Dear Sri Chaitanya Das :
MOnja is a short for Mounji in Sanskrit .
It is tied around the waist of Bachelors
of age 8 , when they undergo Sacred thread
ceremony . This Mounji is made up of a rope
constituted by woven darbha grass .After that ,
the brahmachAri wears a regular waist band
around his waist during his life .
This mounja became the strong waist thread for
accomodating the loin cloth needed to maintain
Brahmacharyam . In the old times , they never
had male underwear of the kind that we use now .
For the monks also , this waist band is a must .
Regarding Dhrushti , the fear was about the evil eye
that may fall on one during the occcasion of a ceremony .
The idea is to appease , distract and drive away the evil spirits
lurking especailly during the occasion of starting an
auspicious rite . There is no saasthraic reference for
these (breaking coconuts , pumpkin , lime during
the sanctification of a new car/vaahana poojaa )
as far as I know. It is just folkloric acts embedded over
time to "insure " safety .
In marriage ceremonies , the married ladies will wave
a lamp in front of the about to be married couples or
the groom again for the same purpose (i-e) nullifying
the evil eye and bring auspicousness .
One has surrenderd the Self at the sacred feet of the Lord
would not worry about his own protection by himself anymore .
He(SaraNAgathan) leaves that responsibility or burden
of one's protection with the Lord .
In summary , these quaint and yet persistent customs
add color to the various home and temple festivals
and spring out of desire not to have any obstructions
to the initiated karmAs aimed usually at gaining some
desired fruits ( Kaamya KarmAs).
V.Sadagopan
----- Original Message -----
From: "manoram chaitanyadas" <manoramjps@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <srirangasri@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <oppiliappan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>;
<ramanujamission@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, December 21, 2004 10:07 AM
Subject: [Oppiliappan] Monja and dhrsthi
> Dear Swami's,
>
> Dandavat Pranams!
>
> Hare krsna.
>
> I humbly request vaishnavas to clarify this doubts.
>
> For what reason that Male members need to wear a
> black or a red thread around thier waist.In telugu
> this threadis called as Molthadi and another name for
> it is - monja.
>
> What is dhristhi?
> Why is it that only Coconut,lemons and Green pumpkins
> are used for this purpose.What is the actual procedure
> to do it.Any timings?For every important festival and
> Amavasya's my uncle does this for his family and
> office premises but he doesnt know the actual meaning
> behind it .He DOES this only through a rikshwala as
> he says that members in the family are not supposed to
> perform it.Is this true ?Please enlighten.
>
> Any Sastric refernce will help.
>
> Dasanu dasa,
> Manoram.
>
>
>
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