this story down.
Categories: Announcements
Iswara Chandra Vidyasagar was the Bengali Brahmin and a Sanskrit scholar who championed the cause of widow remarriage in Bengal in 1855. There was huge backlash from Hindu orthodoxy against that attempt. Vidyasagar made an exhaustive search of Hindu Dharma sastras and finally found mention of Widow remarriage in Parāśara Smrti, which is an authentic source of ‘Śāstra pramāṇam’.
In five scenarios a Hindu woman can take another husband as per Chapter 4 Verse 30:
Naṣṭe mṛte praprajite klibeca patitepatau
Pañcasvāpatsu nārīṅāṃ patiranyo vidhīyate
“1. On loss of a husband who went abroad (Naṣṭa), 2. on his death (mṛta), 3. on his turning into a Sanyasi (praprajita), 4. on his being an impotent (klibatva), or 5. on his sinful degradation (patita), — under any one of these five calamities, it is sanctioned for (those) women to take another husband.”
Two more options were given by sage Parāśara to widows in subsequent two slokas (Chapter 4 Verses 31 and 32). They were ‘Brahmacharya’ (celibacy) and ‘Sati Sahagamana’ (burning on the pyre along with husband). Parāśara says that the widow who pursued ‘celibacy’ will go to heaven (i.e. svarga) after her death (Verse 31) and the one who chose ‘burning on the pyre’ resides in heaven for thirty-five million years, i.e. as many years as there are hairs on the human body (Verse 32).
The argument by Vidyasagar was that it is extremely difficult for a young widow to maintain celibacy in Kali yuga without falling to any degradation or manipulation and the option of ‘burning on the pyre’ was banned by then ruling authorities (i.e. English East India Company). Therefore, Vidyasagar argued that a better alternative was the opt for the first choice prescribed by Parāśara, i.e. remarriage.
As per Apastamba, another authority on Dharmasastras, mentioned in his smriti as follows:
yat adṛṣṭam hi vedeṣu tat draṣṭavyaṃ smṛtau kila
ubhābhyāṃ yat adṛṣṭastu tat purāṇeṣu paṭhyate
[Whenever there is no reference in vedas then smṛtis (i.e. Dharmasastras) are to be referred.
In case references are absent in them both, then purāṇas are to be consulted).]
As per the original Vedic Hindu epistemology, the Smrti texts hold penultimate epistemic authority (i.e. dvitīya pramāṇa) and it can be negated IF AND ONLY IF there is a clear-cut proof against it mentioned in any of four Vedas, which are the ultimate epistemic authority (i.e. mūla pramāṇa).
[Those who are interested to know about Hindu epistemology (i.e. Śāstra pramāṇam) can refer to my article on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Śāstra_pramāṇam_in_Hinduism%5D
As per Sri Devanathan Sastrigal’s discourse in srisankara TV in ‘dharma shastra’ program, both gender’s remarriage as a custom is not allowed. But since man being the carrier of seed of life and its his run am or debt for his ancestors to beget a child to this world, only if he is a staunch follows of dharma, is it allowed by shaastras for such a widower( note only male) to marry another unmarried girl. There is no such excuse for women. The reason being, if its allowed by shaastraas, then women can resort to vilifying or killing their husbands just to take in another husband,, the very social order of family will then become a big question.. Of course there are ample protection offered to females as per Many dharma.. While a female widow has total and absolute control on her demised husband’s properties as well as share of property from her father’s side along with her ‘sthre dhanam’.. While the male widower doesn’t have any claim on even the ‘sthree dhanam’ of his demised wife and had to return every penny of the sthree dhanam to his in-laws..Chanakya in artha shaastra orders kings to give harshest punishment to those who cheat or steal female widow’s property.. He entrusts society and king to give utmost protection for them as they have already suffered heavily in life.. All dharma shaastras warn that the tear of being cheated of rightful property of a widow will destroy the entire nation..
It is Sri Seshadrinathan Saastrigal and not Sri Devanathan Saastrigal..
As i had said earlier, we have to see the context. We should not quote in isolation to suite our viewpoint. What Prof. Seshadrinathan Saastrigal ( retired principal of Madras Sanskrit college) has talked about is the general rule but there are exceptions, which i had refereed earlier in the post.
After reading that article, I too was happy to know that MahaPeriyava had approved of widow remarriages. In Kali Yuga and in the present world, this has become in a way a need and necessity for young widows and widowers. Now, I am confused. Then, exactly what was MahaPeriyava`s message on widow remarriage. I am a great devotee of Him. And recently there was a remarriage of a young girl with a widower I know of. I was, indeed, happy for His approval of this. In the current society of ours, such remarriages have become urgent and necessary. Hope, Maha Periyava would have approved of these.
I thnik whenever we write about the ‘Sage of Kanchi’ , better to always give the prefix “Maha-periyava” & not simply write ‘Periyava’ as this may refer to some other sage. So far I recollect from the Deivatthin Kural’ Shri Maha Periyava told either you follow Gandhiyan stype of Widow remarriage or follow the sampradhaayam of the Acharya peetam. But what is found is that devotees are following half that and half this.
He further said something like this :In war time many solders may die and may widows may be there. In such conditions, remarrying the ‘tyagis’ wives is allowed in the sastras. (In fact in Islam dharma , in order to save many widows during wartime , the Prophet married many girls irrespective of the age difference , to give them protection and allowed other good people also to do so. Sadly , this has become a custom now).
Is there Dharma in Islam???… That’s the main question?
We judge others by the level of our maturity.Period.
Mahaan speaks truth and it is not elastic to stretch to our convenience. It is better to pray to Him for His blessings to guide us in our life. It is a fact that sure He guides us. Anyone who has realised this immense power becomes one with Him. Other things cease to excite or exist.
The beauty is that He channelizes us to think right and act accordingly. What else to say if surrender to the Highest is made? Words fail and Truth remains.
Sitting on judgement is difficult! We are so ignorant of many things! Maha Periyava is Omnipresent! He Takes care of Everything! Please continue the good work! Hara Hara Shankara, Jaya Jaya Shankara!
Dear Shri Mahesh Sir – I have gone through the postings of many devotees on the article. One has to forget the unpleasant means and think beyond ! Your work and dedication is laudable at large. As suggested by others, while publishing such sensitive article you can give utmost care.
My sincere thanks for publishing the article on Athi Rudram to be held at Noida, Uttar Pradesh from 17-29 March, 2015 in SoK blog. I am sure many more devotees and well wishers will support for such divine cause. Jaya Jaya Shankara. Hara Hara Shankara.
I can be reached on my mbl: +91-99713-60222 email: rmsanjeevi@gmail.com
R M Sanjeevi
Mahesh et al
I agree, we mortals can’t interpret Rishi vakkyams correctly. By the same token, i don’t want anyone to say that Mahaperiva could not have approved such and such a thing, just because it is not known to that individual. One should refrain from making a statement ( example; Mahaswamy could not have approved widow re-marriage) on behalf of Kanchi Mahaswamy.
Mahaswamy’s life is his message. If he had approved something, that would have been published by Sri Ganapathy anna in deivathin mural.. That too such a sensitive topic like widow remarriage.. If Subbu sir feels any woman can remarry just by offering a goat and five rice offerings then I am sure people wanting yuga dharma change can very well follow that.. In the time of tretha yuga, Dasaratha had three wives, but his son Sri Rama was an eka patni vratan. We worship Sri Rama as hero of the epic, not Dasaratha. Even within the same yuga we see the difference of moral judgment..As Sri Mahesh puts it, its dangerous to interpret shastras on our own whims and fancies..
Sri. Vijay Parthasarathy – It is your assumption that everything Mahaperiava said or did should be in Deivathin Kural. The assumption itself is invalid and questionable. So as Sri. Subbu said, we should refrain from assuming that Mahaperiava would have approved or disapproved widow remarriage. We might have instance when Mahaperiava would have disapproved widow remariage. But that incident does not give you a license to assume or claim or propagate that Mahaperiava always disapproved widow remarriage. “We simply do not know”.
Even for Sri.Mahesh to take down this post, the seed is that he did not believe that Mahaperiava would have approved widow remarriage. Because of that belief, he started to question the authenticity of the article. If the issue has been something that Sri.Mahesh (and many others) believed that Mahaperiva would have done, we will not even go the step of questioning the authenticity of the article. That doesn’t make the other article necessarily authentic too.
Please carefully draw a line between “what Mahaperiava is” and “how you want to see Mahaperiava based on your likes and dislikes”.
Mahaperiyavaa is a mirror. He is the mirror of our atma. You just get what you are expecting from Mahaswamy. I see his dharma swaroopam.. That’s all.. Not you or I or anyone for that matter knows what Mahaswamy thought.. Siththar pokku Sivan pokku..
@Vijay
As i had said earlier, please don’t attempt to interpret our Rishi vakyams in isolation and they need to be read and understood in a context, that is the reason many bhashyas were written by Rishis for scholars to understand our scriptures in the correct way. Even today there are handful of scholars and if you listen to them, you will be surprised to know the age old belief that one holds are not valid. Once Mahaswamy said we can create a new faith/ belief system and totally change an exiting system in about 400 years
@Karthik
I fully agree with Karthik, well said. I just want to make a suggestion that one should not assume if s/he doesn’t know something then that it can’t exist.
This is what is called assumption.. But first can we know when and where Mahaswamy told we can create a new system of belief? I see this discussion is trying to put words into Mahaperiyavaa and great other great shastra expert’s mouths.. Mahaswamy stood for Veda rakshana and the very first message of thaitriya upanishad in seekshavalli states ‘ don’t break the chain that’s coming for generations’ I believe yuga dharma doesn’t mean we need to change all the basic tenets of dharma. Dharma remains constant through the ages.. For instance its the dharma of neem plant to flower in chittirai month.. We don’t see that even plants obey this dharma even in this yuga.. The only thing that’s changing is the human mind with the conditioning brought by ourselves with the lame excuses of yuga dharma.. Sri Mahaswamy is a standing example of how dharma and vedic achaaras could be followed even in this yuga. Check out Sri Vezhinaathan’s video on Mahaswamy where he says SriMahaperiyavaa said that ‘If one follows dharma, all other three, artha,Kama and moksha come rushing behind such a person’.. Let’s not change dharma or take exceptions to dharma just for our own personal likes and dislikes. The 11th day funeral rights, there is a ceremony called ‘vrushaba utsarjanam’ this ceremony is to buy and gift a healthy young bull calf. The intent is to save the bull calf as they are the seed banks of Ghomatha’s future generation and prosperity.. But in dharmashastras, out of mercy the Rishis have given a clause like, ‘in case of emergency when no calf could be found, a coconut can be placed in place of calf’, so our exceptionists took this route and today we see at all places, we are using coconut only..even in a country like India which is having sizable cattle population.. So, I think Sri Mahaswamy could have mentioned how taking exceptions like these are changing the root belief.. When our and our younger generation are understanding the peril of survival in this Kali and seeking refuge to Vedic wisdom through the grace of great Mayans like Sri Mahaswamy, let’s not destroy the dharma so that its totally unavailable to the next generation.
A small typo, We do see that even plants obey this dharma even in this yuga.. And instead of Mayan it should have been Mahan.
Dear Shri Mahesh,
Thank you very much. Your zeal and sincerity to keep this blog perfect is commendable. Every thing is happening by the grace of Shri MahaPeriyava. Jaya Jaya Shankara. Hara Hara Shankara.
A very lofty thinking, which I have to imbibe in every moment of my life!
Jaya Jaya Sankara!
Hara Hara Sankara!!
Unnalum Unade! Uyirthalum Unade! Ennalum Unade! Icchaiyum Unade! En Seyal, Payan Ellam Unade! ( what I eat is Yours, I live because of You, What I think is Yours, my pleasure is Yours, all my actions & results are all YOURS! )
Jaya Jaya Sankara! Hara Hara Sankara!
Thank you Maheshji, Mahaswamy would be very happy now.
Someone stating something as Periyava’s words or opinins with a wrong intent is serious matter. This blog is taken as authoritative by us,. I have only one suggestion/request. Any correspondence should mention, the place, date and time and the names of the persons and the correct address. Only such details establish authenticity. I remember one book which was published like that. In 1970, the Souvenir that was brought out to celebrate the 100th Jayanthi of Vallimalai Swamigal had a section containing the experiences of devotees which they still remembered ( The Swamiji had attained Siddhi in 1950). There the names and addresses of the devotees were given. Those referring to any printed material should clearly state the name of the book, the author, the publisher and date of publication and page number. No professional publication will accept any citing or quotation for which the sources are not clearly stated. You may perhaps check these things before you accept material from other souces.
This particular incident need not trouble you anymore, in the light of so much good work that is being done.
I have submitted more than once on this forum that most of the narrations about Sri Mahaperiyavaa’s life that are today floating in FB and other media are only fanciful imaginations written to create a thrill for readers . Anything that is not reflected in the official historical account of Sri Mahaperiyavaa’s life as reflected in Sri Matam’s publications are only fictitious.
To create popularity for themselves, many writers and speakers have been concocting imaginative stories which are written in an inspiring manner. But there is no truth in most of these stories.
There are writers and speakers who have even fan clubs for their writings and speeches !
Well spotted
Mahesh it is a sacrilege to allow it to happen I bathe in the gang of Periyava’s blog everyday
Mahesh sir,you are doing a wonderful service in the cause of SriMahaPeriyawa.Your painstaking efforts have made many to understand the greatness of ShriMahaPeriyava.please continue your good services and unintended one or two slips as you like to call them does not matter at all.it is because of your meticulous efforts people like me are able to know more and more about the great deeds of ShriMahaPeriyava in the cause of SanathanaDharma and for creating a better society.everyday we eagerly look forward to your postings.
I agree, devotees in their enthusiasm may post some exaggerated version of their stories. Just a word of caution to you ( Mahesh) please don’t assume that Periva could not have allowed a re-marriage of a widow. Our Sastras do allow widow re-marriage under exceptional circumstance and this is described in Parasarar Smriti.
Dear sir, pls can you let know of details of this or stanza number to verify this? The Parasara smrithi in Devanagari and English translation is available in http://www.archive.org. As far as I know Mahaswamy had not approved of remarriage of even males when first wife was alive..
Dear Vijay
The point i was making is that we should not pass a judgement if Mahaswamy approved or disapproved re-marriage; when we are not aware of the real circumstances. It is also said that a Jeevan Mukthar can alter the karma of an individual and not the almighty. Mahaswamy was a jeevan Mukthar.
There are other Hindu Scriptures which more than imply that a widow can remarry.
The following verse is cited by P. V. Kane, in his History of Dharmashastra:
“Another man is ordained for women in five calamities: a) When the husband is missing and is unheard of; b) The husband dies; c) When the husband is impotent; d) When the husband has become an ascetic; e) The husband has become depraved”.
—Agnipurana 154.5-5; Parashara Smriti IV.30; and Narada Smriti V.97.
Atharva Veda IX.5.27-29 includes a verse that translates as
“Whatever woman, having first married one husband, marries another, she and the other new husband will not be separated if they offer a goat and five rice dishes illumined with religious fees”. J
Further, the remarriage of widows is advocated in the Vashista Dharmasutra of the Rigvedins.
Thank you for the clarification Subbu sir. I checked those citations in the books, even though the remarriage for ladies is approved, the subsequent paragraphs say, ‘ the chaste women take upon the wov of widowhood and such widows are respected even by celestials. Where the remarried women don’t hold such state in society’..I feel you are right that dharma differs by circumstances.
Now, do these citations hold good for Kaliyuga, since yuga dharma exists for each of the four yuga and many practices that were in vogue for the previous yuga do not hold good in the present times.
what is more dangerous is to read these sastra’s citations by ourselves and do our own interpretation!! Sadly, not a single soul like us is qualified enough to interpret these….
>
Such mistakes do happen when you are doing a service and you need not be apologetic. The entire yatra is covered in. Mettur dairy which you have published
Dear Mr Mahesh, Just dont bother. Many good, real things have happened due to your postings. We all know all this is Periyavaa’s leelai. Regards, Narasimhan KL
OK Sir.So far i think appreciation for the strain u take in imparting highly useful information for the good part of ur work might have been only MINIMUM.However i appreciate ur sincere work in the Corrective measure.( In fact i also got Shocked)
Mr. Ramanan, please please understand certain things correctly.
No doubt he is there to take care.
Ji
Thanks
very first sentence is mentioning ten to fifteen years back.
H H attained mukthi 20 years back,
Dear Sri Mahesh
Do not worry and ask for an apology on Sath Karyam you are doing… I feel nothing to feel sorry and there is no slip… Every word you are writing or any one writing not only here, anywhere about HIM, it is HIS Grace…. “He is there to take care”
Jaya Jaya Shankara
I am too small and non-existant… Sri Mahesh’s words of apology moves me… Bagawan’s words flashes in my mind at this time, with anadakodi namaskarams at the feet of every soul who read ‘Sages of Kanchi’…
“Ethu nadavatho, athu en muyarchikkunum nadavathu,
Ethu nadakkumo, athu en thadukkilum nillathu,
Ahave Summa Iruppathe Thinnam”
Bagawan Sri Ramana Maharshi
“Summa Vicharam Pannamal, Ul Mugamai Par” – Bagawan Sri Ramana
“Ellam Ezuthi Vaikkappathu”- Bagawan Sri Ramana
Sri Devararaja Mudaliayar, who was swiniging ‘hand fan’ to Sri Bagawan, kept it on the floor and asked Him, “Is it also written like that”, Bagawan answered YES… Day by Day with Bagawan – Sri Devaraja Muadaliyar.
OM NAMO BAGAWATHE SRI RAMANYAH
Sri Ramanar :
Avanavan Prararthapadi Avan Avanai Angangirithu Avan Attuvikkinran
Nadapathu En thadai seiyenum Nillathu
Nadavathathu En Muyarchikkiunum Nadavathu
Ithivae Thinnanm. Akavae Mounmai Irukkai Nandru.
I felt the same. Thanks for the clarification.