dear sangom,
to the best of my knowledge, every now and then, according to my grand parents' practice, our horoscopes would be dusted and ganichchified, every year, by kunhirama panicker, in badagara, during my pre and early teen years.
to me, it was an eagerly looked forward to event, one of the highlights of a boring summer spent in pattikaadu which vadakara then was. (there was not even a bakery to get bread - my uncle used to arrange with spencers to ship bread every day).
i have stated in this forum before, and i will repeat: as my aunt's wedding was being organized, my grandfather was in chennai purchasing diamonds. he had signalled that he had purchased vaira thodu & mukkthuththi from surajmals (not sure if it still exists). my grandma callled the panicker, who spred his shells and murmured something, and out came the prediction - that one of the diamonds had black evil residing in it, and if this were to adorn my aunt, lots of ill happenings would follow.
mid 1950s being that age, no long distance phones, let alone std or internet. thanthi was the quickest method of communication, and with express thanthi, you could be assured that it would be delivered in about 4 hours, day or night. grandpa, in chennai to collect the jewellery, told a stunned surajmal about the evil hanging over the ornaments.
which ofcourse was vehemently denied by the jeweller, who undid the jewellery, and examined each diamond. sure enough, hiding deep enough, on one of the more obscure rocks, was an embedded carbon spot. profusely apologizing, the jeweller replaced the diamond.
same panicker, predicted the death of another aunt, on my paternal side. but when mom was expecting my sibling, he predicted a boy and out came my sis. nowadays ofcourse we have amnio and other methods, but in 1958 a predicted boy turning out to be a girl, was enough to crash the reputation of the panicker.
so dear sangom, why should one bother at all to compose a jadhagam, if there is no belief in it re future predictions.
i have always wondered whether, what we are pre destined to experience, will happen regardless. whether the concept of pariharams are movements against the destiny. ultimately, we have to end our stay on this planet, and all this shenanigans, appear either to deny or postpone the inevitable. why do people bother to do that? i don't know.
in toronto, where i live, we have usual visits from indian astrologers, and i guess, judging from the ads in the t.v. there is a thriving market among the desis.
the whites do not have or believe in such an intricate systems. they have the signs of the zodiac, but then this is a grouping of 13 stars, and one has to share the predictions, based on the calendar birth date, with 1/3 of the humanity. again, the todays common era calendar, was fudged and fiddled by pope gregory, and so, today's date is not quite today's date about 430+ years and previous.
the whites do have seances and mediums, which i think, is all fraud, anyways.
i remember, when i was young, my neighbour used to have the medium speak through the three legged kerosine stove. the dancing stove was a wonderous sight that i have witnessed, and still not sure how that came about.
based on kunhirama panicker, 50 years later, i believe that there may be some force or knowledge which makes our life preplanned, and some people of erudition are able to gather glimpses. glimpses only, while the bulk of the future is but a mystery of the faith, and an unknown waiting to be experienced.
thathaastu.
