Sunday, May 13, 2012

Please Bless Me Beggar Poet .. He Said

ready
to meet
the maker
he bowed
his head
he had
had water
he was
well fed
his pain
his sacrifice
as a dam
madar malang
i had read
he was
a styrean cock
purebreed
well bred
to save the
soul of his
master
to appease
the humility
of the great
goddess
he would
soon be
dead
his crown
all red
his goodness
on my beggars
heart
he spread


to all mothers
on google +
best wishes
a gift called
motherhood
he blessed

Goddess Marriamman

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Māri (Tamil: மாரி),Tulu(mAri), also known as Mariamman (Tamil: மாரியம்மன் and Mariaai (Marathi: मरी आई), both meaning "Mother Mari", spelt also Maariamma (Tamil: மாரியம்மா), or simply Amman or Aatha (Tamil: அம்மன், "mother") is the South Indian Hindu goddess of disease and rain. She is the main South Indian mother goddess, predominant in the rural areas of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. Māri is also closely associated with the Hindu goddesses Parvati and Durga as well as with her North Indian counterpart Shitala Devi.

Māri likely originated as a village goddess related to fertility and rain. The goddess would have been a local deity, connected to a specific location, close to a certain tree, a rock or a special spot, mostly in rural areas. According to some sources, Mariamman is the same as Renuka or Yellamma and even Sri Chowdeshwari Devi. Sri Thailuramma Devi, Huchamma Devi, Manchamma Devi, Chwodamma Devi or Chowdeshwari are few considered elder sisters of Mariamman.[clarification needed]
One story about the origin of Mariamman is she was the wife of Tirunalluvar, the Tamil poet, who was a pariah, outcaste. She caught smallpox and begged from house to house for food, fanning herself with leaves of the neem or margosa tree to keep the flies off her sores. She recovered and people worshipped her as the goddess of smallpox. To keep smallpox away they hang neem leaves above the doors of their houses.
Another story involves the beautiful virtuous Nagavali, wife of Piruhu, one of the Nine Rishis. One day the Rishi was away and the Trimurti (an image with three heads representing Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva) came to see if her famed beauty and virtue was true. Nagavali did not know them and, resenting their intrusion, turned them into little children. The gods were offended and cursed her, so her beauty faded and her face became marked like smallpox. The Rishi returned, found her disfigured, and drove her away, declaring she would be born a demon in the next world and cause the spread of a disease which would make people like herself. She was called Mari, meaning 'changed.' Both stories are reported by Whitehead and he remarks that in Mysore he was told that Mari meant sakti, power.
Mariamman is an ancient goddess, whose worship probably originated in the tribal religion of Dravidian India before the arrival of the Aryans and the brahman religion. According to tradition, among the Dravidian mountain tribes as in Coorg in southern Karnataka, human sacrifices were offered to Mariamman. These were replaced with animals and as we have seen, in some villages no animal sacrifices are offered. Here we can see a historical gradation.
Local goddesses such as Mariamman who protect villages and their lands and represent the different castes of their worshippers have always been an important part of the religious landscape of South India. However, we can note periods of special significance. The eclecticism of the Vijayanagar period (1336–1565) encouraged folk religion, which became more important and influenced the more literate forms of religion. In the last century and a half there has been a rebirth of Tamil self-consciousness (see Devotion to Murukan). In the middle of the present century deities such as Mariamman have become linked to the "great tradition" as the strata of society which worship the goddess has become integrated into the larger social order.
[edit]Iconography

Māri is usually pictured as a beautiful young woman with a red-hued face, wearing a red dress. Sometimes she is portrayed with many arms—representing her many powers—but in most representations she has only two or four.
Māri is generally portrayed in the sitting or standing position, often holding a trident (trisula) in one hand and a bowl (kapala) in the other. One of her hands may display a mudra, usually the abhaya mudra, to ward off fear. She may be represented with two demeanors—one displaying her pleasant nature, and the other her terrifying aspect, with fangs and a wild mane of hair.
[edit]Goddess of Disease

Mariamman was the goddess of smallpox before the disease was eradicated in India. Now she cures all so-called "heat-based" diseases like pox and rashes. During the summer months in South India (March to June), people walk miles carrying pots of water mixed with turmeric and neem leaves to ward off illnesses like the measles and chicken pox.[why?] In this way, goddess Māri is very similar to North Indian goddess Shitala Devi.

Devotees also pray to Mariamman for familial welfare such as fertility, healthy progeny or a good spouse. The most favoured offering is "pongal", a mix of rice and green gram, cooked mostly in the temple complex, or shrine itself, in terracotta pots using firewood.
Some festivals in honor of goddess Māri involve processions carrying lights. In the night, the devotees carry oil lamps in procession.[why?]


Main shrine to Mariamman in the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
[edit]Temples

Most temples to Mariamman are simple village shrines, where non-Brahmins act as lay-priests using non-agamic rituals. In many rural shrines, the goddess is represented by a granite stone with a sharp tip, like a spear head. This stone is often adorned with garlands made of limes and with red flowers. These shrines often have an anthill that could be the resting place of a cobra. Milk and eggs are offered to propitiate the snake.
Some temples have also attained enough popularity that Brahmins officiate at them. For example, the Samayapuram temple near the shore of river Cauvery in the northern outskirts of Trichy, maintains a rich agamic tradition and all rituals are performed by Gurukkal of Brahmins.
Punainallur, near Thanjavur (Tanjore), is the location of another famous Māri temple. Legend says that Mariamman appeared to the King Venkoji Maharaja Chatrapati (1676–1688) of Tanjore in his dreams and told him she was in a forest of Punna trees three miles distant from Tanjore. The King rushed to the spot and recovered an idol from the jungle. Under the king's orders a temple was constructed, the idol installed and the place was called Punnainallur. Hence the deity of this temple is known as Punnainallur Mariamman. Mud replicas of different parts of the human body are placed in the temple as offerings by devotees pleading for cure. It is said that the daughter of Tulaja Raja (1729–35) of Tanjore, who lost her eyesight due to illness, regained it after worshiping at this temple.
Erode Mariamman temple festival is grand one in Tamilnadu. Three mariamman goddess named small, mid and big mariamman in three corners of city combines to a festival at every April month of season. It has ther thiruvilla and all devotions to God which ends in Cauvery river to stack away the kambam(Mariamman's husband) into the flowing river water.
Other important temples of Mariamman in Tamil Nadu are in the towns of Veerapandi, Theni, Anbil (near Trichy), Narthamalai, Thiruverkadu, Salem, Virudhunagar and Sivakasi, Vellore. In Chennai (Madras), a famous Mariamman temple is the Putthu Mariamman—the Putthu (ant hill) is across the road from the temple and is located on the Velachery Main Road.
Another famous Mariamman temple is situated in the state of Karnataka, in the town of Kaup, seven kilometers from the famous temple town of Udipi.
Marubai temple matunga
Mariamman Koil, Pilakool
Mariamman Temple, Ho Chi Minh City
Mariamman Temple, Bangkok
Mariamman temple no 4 veerapandi
Mariamman Temple, Pretoria
Punnainallur Mariamman
Samayapuram Mariamman Temple
Sri Mahamariamman Temple, Kuala Lumpur
Sri Mariamman Temple, Penang
Sri Mariamman Temple, Singapore
Mariamman Temple, Pretoria
Sri Mahamariamman Tempel, Sulzbach, Altenwald (Germany)
Sri Mariamman temple, Brazil
The New York Mari-Amman Koil (Tamilian descendants from Guyana)
[edit]Hindu Tradition and Worship

In Hindu tradition, Mariamman is the sister of Lord Vishnu (Sriranganathar) and called Mahamaya[citation needed].
The Samayapuram Mariamman is also worshipped on the first day of the Tamil month of Vaikasi by the Iyengar/Srivaishnava Brahmins of Srirangam. They claim that she is the sister of Lord Renganath (a form of Vishnu) of Srirangam. This is the second most prominent temple in Tamil Nadu, following Palani, on the basis of income.[citation needed]
Another version of the traditions suggests she is the mother of Parasurama, Renukadevi who is appeased for rains. She is also known as Sri Chowdeshwari Devi in most of the parts of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. In Mysore region she is worshipped as both Chowdeshwari Devi and as well as Mariamman. There are many instances where Mariamman has appeared to people in form an old woman wearing red sari with green bangles and three mangalsutras.[clarification needed] She is also regarded as the Gramdevata[clarification needed] of certain villages, thus reducing the incidence of contagious disease in these villages. Another version depicts her as Pattalamma, goddesses of truthfullness and punctuality. She is said to punish any villager failing to practice these virtues.[citation needed]
In reference to Sanskrit stotras, it is also suggested mariamman is not sister of Lord Visnu rather femenine aspect of Lord. The Lord incarnates in this form during Kali yuga, when knowledge is almost void or ignorance at peak. Even few refer or map to other female goddess like Renuka devi,none of them have been proved or validated. The Mariamman represents core aspects of Lord in form of curative aspect to signify direction and awakening of knowledge.She is also referred as MahaLakshmi, Mahasaraswati and MahaKali. Varamahalakshi is dedicated to Mariamman.It also represents finite aspect of infinte qualities.
[edit]Outside India

There are many Mariamman Temples outside of India, in Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Fiji, Guyana, Vietnam, Germany[1] and South Africa, the product of efforts of the Tamil diaspora. Some notable temples include the Sri Mariamman temple in Singapore, a Mariamman temple in Pretoria, South Africa, as well as one in Medan,Sri Mariamman Tempmle Karachi Pakistan, Indonesia.[citation needed]

The Animal Sacrifice

I am new to photography, but when I did enter the world of image taking my earliest pictures I shot on film were of a Hindu festival and Goddess at Manor worshipped by the tribals who sacrificed goats chicken to her .. I have no records of those pictures shot about 15 years back..

But I was fascinated with blood , I began shooting the animal slaughter during Bakra Idd I shot mostly goat but than was lucky to shoot the more difficult bull slaughter at Behrampada Bandra.

And its been a few years I started shooting the animal sacrifice of the Tamil Hindus during the Marriamman feast at Nehru Nagar Juhu and Mahim Macchimar colony..

I dont glorify what I shoot but I shoot it as a reality of life as a custom ritual of a community ..I dont prejudge , I dont ridicule I write positively that is why I am able to shoot all this without hindrance

And so I shot the bullock cart race in Alibagh Murud Janjira now banned completely , I shot the hijras ,the Naga Sadhus I lived with the Aghoris dead human flesh eating but was not allowed to shoot them..

I have a Naga Sadhu as a Guru and I have a hijra guru too.

Without financial help, without sponsor I have shot shared my pictures of diverse cultures of India online..my only purpose to show educate without going into semantics dialogue or debate..

You dont like what I shoot dont see it , I can only shoot what I shoot with my eyes I could not and will borrow your eyes your narrow mindedness to shoot what I shoot ..

I will appreciate what you shoot , certainly but I may not want to shoot what you shoot ..

This text was for those on Google+ hurriedly arrived from Facebook who love to hurt people by passing spiteful comments on my picture posts ..

I forgive them by simply blocking them forever ..
..

from wikipedia




Animal sacrifice is the ritual killing of an animal as part of a religion. It is practised by many religions as a means of appeasing a god or gods or changing the course of nature. Animal sacrifice has turned up in almost all cultures, from the Hebrews to the Greeks and Romans, Israelites, Christianity, Islam, Judaism and from the Aztecs.
Remnants of ancient rituals of animal sacrifice are apparent in many cultures, for example the Spanish bullfights, or kapparos in Judaism, or ritual slaughter procedures like shechita or ḏabīḥah in Judaism and Islam, respectively.

Animal sacrifices were common throughout the Ancient Near East, and throughout Classical Antiquity.
The Minoan culture of Phaistos on Crete reveals basins for animal sacrifice dating to the period 2000 to 1700 BC.[1]


1652 illustration of the Ashvamedha of Kaushalya in the Ramayana epic
[edit]Indo-European cultures
Further information: Proto-Indo-European religion and Horse sacrifice
Historical Vedic religion: Ashvamedha
Ancient Roman religion: October Horse, Tauromachy, Taurobolium
Ancient Greek religion: Holocaust (sacrifice), Hecatomb
Celtic paganism
Germanic paganism: Blót
[edit]Abrahamic traditions

[edit]Judaism
See main article: Korban
Many Jewish sources discuss the deeper meaning behind korbanot. For example, Sefer Hachinuch explains that an individual bringing an animal sacrifice for a sin understands that he personally should have been sacrificed as punishment for the rebellion against God inherent his the sin, but God mercifully accepts the sacrifice in his or her place. Furthermore, it is considered fitting that an animal is used as a sacrifice because at the moment of sin, the individual in question disregarded his elevated human soul, effectively acting as an animal.
The Samaritans, a group historically related to the Jews, practice animal sacrifice in accordance with the Law of Moses.


Christians

References to animal sacrifice appear in the New Testament, such as the parents of Jesus sacrificing two doves (Luke 2:24) and the Apostle Paul performing a Nazirite vow even after the death of Christ (Acts 21:23-26).
Christ is referred to by his apostles as "the Lamb of God", the one to whom all sacrifices pointed (Hebrews 10). Christ's crucifixion is comparable to animal sacrifice on a large scale as His death serves as atonement for all of man's sins.
Some villages in Greece also sacrifice animals to Orthodox saints in a practice known as kourbània. Sacrifice of a lamb, or less commonly a rooster, is a common practice in Armenian Church. This tradition, called matagh, is believed to stem from pre-Christian pagan rituals.
[edit]Islam
It is considered to be incumbent upon sufficiently wealthy Muslims to sacrifice a large mammal during Eid ul-Adha (the Festival of Sacrifice), which falls during the period of Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca). Typically, a sheep or goat is sacrificed, although some sacrifice cattle or a camel instead. The meat is usually given as charity to the poor, in commemoration of the Sacrifice of Ismail, in which God tested the faith of Abraham (Ibrahim) by ordering him to sacrifice his son Ishmael (Ismail). Over 100 million animals are slaughtered annually during Eid ul-Adha across the Islamic world within a 48 hour period.

[edit]Hinduism

Animal sacrifice was common in Vedic religion, the highest or "royal" such sacrifice being the Ashvamedha. The last known performance of the Ashvamedha was that by Jai Singh II of Amber in 1716. The practice of animal sacrifice is rare and distasteful to the vast majority of modern Hindus, however.
Classical (Puranic, Vedantic) Hinduism as it emerged in the medieval period de-emphasizes animal sacrifice, and indeed any meat processing, based on the doctrine of ahimsa. Such practices as are still current are mostly associated with either Shaktism or with local tribal traditions.


A goat about to be sacrificed by a priest in the Durga Puja festival.
There are Hindu temples in Assam, India as well as Nepal where goats and chickens as well as buffaloes are sacrificed. These sacrifices are mainly done at mandirs following the Shakti school of Hinduism where the female nature of Brahman is worshipped in the form of Kali and Durga. There are many village temples in Tamil Nadu where this kind of sacrifice takes place.[2]
In many Shakti shrines of Orissa animals like goat and chicken are sacrificed on Durga Puja in the month of Aswina (September–October) every year. In Sambalpur, this ritual sacrifice is performed in the Samaleswari temple (Pasayat, 2003:67-84).
The three methods used by Hindus to kill an animal are: Jhatka (decapitation with a single blow); piercing the heart with a spike; and asphyxiation.
Animal Sacrifice en masse occurs during the 3 day long Gadhimai festival in Nepal. In 2009 it was speculated that more than 250,000 animals were killed[3] while 5 million devotees attended the festival.[4]
In India ritual of animal sacrifice is practised in many villages before local deities. For instance, Kandhen Budhi is the reigning deity of Kantamal in Boudh district of Orissa, India. She is the presiding deity of Kandha people of this area. She is represented in the natural form of stone under a tree on the bank of the river Tel. Every year, animals like goat and fowl are sacrificed before the deity on the occasion of her annual Yatra/Jatra (festival) held in the month of Aswina (September–October). The main attraction of Kandhen Budhi Yatra is Ghusuri Puja. Ghusuri means pig, which is sacrificed once in every three years. Kandhen Budhi is also worshipped at Lather village under Mohangiri GP in Kalahandi district of Orissa, India(Pasayat, 2009:20-24).
Bali Jatra of Sonepur in Orissa, India is also an annual festival celebrated in the month of Aswina (September–October) when animal sacrifice is an integral part of the ritual worship of deities namely Samaleswari, Sureswari and Khambeswari. Bali refers to animal sacrifice and hence this annual festival is called Bali Jatra (Barik, 2009:160-162).


The Buddha condemned ritual animal sacrifice.[5] The First Precept of Buddhism prohibits any type of killing.
[edit]Far East

Many people, especially the emperor Wang Mang of the Xin Dynasty, offered animal products in ancestor worship.
Buddhism and Taoism generally prohibit killing of animals; [6][7][8] some animal offerings, such as fowl, pigs, goats, fish, or other livestock, are accepted in some Taoism sects and beliefs in Chinese folk religion.[9][10][11]
In Kaohsiung, animal sacrifices are banned in Taoist temples.[12].
[edit]African Traditional Religions

In African Traditional Religions (ATRs), animal sacrifice is regularly practiced. In New World versions of these religions, such as or Lucmi, such animal offerings constitute a portion of what are termed "ebos" – ritual activities that include offerings, prayer and deeds. The blood of the animals is thought to hold "aché", or life force.
Animal sacrifice is also found in the Cuban religion called Palo, which derives from African religion of the Congo, and in Haitian Vodou, a religion that derives from the Vodou religion of Dahomey.
The landmark decision by the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of the Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah in 1993 upheld the right of Santeria adherents to practice ritual animal sacrifice in the United States of America. Likewise in Texas in 2009, legal and religious issues that related to animal sacrifice, animal rights and freedom of religion were taken to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Jose Merced, President Templo Yoruba Omo Orisha Texas, Inc., v. City of Euless. The court ruling that the Merced case of the freedom of exercise of religion was meritorious and prevailing and that Merced was entitled under the Texas Religious Freedom and Restoration Act (TRFRA) to an injunction preventing the city of Euless, Texas from enforcing its ordinances that burdened his religious practices relating to the use of animals[13], (see Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 110.005(a)(2)).
[edit]New religious movements

[edit]Strangite Latter Day Saints
Animal sacrifice was instituted in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Strangite), a minor Latter Day Saint faction founded by James J. Strang in 1844. Strang's Book of the Law of the Lord (1851) deals with the topic of animal sacrifice in chapters 7 and 40.
Given the prohibition on sacrifices for sin contained in III Nephi 9:19-20 (Book of Mormon), Strang did not require sin offerings. Rather, he focused on sacrifice as an element of religious celebrations,[14] especially the commemoration of his own coronation as king over his church, which occurred on July 8, 1850.[15] The head of every house, from the king to his lowest subject, was to offer "a heifer, or a lamb, or a dove. Every man a clean beast, or a clean fowl, according to his household."[16]
While the killing of sacrifices was a prerogative of Strangite priests,[17] female priests were specifically barred from participating in this aspect of the priestly office.[18] "Firstfruits" offerings were also demanded of all Strangite agricultural harvests.[19] Animal sacrifices are no longer practiced by the diminunitive Strangite organization, though belief in their correctness is still required.
Neither The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints nor the Community of Christ, the two largest Latter Day Saint factions, ever accepted Strang's teachings on this (or any other) subject

The Beggar Poet and the Butcher

I thank all those who recently added me to their Google+ circle..

What I document is a world not seen in travel brochures of India .. I poetize the pain of the living dead I do not do this for commercial gain I dont sell my text or pictures ..I am only published on the net on a few human hearts that see and feel the world like me..

Thanks and in a way I get to see your world too..

Firoze Shakir
Beggar Poet
13 May 2012

Beggar Poet I Meet My Death Without a Tear In My Eye



the time
has come
for me to go
soon i will
die my blood
will flow
like a river
on the
sidewalk
it will dry
i came
in peace
my pieces
they will
fry to
appease
the soul
of man
to plead his
cause i
will meet
his maker
in the sky
to save him
his heritage
i will cry
fall at
the feet
of the goddess
i will try
oh beggar
poet i see
your pain
i too can
see you die
barefeet
blogger
held in
captivity
within a frame
memories
of mumbai

i could not write a poem if i did not shoot it.. on the sly

The Barefeet Blogger

a sacrificial lamb taking the blessings of a sacrificial goat

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