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Monday, September 10, 2012
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Manhattan, Day Two
We arrived at Macy’s to be received by doors that were not wheelchair friendly (stroller friendly) which by this point was not a surprise, and the ever-present construction site within and out. I had expected Macy’s to be big and bright and beautiful. Big it was, but not the other two. My enthusiasm diminished, we headed up to the children’s section and ended buying a couple of pairs of shoes at a very decent price. By this point we were famished and Tara had been promised another go at a NY hotdog (proclaimed as her FAVOURITE food by now). I was looking for a street vendor but Alex had the foresight to push us into an air conditioned restaurant on Broadway. They had the best chilli dog after Nirula’s in Delhi, so I was ecstatic, and the freshest onion rings (the waitress had to run out for onions while we waited). We also managed a washroom break for all and baby despite the fact that none of the restaurants we went to had any change tables... It is amazing how much like New Delhi, New York seemed to me, very densely alive and urban but not very inclusive of people with disabilities or young families. Winnipeg by comparison is so much more navigable with a stroller. Post lunch, Tara and I were captured by this little store selling all manners of sewing notions, beads and buckles and ribbons... very Victorian in concept and just as intoxicating to be in now as it must have been back before there was TV! They had everything from the humblest button to the most elaborate lace and bridal accessories, i could have happily lived there, but onwards we went.
Le Carousel at Bryant park
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| Alex Juggles, Tara adds visual interest and Kaya is asleep in the back |
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| Shiny New New York @ Bryant Park |
By now I had got it into my mind that we must visit the Central NY Library too so we switched back from Broadway to the Sixth and ended up at Bryant Park by happenstance. It is such an awesome amenity pubic space. It was lunch hour so the park was busy with people grabbing their bag lunch while surfing the on free wifi and people watching. There was live piano and juggling demonstrations which Alex joined in. To Tara’s delight there was a wonderful carousel to ride and we took lots of pictures while Kaya had her post lunch nap in the stroller. We also stopped in at the children’s section of the NY public library on Fifth Ave. Kaya must have sensed the cessation of movement by this point as she woke up forcing us back out and back onto our route.
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| Grand Central Terminal and Chrysler Tower on 42nd Street |
We walked back east on 42nd catching glimpses of my most loved NY skyscraper, the Chrysler building, someday I’ll have to go in, but I’ll probably be disappointed in the interior. We arrived at the Grand Central stn. With about an hour to spare and for once the inside lived up to our anticipation. It is truly beautiful and I tried to take pictures without a tripod, and probably didn’t succeed. We however, did discover a hidden gem in the Mac store on the second level plaza... Tara was kept busy watching a whole episode of My Little Pony while I caught up on emails before heading home to the ‘Peg.
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| Wish I could bring it home... Oh Beaux Art! |
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| Kaya at GCT |
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| ubiquitous picture |
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| Oh Yeah for free Internet on a super fast macbook air |
Friday, May 4, 2012
Lets go play outside
Below is Tara on the first day of house league soccer at River Heights, Team Tiger (Orange and Black). She is fast and great at following the ball but too small to body check anyone and too smart to offer herself up to get tripped up. We are happy, saves us trips the ER! She defended a goal today, that was pretty great.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Twirly, Whirly, Girly
This poem was composed and dictated by Tara Jackson on or about the third of April, 2012 while waiting for the results of her allergy prick test (no allergies).
She twirls and she whirls,
and she never stops.
She can do what she do,
and say don't say.
She makes the sun dizzy,
and the moon too.
She twirls and she whirls,
and she never stops.
She can do what she do,
and say don't say.
She makes the sun dizzy,
and the moon too.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Understanding the Bengali Kulin Brahmin Caste
I am posting this so that someday Tara and Kaya have somewhere to look up their maternal heritage. Of course being only half Kulin Brahmin makes you not Kulin (pun intended) at all, nevertheless. Also after having this explained to me I now begin to understand those old bengali movies where a pretty young thing of a girl is forced into marriage to an old doddering man with one foot in the grave, promptly to be followed by the torturous life of a widow at age 15 on! Of course, re-marriage was never allowed for women. Joys of being s Kulin Brahmin girl must have been few other than the prestige and education made available at a younger age which was equal by few others.
Edit: I do want to make clear my stand on all of this since many people comment on this post: people are people. Brahmins are no better than non-Brahmins, Hindus are no better than non-Hindus or agnostics or atheists. The only true determinant of humanity and goodness is how we treat people, especially people different than ourselves, people with no power over us. This post is not about celebrating a caste, its about knowing about myself and the things that have shaped my family history. Both good and bad.
I am told I am of Sanyal (Vatsav/Vatsya) decent on my father's side whose last name is Chakraborty and on my mothers paternal side I am a Maitra (Kashyap) from Bangladesh and on her maternal side I am a Roy, so a Rarhi Brahmin.
Since we are paternalistic society that makes me a Rarhi Brahmin (east Bengal) of Vatsya (pronounced Bot-so) Gotra. Well thank god for modernity, no one cares that I married a Canadian!
so here it is, the Kulin Brahmin system explained...
Kulin Brahmins are those Brahmins in Bengal who can trace themselves to the five families of Kanauj (Kanyakubja), Uttar Pradesh who migrated to Bengal. They were given immense power during the reign of the Sena/Sen kings who were staunch Hindus and did not encourage the practice of any other religion. The five brahmin families were differentiated by their gotras. The Kanaujiya/kanyakubj brahmins who settled in Bengal had the following gotras: (Shandilya, Bhardwaj, Kashyap, Swavarna and Vatsav/Vatsya); these gotras denote the Rishis whose followers the brahmins were.
Some of these kuleen families settled in Barendrabhoom and some in Rarhbhoom in what is present day Bangladesh. The descendants of these families became known as Rarhi and Barendra brahmins as per their settlement.
The common surnames of Rarhi brahmin family are (ranked equally):
• Mukherjee / Mukhopadhyay (Bharadwaja)
• Banerjee / Bandyopadhyay (Shandilya)
• Chatterjee / Chattopadhyay (Kashyap)
• Ganguly / Gangopadhyay(Shavarna)
• Khanna / (khan)
The common surnames of Barendra brahmin family are (ranked equally):
• Sanyal (Vatsav/Vatsya)
• Lahiri (Shandilya)
• Bagchi (Shandilya)
• Moitra (Kashyap)
Apart from these many others like Chakroborty, Bhattacharya, Ray/Roy, Roy Choudhury, Majumdar, etc., which are, indeed, titles conferred on certain privileged families from among the above mentioned surnames, could also be Kulin if they are Rarhi Brahmins. Khan and Chowdhury are titles awarded to many kuleen brahmin families because of their ancestral rule or profession.
The connection between the saraswat brahmins and kanaujiya/kanyakubj brahmins is this that during the Aryan migration the saraswat brahmins, called thus because they lived along the banks of the river saraswati, which began to disappear underground during Parushurama's time. These brahmins migrated to south, north and northwestern parts of the subcontinent.
Gaud Saraswat Brahmins The kashmiri pandits are of the same lineage as these saraswats and consider themselves to be pure Aryan because their descendants didn't mingle with the indigenous people. Those that settled in north India also went to what is present day Uttar Pradesh, where Kannauj is located From here they migrated to Gaud or Gour. From Gour, a small community comprising about seven families migrated to the South of the subcontinent.They were known as Gaud Saraswat Brahmins.
Kulin Pratha (Kulin System) was initiated by the Sena kings in Bengal whereby the kings gave land and power to the Brahmins to promote vedic principles in the society, leading to a strict and disciplined lifestyle. Simultaneously they also enforced strict rules on family and marriage rules on Brahmins, leading to the birth of Kulin Brahmins, an apex section/class/caste of the society. It was said that a person is Kulin if and only if all the 14 generations on his father's and mother's side were Kulin. This created a very problematic divide in the society. This was also opposed by many Brahmins. Yet it became a norm, probably because the kulin Brahmins got lured by the newly acquired power in the society.
Kulin Pratha was a very strict practice leading to many problems in Bengali society. If a daughter of a Kulin family doesn't wed in a Kulin family then the parent family loses their Kulin identity. These led to several problems like young girls getting married to old Kulin married men out of desperation of finding a Kulin groom. It was not uncommon for Kulin grooms to have several wives, most of which stayed at their parents home, just to be wed (for the sake of the ritual) to a Kulin and hence maintain their Kulin status.
Nowadays many Brahmins have shunned their Kulin identity and have mixed equally with all the Brahmins and non Brahmins in Bengal and other parts of India. It is hard to state the current stand of these families on Kulin Pratha. It may surface during the marriage process, but the young are not concerned.
Marriages and gotras
Marriages within the gotra ("swagotra" marriages) are banned under the rule of exogamy in the traditional matrimonial system. People within the gotra are regarded as kin and marrying such a person would be thought of as incest.
A much more common characteristic of south Indian Hindu society is permission for marriage between cross-cousins (children of brother and sister). Thus, a man is allowed to marry his maternal uncle's daughter or his paternal aunt's daughter, but is not allowed to marry his father's brother's daughter. She would be considered a parallel cousin who is treated as a sister.
According to strict Hindu tradition, the term gotra is used only for the lineages of Brahmin, Kshatriya and Vaishya varnas. Brahminical Gotra relates directly to the original seven "saptarishis" Rishis of the Vedas. Later, the term "gotra" was associated with broader meanings of any lineage, Brahmin or otherwise.
A common mistake is to consider gotra to be synonymous with clan or kula. A kula is basically a set of people following similar cultural rituals, often worshipping the same God (the Kula-Devata - the God of the clan). Kula has nothing to do with lineage or caste. In fact, it is possible to change one's kula, based on one's faith or Ishta-deva.
It is common practice in preparation for Hindu marriage to inquire about the Kula-Gotra (meaning Clan-Lineage) of the bride and bridegroom before approving the marriage. In almost all Hindu families, marriages within the same gotra are prohibited, since people with same gotra are considered to be siblings. But marriage within the kula is allowed and even preferred.
For commenters: Please note, do not post as *Anonymous*, I will likely delete your comment. The comments here are moderated by me, before they appear on the screen and I will not be permitting any rants or foul language nor anything I consider offensive.
Edit: I do want to make clear my stand on all of this since many people comment on this post: people are people. Brahmins are no better than non-Brahmins, Hindus are no better than non-Hindus or agnostics or atheists. The only true determinant of humanity and goodness is how we treat people, especially people different than ourselves, people with no power over us. This post is not about celebrating a caste, its about knowing about myself and the things that have shaped my family history. Both good and bad.
I am told I am of Sanyal (Vatsav/Vatsya) decent on my father's side whose last name is Chakraborty and on my mothers paternal side I am a Maitra (Kashyap) from Bangladesh and on her maternal side I am a Roy, so a Rarhi Brahmin.
Since we are paternalistic society that makes me a Rarhi Brahmin (east Bengal) of Vatsya (pronounced Bot-so) Gotra. Well thank god for modernity, no one cares that I married a Canadian!
so here it is, the Kulin Brahmin system explained...
 |
| Tara and Kaya my beautiful and fortunate little half breeds! They are hiding out under the couch in this picture as Kaya learns to scooch backwards. |
Kulin Brahmins
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaKulin Brahmins are those Brahmins in Bengal who can trace themselves to the five families of Kanauj (Kanyakubja), Uttar Pradesh who migrated to Bengal. They were given immense power during the reign of the Sena/Sen kings who were staunch Hindus and did not encourage the practice of any other religion. The five brahmin families were differentiated by their gotras. The Kanaujiya/kanyakubj brahmins who settled in Bengal had the following gotras: (Shandilya, Bhardwaj, Kashyap, Swavarna and Vatsav/Vatsya); these gotras denote the Rishis whose followers the brahmins were.
Some of these kuleen families settled in Barendrabhoom and some in Rarhbhoom in what is present day Bangladesh. The descendants of these families became known as Rarhi and Barendra brahmins as per their settlement.
The common surnames of Rarhi brahmin family are (ranked equally):
• Mukherjee / Mukhopadhyay (Bharadwaja)
• Banerjee / Bandyopadhyay (Shandilya)
• Chatterjee / Chattopadhyay (Kashyap)
• Ganguly / Gangopadhyay(Shavarna)
• Khanna / (khan)
The common surnames of Barendra brahmin family are (ranked equally):
• Sanyal (Vatsav/Vatsya)
• Lahiri (Shandilya)
• Bagchi (Shandilya)
• Moitra (Kashyap)
Apart from these many others like Chakroborty, Bhattacharya, Ray/Roy, Roy Choudhury, Majumdar, etc., which are, indeed, titles conferred on certain privileged families from among the above mentioned surnames, could also be Kulin if they are Rarhi Brahmins. Khan and Chowdhury are titles awarded to many kuleen brahmin families because of their ancestral rule or profession.
The connection between the saraswat brahmins and kanaujiya/kanyakubj brahmins is this that during the Aryan migration the saraswat brahmins, called thus because they lived along the banks of the river saraswati, which began to disappear underground during Parushurama's time. These brahmins migrated to south, north and northwestern parts of the subcontinent.
Gaud Saraswat Brahmins The kashmiri pandits are of the same lineage as these saraswats and consider themselves to be pure Aryan because their descendants didn't mingle with the indigenous people. Those that settled in north India also went to what is present day Uttar Pradesh, where Kannauj is located From here they migrated to Gaud or Gour. From Gour, a small community comprising about seven families migrated to the South of the subcontinent.They were known as Gaud Saraswat Brahmins.
Kulin Pratha (Kulin System) was initiated by the Sena kings in Bengal whereby the kings gave land and power to the Brahmins to promote vedic principles in the society, leading to a strict and disciplined lifestyle. Simultaneously they also enforced strict rules on family and marriage rules on Brahmins, leading to the birth of Kulin Brahmins, an apex section/class/caste of the society. It was said that a person is Kulin if and only if all the 14 generations on his father's and mother's side were Kulin. This created a very problematic divide in the society. This was also opposed by many Brahmins. Yet it became a norm, probably because the kulin Brahmins got lured by the newly acquired power in the society.
Kulin Pratha was a very strict practice leading to many problems in Bengali society. If a daughter of a Kulin family doesn't wed in a Kulin family then the parent family loses their Kulin identity. These led to several problems like young girls getting married to old Kulin married men out of desperation of finding a Kulin groom. It was not uncommon for Kulin grooms to have several wives, most of which stayed at their parents home, just to be wed (for the sake of the ritual) to a Kulin and hence maintain their Kulin status.
Nowadays many Brahmins have shunned their Kulin identity and have mixed equally with all the Brahmins and non Brahmins in Bengal and other parts of India. It is hard to state the current stand of these families on Kulin Pratha. It may surface during the marriage process, but the young are not concerned.
Marriages and gotras
Marriages within the gotra ("swagotra" marriages) are banned under the rule of exogamy in the traditional matrimonial system. People within the gotra are regarded as kin and marrying such a person would be thought of as incest.
A much more common characteristic of south Indian Hindu society is permission for marriage between cross-cousins (children of brother and sister). Thus, a man is allowed to marry his maternal uncle's daughter or his paternal aunt's daughter, but is not allowed to marry his father's brother's daughter. She would be considered a parallel cousin who is treated as a sister.
According to strict Hindu tradition, the term gotra is used only for the lineages of Brahmin, Kshatriya and Vaishya varnas. Brahminical Gotra relates directly to the original seven "saptarishis" Rishis of the Vedas. Later, the term "gotra" was associated with broader meanings of any lineage, Brahmin or otherwise.
A common mistake is to consider gotra to be synonymous with clan or kula. A kula is basically a set of people following similar cultural rituals, often worshipping the same God (the Kula-Devata - the God of the clan). Kula has nothing to do with lineage or caste. In fact, it is possible to change one's kula, based on one's faith or Ishta-deva.
It is common practice in preparation for Hindu marriage to inquire about the Kula-Gotra (meaning Clan-Lineage) of the bride and bridegroom before approving the marriage. In almost all Hindu families, marriages within the same gotra are prohibited, since people with same gotra are considered to be siblings. But marriage within the kula is allowed and even preferred.
For commenters: Please note, do not post as *Anonymous*, I will likely delete your comment. The comments here are moderated by me, before they appear on the screen and I will not be permitting any rants or foul language nor anything I consider offensive.
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About Me
- Tina
- Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
- I am a forty-something mom of two girls, an architect by profession and an avid sci-fi and My Little Pony fan. I love to cook, but only occasionally and am in the middle of rediscovering my heritage through food.