On 29-Sep-08, at 1:10 AM, Deepa Mohan wrote:
That's a "vegetarianification" of the practice of "bali" or animal
sacrifice....and...I don't think the pumpkins which are painted
outside to
look like human heads are the ones that are smashed...I think the
painted
ones are left on buildings, especially new constructions, to ward
off the
evil eye, or at least, jealous, envious glances...and regular
unpainted
pumpkins are sliced, vermilion put into them, and then smashed... or
do
practices differ in different places? I also find it amusing that
the very
morally-superior vegetarian brahmin ladies do the "arati" regularly,
and the
practice began with the ritual of swirling the blood of the sacrificed
animal...the vermilion (or the lime) in the water is apparently a
"lookalike" of blood!
Almost all vedic rituals involved slaughter of some kind. The Yajur
veda is particularly detailed on, for instance, which rib of a
slaughtered bull is to be offered to which deva (deity). I suspect the
"vegetarianizers" of the past had quite a bit of a job to do
