KAALU PIDIKKAL (Holding feet)
Dear friends, Today while seeing a scene in theMalayalam soap “BALAMANI”in Mazhavil manorama channel, where the elder co-sister holding the legs of theyounger who is a gynaecologist to get done an abortion to her, holding her legsmade me to think about holding feet. To know the value of leg, justthe curing period of a very small fracture in a leg is much sufficient. I amincluding thigh, foot and lower leg of humans including toe in this posting. Though told as holding legs (Kalupidikkam) actually feet are hold. Sincerely, Gopala Krishnan 20-02 -2014 Reposted on 7-2-2021 after editing and updating information. R. Gopala Krishnan. 1. The Parrots for communication. Long-time back, it was a practiceto make out a communication and tie to the leg of trained parrots. They would flyfrom point to point and rest in the destination and the communication was readat distant end. The parrot used to take reply also. 2. Duryodhana – strength induced in to body. We know Gandhari was tying acloth covering her eyes, intimating, since the husband is blind; she too didnot require eyesight. On account of this she had very much will power. She desiredto induce strength in the body of Duryodhana her eldest son using her willpower. One day she asked Duryodhana tocome before her after bath, without any clothing in the body. Shedesired to open the eye for a moment and induce the strength to his body. Obeying his mother Duryodhanastarted to take bath in the palace pond, and Gandhari sat on a big chair in thenearby Hall. Duryodhana was hindered by sageNarada on his way and he advised Duryodhanan that though Gandhari is hismother, he should notgo with his loin uncovered being a man now. He should wear a smallpiece of cloth there. Taking advice of Narada he wore asmall towel covering loin area and appeared before Gandhari. Gandhari untiedthe cloth from the eye. Shecould pass strength to all part of the body except thigh because of theclothing. It was in thigh Duryodhana was beaten withGada and defeated by Bhima. 3. Mahabali and the foot incident. The legend about Onam is wellknown. It is placing his third foot Upendra (Vamana) send Mahabali to suthala-the nether world. I was curious to knowwhat Upendra did with the land. I could read in a posting by Dr Ravisankarsangem that he gave it to Indra. I have also read Mahabali’s son objected toUpendra became huge and measured the three feet land, but it was went to anybody’s ears. 4. Radha and charanamritham. Once Lord Krishna felt severepain in the stomach while in Dwaraka. It was felt by him that charanamritham(water washing the feet) of any lady could relieve his pain. Which lady would givethe water cleaning her foot for drinking of the God? Rukmini, Sathyabhama or any womenwas not ready for such a deed in Dwaraka. Finally people were sent to Vrindavanif any lady is there to offer. Fortunately Radha was there. Withoutthinking anything, she cleaned her foot with water, filled in a vessel andhanded over to the people. For her Krishna’s wellbeing was important. Immediately on receiving thecharanamritham Krishna drank it full. Eaam. One or two minuteslapsed. Krishna got relieved of stomach pain. The incident shows the affectionof Radha to Krishna over Rukmini and Sathyabhama to Krishna. I have read in later readings ofIskon publications that Radha was part of Krishna. 5. Navagrahas and Ravana. Ravana made the navagrahasobedient to him and made them in idol form to lie in the 9 steps which heclimbed to go to his thrown. He used to climb over them withhis feet to reach the seat. Navagrahas were laid withtheir back up Narada noted it. He devised amethod. He asked Ravana to keep them in normal position and climb. Without thinking, Ravana obeyed him. From that instance thecurse of the planets fell on Ravana and his bad period began. 6. Pada pooja In marriages pada pooja isperformed to the bride groom, considering him as part of Mahavishnu. Pada poojais done by girl’s father. In sraadha also the feet of thesraadha Brahmins (bhokthas) are washed by the Kartha (performer) before thefunction welcoming them. Important note- I read in one of the postingcalled sraadha niyama in our groups by G Bala subraminaim that only ankleshas to be washed and not entire foot. I am not sure any sasthrikals say so today tothe performer. Now a day I am not seeing his postings. 7. Kalu kazhukichu Oottu I have seen this functionperformed in the temples inviting Nampoothries and feed after washing theirfeet. Cooking is done in the temple. I am not sure whether the function isarranged by Nampoothiri families or by other communities. I had one Library in chargeNampoothiri in my home who very often used to attend it asking me to see thelibrary for about one hour in my boyhood days. On those days I could not clarify about the performerdetails. 8. Following the foot steps Literally it means follow somebody’s path. It is used during good and bad practices followed, but mostlyabout good practices. A teacher’s son like to become alecturer, an ordinary engineer’s son would like to become an IIT or Ms and theway. Normally in the field of arts it is seen very much. It is passed throughgenes. 9. Un noticed Paduka by Arjuna It is a story from Mahabharatha.It was the period Dharma puthra living with Droupadi. Arjuna had kept hisweapons in a room crossing Droupadi’s room. A Brahmin approached for help fromattacking people on him and Arjuna agreed. Dharma puthrar was there leaving his paduaka in front with Droupadi. Arjuna did not notice andentered the room. Dharma puthra welcomed him.Arjuna took his weapons and the Brahmin was saved. Feeling guilty of enteringthe Droupadi’s room, Arjuna went for seclusion life outside. My note- It is notclear to me why Arjuna kept his weapons in Droupadi’s Home. Learnt members mayclear my doubt. 10. Gaya sraadha and Vishnu Padam. About Gayasura story. The placewhere Vishnu stood, his feet is preserved and Pindas are offered and worshippedduring Gaya sraadha. 11. Stair case and foot steps While designing steps theengineer takes atmost care to ensure foot length is covered in the width ofsteps in the stair case. The height between steps is kept medium and EQUAL so that climbing isnot felt very tiresome through the steps. Both these aspects are not lookedin to more than 40% in ladders. Hence we feel the climbing in ladder tiresomeand unbalance while standing on steps. For permanent working for hours laddersare designed in the form of stair case in factories etc. with hand rails. 12. Mukkali and nalkkali. Furniture with four legs willhave more balance. Hence our table, chair etc are all having for legs.Additional legs if there it should be in pairs. Furniture withthree legs is called Mukkali. Some stools, dining tables round inshape are designed with three legs. Their balance is lesser. On seeing the appearance Ipurchased a designed stool having only two flat legs and bottom plate inprocessed wood. There was clear instruction- It should not be used for climbing or heavy weightsshould not be kept over it. In yester years there used to besome equipment with three legs. The offenders were tied to it and given blows. It was also calledMukkali. The earliest water purifyingstands were also having only three legs. 13. The foot The foot is used for walking,running and entire body weight is balanced in the two legs in humans. When bodyweight increase the legs feel pain on account of this. Even by reducing body weight by one two kilograms we can observe therelief from pain. Update- As age advance it is very difficult even to walk with in homes. Sointake of food can be reduced. Since Covid 19 is there it ispreferable not to walk by elders in the open 14. Kalupidikkua This is a saying used to ask forexcuse for erring committed by a person on another and asking for pardoning fallingon the feet. To escape from offences committed, many people resort to this atone stage or other. Sometimes even to get out of the false allegations orgetting things done. Really it has very positive effect. After one has hold the leg ofanother, the other cannot normally rigid on his earlier stand and used tochange decisions. 15. Droupadi and mango The incident told in Vanaparvaand I have written many times…. On Krishna’s advice each Pandavabrothers came under the mango tree. Mango reached top level when each expressedtheir feeling at that time. While Panchali expressed her feeling the mango fell down since sheexpressed a lie thinking something else. To cut short, Panchali calledKrishna and expressed her wrong thinking and could not express in thatsituation, touching his feet. Krishna came out side and looked at Mango. Itwent back to the original place. The incident was created by Lord Krishna to reduce the pride ofDroupadi. 16. Namaskaram When we perform sashtanganamskaram to anybody, it should be ensured not to touch his feet by theperformer’s hand. 17. Thapas The sages on those days, I haveread used to perform thapasya standing on one leg. However standing on one legis difficult even for a minute. Most would lose balance. I have seen inBharatha natya some pose with one leg bend. But here body weight is suitably balanced by bending. 18. Standing a punishment in middle school classes. While I was studying in primaryand middle school classes, keeping standing till the teacher asks to sit waspunishment for minor offences. These offences mostly did not relate to study. In primaryclass some teachers used to ask the student to stand on the bench. This wasmore delicate. While standing beforegirls created inferiority also. If I amcorrect standing on bench was not commanded to girls, but asked to stand. All these practices are notthere now. 19. Standing and leg pain. Irrespective of age, standingcreates leg pain and uneasiness. It would be more with the aged people. Whiletravelling in bus this is felt much. Everybody would be looking to some bodymaking signs of getting down. But there are some wicked, who make signs of getting down in stops, but neverget down. They enjoy in others looking at them. Even during deepradhana intemples, if the pooja take more time we can see restlessness with people. 20. Football and private bus-Humour. We know Football is the gameplayed with feet/foot. It was a practice for private bus operates toaccommodate more standees during rush hour on those days. Once a private bus was operatingwith sufficient standees. Suddenly in a bus stop about 10 persons got in. Thebus had become well crowded with standees. Normally standees take theirposition more near entrance and exit for easily getting down. In the next stop too there wereabout 10 persons. As usual the conductor desired to accommodate them also. Hesaid to the standees- Thereis enough space to play football in the centre of bus. Please movepermitting these 10 people to get in. Among the standees there was a satirist.He said- First let me see whether it is true. Give me a football. We will arrange as a team and play. 21. Animals and weight In the animals which stand onfour legs, the weight of the body is horizontal. It is shared in four legs.Animals can stand more time by standing. Many animals sleep also whilestanding. However for relaxing all animals too want to lie. Animals like cowlay and perform “ayavirakkal”(Bring the food took in a hurry back to mouth and chew well). 22. The pain on left leg changed to right leg-humour. We know the net effect is thesame. I recollect the incident Aswini kumars were asked by acourt man to relieve the pain from left leg. They looked at him.But the court man felt relieved pain from leg pain, but appearing in right leg.He told Aswini kumars painis now in right leg. Aswini kumars said- you only wanted to relieve pain from left leg. (Film Purnima in soorya TV) Probably from this the saying hascome. The saying means the net effect isstill. 23. Speciality with foot. I am told all important nerveending are there in the foot bottom. Acupuncture talk of this in detail.However I have felt pressing or hitting with hand finger in certain leg partsgive much relief when pain is there in the body.Bottom of feet and palms are the two places where humanhairs do not grow in human body. Update- Placing legs on a cylindrical roller with thorns in quality woodis available in foreign countries. When you place the leg and move,it would roll, and thorns pressing the foot/feet get pain relief. Even thumbscan be pressed using it. 24. Foot for measurement. Once a normal grown up man’s footwas considered as a means of measurement of ground etc. I am not sure whetherthe “atikkol” of carpentersare based on it. Themeasurement of one foot today is however about three inches more than humanfoot. (Doubt- takes a scale and check. I have checked beforewriting) 25. The birds and the foot. The birds have two foot. Some birds have lengthy foot and some shorttype. But birds have some what a hollow body and less weight. Some are able tofly very high and some a few yards like hen. Birds like peacock has morelengthy body comparing to others. They sleep too standing on legs sitting ontower tops and tree tops. 26. Foot wear. Even during Thretha Yuga, we have instance Bharatha worshipped the Padaani of Sree Rama as his guidance. So foot covering was common. The bottom of the foot iscomparatively harder. A kid walks with bare foot. Only when he is able to wearand walk he is given a shoe. Till high school days I was notwearing any chapels. For sabarimalai pilgrimage tripeven today the hill section of 8 KM of Neelimala is surely climbed by bare footby most. Once startedwalking pain is not felt much. I will end this posting with ahumorous note but real fact. Once I was attending a diabeticcamp immediately on detecting me as diabetic arranged by Trivandrum Medical Collegein 1998. We could meet individual doctors and discuss. It was very difficult to getdiabetic special foot wear. We had to wait at least 3 months to get one. I took this point with a doctorsince I was very much worried of it. He smilingly told me- Whether our grandfatherand even father used foot wear? Where some of them diabetic? Actually our body is designed to walk bare foot. Now we are accustomed towear chappals and shoes. So anything can be worn but good quality. He told specially to me- If I putthis opinion people will call me a noss (One nut loose). Hencewear good foot wear. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/1044130005.2761950.1612703985227%40mail.yahoo.com.
