mahalaya pakasham and mahalaya amavasai

[drsundaram]

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Could some one please detail the significance of mahalaya pakhsham and mahalaya amavasai. Why special emphasis is laid on this?

 

[T.S.Sankara Narayanan]

Dear Sir,
The word Maha means Big.Mahalaya Amavasai is supposed to be the Biggest/Greatest just as we say Aug/22nd will be the longest day in every year.
For example Pandya kings who Modelled Madurai 1000s of years ago named the streets in the name of Tamil Months,like Chithirai,AAdi,and so on.
While pointing Avani,they named as Avani Moola Veethy. Do you know why ?
Because if it rains on Avani month and that too in Moola Nakshatra,it is a Symptem that there will be heavy rain on the whole year.
So just as what I replied may be true.

 

[G. Soundara Rajan]

Mahaalayam

Some particulars about Mahaalayam

Pitrus are sent by Ymadharmaraja to our world to receive the annam, water given by their sandhathis and be happy. This period is mainly during :Avani Masa Sukla paksha Prathamai to Amavasai (16 days), which is the special period for this pitru karyam.
There is grace period also till Karthigai month.

In this punyakalam Sradhdham or hiranya sradhdham/tharpanam is being done. The main difference in this period is :

In annual ceremonies for one’s parents, three thalaimurai pitrus are remembered, honoured and given havirbagam in the homam. But in this period, karunya pitrus like sapathni matha, brothers, athais, all inn-laws, daughter, wife, Maman, Chithappa, Periyappa, Gurus, friends, close relatives, yajamanan who saved life , etc.,whom all we want to remember (if known with gothram and sharma) in our life are honoured, in addition to Pitru and Mathru vargam. (pitru includes mathru vargam also always). Even brothers should do this separately, since their karunya pitrus list will differ. If gothrams and names are known with respect to karunya pitrus, general mention as ‘karunya pitrus’ is enough.

Pitrus bless is and give ‘sabam’, if we do not perform this. Pitru sabam is the main reason for most of our family problems.

Tharpanam means ‘satisfying’ (thirupthi in Tamil).

Oil bath, shaving , to be avoided during this period. Brahmacharyam to be maintained.

There are various details available. The details given above are some of the information collected from the book ‘Mahaalayam (‘Hiranya roopa sradhdham’), anchored and issued free of cost, by Mylapore Veda Adhyayana Sabha, Mylapore, Chennai
(source: above book). Manthrams in Sanskrit and the details in Tamil. Translated in English for this posting pls.

Mathrubyo nama; Pitrubyo nama;



Regards to all.


G Soundara Rajan

 

[G. Soundara Rajan]

Correction

Ref. my above msg. (last). Kindly read 'pitrus bless us' (not ..bless is). Error regretted. Stand corrected pls.

G Soundara Rajan

 

[tvvaradan]

mahalayam

Thank you sir It is highly enlightening.
One small correction if you do not mind.
If Gothrams and names are NOT known general mention is enough as karunya pitru.
The Not is missing as an oversight.
sorry for pointing it out.

 

[G. Soundara Rajan]

Thank you sir. 'Not' is an omission, by oversight, during composing.

Regards.

G Soundara Rajan

 

[tbs]

Could some one please detail the significance of mahalaya pakhsham and mahalaya amavasai. Why special emphasis is laid on this?

hi sir,
mahalaya paksham/mahalaya amavasai is also called sraddha
paksham/pitur paksham..it start from poornima to ammavasya
in bhdrapadha masam before navaratri...its important
KARUNIKA PITRU..means in mahalaya sankalpamm..
this tarpanam not only for own pitru but also for matuladhi
relatives(LIKe uncle/thayadhees) ...so this is very important
pitru karma...

regards
tbs

 

[Sabesan Narayanaswami]

Mahalaya Paksham

Dear Sri Sabesan Narayanaswami Ji,

I am moving this post to an earlier existing thread. In the future, please look for an existing thread to post, instead of starting a new thread, if possible.

Regards,
KRS

If the annual ceremony of father falls during the Mahalaya Paksha what is the practice to be followed?can the Mahalaya Srardham be performed on the specified Thithi or wait for the annual Srardham to be over?
What will happen if the Annual ceremony falls during the paksha immediately before or after?
Can some enlighten me on this with authority?

 

[Sabesan Narayanaswami]

Mahalaya Paksha significance

Malaya paksha and its importance

the brahmothsava that is being celebrated in pithru lokas is called the malayapaksha. Just like our kumb mela it is celebrated with great enthusiasm by devas and pithrus in “malayabooshitha loka”.

This malaya bhooshithaloka is the loka that is born out of the sankamam of
suryagraha or athithya mandala and chandra graha or soma mandala. It is also known as somathiya mandalam.

In this loka the amavasai devas and pithrus gather to celebrate the festival just like mahamaham festival. Their lord is sree narayana

this start from the first day after the poornima and end on the amavasai day , which is called malaya paksha amavasai. It is the day on which the somathiya mandala is created. In this mandala the jeevasakthis of pithrus are kept in a kalasa and worshipped.

Just like by using the jeeva sakthi of jeevas from the kumbha , srishti is done in the same way. Pithrus jeevasakthi originates from the amutha kalasa lying in this malaya booshitha loka.

It is said that on the malayapaksha days the maharishis, the other jeevas ,the devas, the pithrus , all come to booloka ( our mother earth) and assemble along the sacred river beds, the sea shores., in gaya,rameswara,and rivers like bhavani. Kaveri,allahabad, thriveni sankamam, and like places of punya nathi threethas and they do the tharpana poojas. So the vasus,rudhras,athihtya,and pithrudevas, all do tharpana on this day , one need not express then how sacred and important day it is for all.

Our forefathers/ancestors cannot come to this world whenever they
think.except on amavasai, sraddha day and the starting day of every month and during malaya paksha. So they all come in "sookshma" (means not visible to naked eyes) dehas and if we offer them the til and water they accept that, and bless us directly

in normal days “ swatha devi” the wife of agni bhaghavan carries the tharpana water from us to the worlds where our anchestors are. On malaya paksha day as they all gather in somathithya mandala she sees all of them in one place and her job becomes easy and the result is more fruitful as it immediately reaches our ancestors ,the effect of it is felt by the forefathers even if they have taken rebirths and helps them in the present births also.

This tharpanam can be done by all without caste or creed on malayapaksha
amavasai day. Malaya paksha period starts from the sukla paksha prathamai and ends on amavasai day . On which day the “navarathiri “ for worshipping lakshmi devi, saraswathi devi and durga devi begins.

As we don’t properly do the tharpanam as per dharma sastra on the
specified days pithrus suffer a lot in the lokas where ever they are. Atleast if one does tharpana on this malayapaksha , amavasai or during malaya their sufferings ar e reduced . And they will bless us.

One should do annadhanam also on these days.

There is a story in mahabharatha that karna when he went to yama loka he had all the comforts ,wealth etc as he had done lot of dhana dharmas. But he could not get food to eat as he never did annadhanam in this world.

So he got permission from yamadharmaraja to come back to this booloka and on these 14 days he did anna dhanam to all and went back and he was given food thereafter. So this shows the mahima of anna dhanam on these days.

This malaya paksha is considered as pithrupaksha and so the food that is offered by us reaches them.. As this malaya paksha is considered as the brahmothsava of the amavasai graha mandala the benefits/good result of the tharpana or annadhana turns manifold.

We are the decendants of great maharishis which fact we have forgotten today.although the tharpana pooja is done for the sake of fore fathers etc it is we who get more benefit out of this karma in the form of blessings from them.

It is the duty of the wife to insist her husband to do tharpana without fail
and help them to the maximum extent possible by doing all required
arrangements. The water with “ellu” or gingley seeds “ when poured from in
between the pointer (the finger of guru) and thumb (the finger of sukra) it drains through the pithru boomya rekahs ,and .it goes up by its power working against the gravitational pull of the earth and it reaches the world of pithrus who are crores and crores of miles away

one new fact which we may not be aware is that, pithrus like snake guard
“pudalangai in tamil” because it acts as medicine . In the “pitla marga” . Pithrus
take rest under this plant. Cow milk curd is also considered as very sacred and it also pleases the pithrus. So it goes without saying that we can use these while cooking

so let us all do the tharpanam during this malayapaksha period and on malayapaksha day and also do anna dhanam and other dhanams according to ones capacity and let us be relieved of our dhoshams if any we have done either knowingly or un knowingly.

 

[Sabesan Narayanaswami]

Dear Dr Sundaram,
I was pleasantly surprised to know from Mr Ramamurthy that you belong to Mannargudi.Infact like Ramamurthy I also hail from Rishiyur,Devangudi,Nidamangalam
Sabesan Narayanaswami

 

[drsundaram]

rishiyur

Dear Dr Sundaram,
I was pleasantly surprised to know from Mr Ramamurthy that you belong to Mannargudi.Infact like Ramamurthy I also hail from Rishiyur,Devangudi,Nidamangalam
Sabesan Narayanaswami

namaskaram sir, Permabur[which is just close to Rishiyur] the Dharmasastha is our family deity. We all particularly all naidhrubha kasyaba gothra people used to assemble there on Pankkuni uthiram day for maha aradhanai of dharma sastha. We also come there on several occassions in a year. Thevangudi is the village where is my native place where I studied 1st class, must be in 1955 -1956, exactly I do not remember. We moved on to mannargudi for further studies and I had my schooling upto 12th stad at national High school.
I am very happy that this forum is bringing we people together.
Where are you now, sir.
Please tell mr ramamurthi also all this and let us stay in touch
Kind regards and Love
Sundaram

 

[Sabesan Narayanaswami]

Rishiyur

Thanks Dr Sundaram.Infact my wife's paternal side village is Perambur. P.Varadarajan her father(now no more) a naidrupa kasyapa,belonged to this village and was in Paper business in Chennai.Even now some of them go to the village for the shastha preeti.
My Grandfather was Rishiyur Santhanam Aiyar a mirasdar in Rishiyur, Later became a vedantha tharka sastra pandit and was at the Kanchi Kamakoti Mutt,Kumbakonam and Kanchipuram in the later stages of his life.I go to Rishiyur once in 2 yrs to pray to our Kuladeivam Kathayini Amman at Devangudi.I was educated at Chennai at Ramakrishna Mission high school,then Loyola college and then at MIT Chromepet doing Electronics and Communication( DMIT).
I shall certainly keep Ramamurthy informed of this pleasant news.He will be thrilled.

 

[natarajan]

In North India, they do not perform shradham on the thithi of death but on the thihthi during the Mahalaya pakham (even the brahmins except for the first shardham.

 

[natarajan]

In North India, they do not perform shradham on the thithi of death every year but on the thihthi during the Mahalaya pakham (even the brahmins except for the first shardham