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Beliefs about Business
The cash received first in the morning is accepted in solemnity. The shop keeper takes the money as near as possible to his eyes and
places it in the cash-box after a brief prayer. Sleeping in business premises
during working hours is discouraged.
Salesman avoid 'no' to queries.
If we ask for salt
which is not available, they will say that something else is in stock. If house
wives run short of some item wanted by a neighbour they will say 'I have it in
plenty'.
In oil stores dealers commence the days business by selling any
article other than oil.
Religious Beliefs
In the beliefs that the god will reciprocate,
people make
vows and carry them out. Parents desiring off spring promise that if a
child is born, they will donate the child's first hair to the deity
which grant the boon or they will hang a miniature cradle in a
temple to beget a child by god's grace .
If a child is
ill the parents or grand parents promise to
present silver or gold articles to the deity on the child recovering its
health. Offerings are made in the shape of parts of the body which have subject
to disease. Elderly persons roll their body around the temples outer boundaries,
on the earthen road several times and even for several kilometers to
thank providence for mercies shown. In Thiruvannamalai it take the
form of girivalam or circling the hill, a distance of 13 km.
On buying a new car,
many persons make the first
drive to a temple. If a cow is purchased, the first milking is used
to anoint a deity. The first ghee melted from the cows butter is poured
in to the temple lamp as fuel to brighten its glow .
When faced with dilemma,
instead of considering merits and
demerits, villagers put up some flowers in a temple and see which way the
wind lifts it to decide an issue. Or they draw lots in front of their
favourite deity to decide whether they should go ahead with a
suggested surgical operation etc.
When a coconut is broken in the temple,
it should part in
to two regular and equal halves and not break at tangent in to the
eyes of the coconut. A decayed or rotten coconut foreshadows
serious mishap to the devotee .
If two families fill out and they later join hands,
each
family contributes a token sum and the money is jointly
deposited in the temple cash-chest to seek the deity's approval of the
reconciliation. Other wise, it is feared that the reunion may
be just a temporary phenomenon .
If the axle of a temple car cracks or give away,
the event
is likely to bring misery to that village. Another fear is that a dwelling
house built higher than that of the tower of the local temple may cause
havoc to the inhabitants.
After sneezing,
people exclaim 'Shiva', 'Rama ' or 'Krishna'. If some one yawns, the person yawing or his
neighbour snaps his fingers to the right and to the left to
scare away evil-spirits .
The first pumpkin or for that matter any first produce in the
vegetable garden is donated to the temple-kitchen.
In
Thenbaranadu, which is in Thiruchirappali district, a person sent
to select a bride should give up his mission, if he happens to
cross a bamboo, fire wood or a reptile or if hears the sound of the
deer .
Other Beliefs
As they are growing up,
girls learn to keep the house clean, to
wash the utensils properly and to observe carefully all the
rules of good house-keeping. While sweeping the floors, mothers
advise daughters to collect all the dust and throw it out side. If a girl leaves the dust in corner,
she is rebuked and told that she too may
be left alone in a corner on festival day or on the day
of her brother's marriage i.e. her menstrual period may coincide with such
junctions and prevent her participation in the rejoicing.
Collection of dust in the corners is supposed to bring bad tidings and
debt. Use of broken mirror should be avoided .
Itching of
the right palm indicates income showers during hottest part of
the year signify a prosperous year ahead. Viewing the
moon on the fourth day after the new-moon will curtail the powers of
memory. Spending money or quarrelling with someone on new year's day
signifies the same trend throughout the year.
Biting of finger nails,
avoidable waste of water, frequent jerking of legs and entry of
tortoise in to a house are symptoms of forth coming poverty. Sitting cross-legged
or keeping hand folded around the knees are habits of associated with the dead .
Unbleached garments and other new apparel are
worn after smearing the ends with turmeric powder, to ward off evil. A cow
or horse purchased by a person has the power of affecting his
future for good or bad.
When light (including electric light )
is lit after sunset, the folk join their palms together and thank God for
having led them from darkness to light. Similarly at the day break life
begins with the salutation of the sun.
Mistakes occurring in documents are not scored out instead, the alternations and corrections necessary are pointed out in the last
line for it is believed that striking some thing written in
document foretells ill-luck. It is accidentally when
making out a document . To give or accept anything
with the left hand s an indiscreet act and will cause
offence to the other party .
A kind of pigment is manufactured by mixing
powered hones of the animal called Devangu (sloth) , a portion
of the skull of dead women and greenish type camphor and this
is applied to the betel leaf which is then locked in to find out the
complexion of a thief, his characteristics and the direction he came
from.
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