ஊர் அறிந்த பிராமணனுக்குப் பூணூல் எதற்கு?
 

this thought is going in on for quite sometime in my mind.

no other castes identify themselves in public with something like a PooNaL.

by definition, BraHmin is to be known by guNa nothing more.

so why a பூணூல்?

dont take me wrong.. just being curious here.

dear sir !
you are correct .once he learned vedas & his conduct is line with it,there is no need of identifying him as brahmin with the sacread thread.it does not mean do away with poonool
guruvayurappan

Well the sacred thread is needed to do the daily rituals like sandhyAvandanam. The code calls for it. There is a precedent for wearing the pUNUl. In the old days there was respect for brahmins and brahmins generally wore nothing on their upper body except the pUNUl and a small cloth (called tuNDu or uttarIyam) over their shoulder. By seeing the sacred thread on their body others paid their due respects. The saying came about once you are well known in the community. They will recognize you by the face and no need for PUNUl. Nowadays ironically not only you don't want to be known as a brahmin but definitely not with a pUNUl.http://www.tamilbrahmins.com/images/smilies/fear.gif

Even in tamilnadu, communities other than brahmins wore poonul; i had posted pictures of carpenters and goldsmiths wearing poonul. Traditionally many communities other than brahmins wore the thread. Rajaraja chola did (paintings and sculptures).

The philosophy of sri Bharathi can be understood by some of his poems like
kaakkai chiragiline nanda lala , kuyil paattu and others. He saw God in all the
creations. Outward symbols he shunned.

Once Pulavar Keeran told in his lecture that the brahmins use the poonal ONLY to soothe the itching on their back!! http://www.tamilbrahmins.com/images/smilies/violin.gif

Jokes apart....

Since the brahmin guys have started wondering why to wear the poonal, viboothi / nAmam on the forehead etc,

women (all Hindus) have gone one step forward, wondering why to wear the 'thAli', 'pottu' etc!
PS: Now that only scanty gold ornaments are allowed in the travel overseas, 'mod' mams will be very happy!! http://www.tamilbrahmins.com/images/smilies/peace.gif

I am not sure if the kshatriyas, carpenters, and goldsmiths go through the same rituals that brahmins do everyday (at least supposed to do everyday). The regimen is very different even in the investiture ceremony. As for the title post the PUNUl is not needed for those brahmins who don't do sandyAvandanam. They might need as an abrasive tool to clean their body while taking showers though.http://www.tamilbrahmins.com/images/smilies/clap2.gif

[QUOTE=Raji Ram;144487] .....
Since the brahmin guys have started wondering why to wear the poonal, viboothi / nAmam on the forehead etc,

women (all Hindus) have gone one step forward, wondering why to wear the 'thAli', 'pottu' etc!
/QUOTE]

Pretty soon it may be difficult to tell the female gender apart from the male gender, the way the women wear their bobbed hair, and pants and shirts. A joke comes to mind>
Two middle age people were standing in a bus stop in Chennai. There was another young person a few yards apart. The first middle age person told the second, "look at that young person over there, you can't tell whether it is a boy or a girl". The second person said, "that is my daughter". The first person said, "I am awfully sorry, I didn't know you were her father". The second person retorted, "I beg your pardon, I am her mother".http://www.tamilbrahmins.com/images/smilies/cheer2.gif

P.S: In tennis language we call it a double fault!

Dear ShivKC,

Caste identity is in a person's mind.

Other caste might not wear Yagnopaveetham but in their mind and actions they strongly identify themselves with their caste.

So it really doesn't matter what a person wears beneath his shirt.
What more important is what he wears in his MIND.

Dear RR ji,

Out here in Malaysia I can safely say 99.99% of South Indian woman wear their Pottu and Thali.
Some of us choose not to wear cos Pottu and Thali do not match certain clothes and further more men have no identification of marriage so why should females have?

But its not easy to face the crowd of Thali and Pottu wearers when you have a bare forehead and neck.They never leave you alone and keep asking you why you don't wear and sometimes even pass comments.

I call them THALIBAN!!LOL

namaste everyone.

This post of mine is in a ilghter vein. Using the same logic as mentioned by shrI ShivKC in the OP, we might ask: Why does a company employee need to wear a tie inside his campus where he should be known by his work and not by any external identity? Why does he need to wear the ID card in a sling over his neck?

• Unlike the upavItam--sacred thread, of the trivarNa--three classes, is there any sanctity for the company slings and straps beyond conventional compulsion?

• In the other companies such as banks and factories, normal employees do not wear the tie or the ID card around their neck.

So, the proper answer for both the situations could be that the sAdhaka--seeker who wears the upavItam and the elite company employee both need a symbol that is intended as a pointer to their work. The difference is that the upavItam is meant to be a personal symbol for Self-realization while the sling and strap are meant for the onlookers.

I don't know whether you watch Crazy Mohan's dramas. In one of his creations, a dialogue between a father and son is as follows:

அப்பா: டேய்! இதென்னடா மீசையும், தாடியும்! சகிக்கலை. பக்கத்தாத்துப் பசங்களைப் பாரு! எத்தனை அழகா ஷேவ் பண்ணிண்டு போறா!

மகன்: ஐயோ! அப்பா! அவா ரெண்டு பேரும் பொம்மனாட்டிப் பசங்கப்பா!

அப்பா: அடடா! வித்தியாசமே தெரியலையேடா!

மகன்: உத்துப் பாரு! ஆறு வித்தியாசம் தெரியும்!!

PS: 'Kumudham' magazine used to post two pictures with 6 minute differences, those days!

Well the standard mark of married men in the western world is the ring (which is easy to remove if they want to hide their married identity). A joke that goes around is:
"90% of married men cheat in the US. The rest cheat in Europe"http://www.tamilbrahmins.com/images/...s/rolleyes.png

OMG, Renu! I thought the other way!
THALI BAN = those who BAN THALI. http://www.tamilbrahmins.com/images/smilies/pound.gif

Post by Ms Renuka is 100% correct. Tamil women wearing Thali, Big Pottu and Flowers are very common in Malaysia and even in Singapore. Second or third generation who have migrated to these countries observed the same and the customs are followed by their children. Contrary to this custom, people living in India (younger generation) think it is an insult to use pottu or flowers. If at all their parents insist on Pottu, they will do it and one can located the pottu with the help of magnifying glass only.

Venkat

Ya but the men have rings too!!
So it's fair.
If a Thali can be made into a ring and be worn by both Husband and Wife then it would be fair.

Thamizh girls in the US (at least the ones I notice in music concerts) wear pAvADai, pAvADaidAvaNi, or sarees according to their age class. Correspondingly those in Chennai are seen in jeans. Nice cultural contrast, right? At least the genes are preserved in alien lands while they are lost in the native country!

Yes sir..they do and they are the ultimate Thaliban squad who are better than airport scanners.
They can identify a female not wearing thali and pottu miles away.
I have no problems if someone wears Thali and Pottu but as long they do not impose rules and regulations on others.

Now I have adopted a new way of handling such attacks launched by Thaliban squad.
When anyone asks me "why aren't you wearing your Thali and Pottu?"

I tell them "What??Can't you see that that I have both Thali and Pottu on?OMG I think you could be having some visual defect..come let me examine your eyes"

They really panic thinking they have some visual problem.!!LOL

Most South Indian husbands here insists wives wear Thali and Pottu.
North Indian husbands are cool cos most of them do not have Thali in their marriage ceremony and also do not insists on Pottu and Sindoor to be worn.

Then ban the tAli right at the beginning---during the wedding. Exchange rings instead of tying the tAli and removing it later. The tAli has a different significance in Hindu ceremony as opposed to the ring exchange in other religions/cultures.

Dear Sir,

It's not fair to ban Thali cos there are many out there who cherish tradition.
So you see I DO NOT impose my style of thinking on others.
So I have no problems not wearing it.
BTW I do not wear rings either.
It really interferes with work and a potential source of bacterial reservoir when we see patients.

But I always wished that a Thali could be a small cute AUM to be worn with a short chain around the neck.
That I would have surely worn cos even now I like wearing my AUM on a silver chain.If only Thalis were like this...I would be so delighted.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...4L._SY300_.jpg