Ponoth Family

The word Ponoth has been derived from the saying “ponam othu-inu”, which simply means, need to go for studying Vedas. Here, the word “othu” means the study of the Vedas.

Now, to understand the word “othu” it is important to step back a bit and understand some very fundamental information. 

Note: “On 7 November 2003, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared the Tradition of Vedic Chanting (India) a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.”¹

We need to understand that, unlike what is generally understood, the Brahmin(community known as Nambuthiris) of Kerala are not very similar in their practices as compared to the Brahmins in the rest of India. In Kerala, we know these Brahmins as Nambuthiri. Although not much information is available regarding where these Nambuthiris originated, it is considered that almost all of them reached Kerala by around the 8th century AD. The earliest settlements were in the northernmost part of Kerala, from where they moved southwards. It is also said that the immigrant brahmins settled in 32 villages and were a vital force in the social setup of Kerala. The 8th century is also significant for the birth of Adi Shankara. At that time, several learning centres of Vedic, Philosophical, and Upanisadic thoughts were established here. This initiated serious discussions in these and allied subjects and subsequently institutionalized as annual functions in these Vedic centres, which included Temples. In this way Vedic tradition of Kerala was very rich and powerful from very early days.

As you may be aware, there are 4 Vedas- Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda, and Atharvaveda. However, the Nambuthiris of Kerala only belonged to three groups Rigveda, Yajurveda, and Samaveda, meaning they only learned and practiced these 3 Vedas. Every Veda is divided into 4 distinct parts, namely - Samhita,   Brahmana,   Aranyaka, and Upanishad. The Samaveda is again different in its form as it is musical in nature. The science of music is said to have evolved from this Veda through Brahma. Gaandharva Veda is a subsidiary of Samaveda. Coming back to the distinct parts, the Samhita portion is also termed as Mantra portion. It contains hymns of different types, such as sacrificial, religious, philosophical, and social.  The study of this Samhita portion of the Rigveda is generally known as Addhyaya(study), which in Malayalam is called “othu”. There are supposed to be 64 Adhyayas, or we can say 64 topics or chapters. The knowledge transfer happens through the mode of chanting (there is a specific way by which it is taught²) and is known as othu.  Interestingly, an Othu is done by an "Othikkan"³ a position or role assigned to certain families among the Namboothiri community, authorised to perform or supervise the performance of certain rituals and to teach Vedam or "Othu". Every Namboothiri family will have a designated Othikkan family who will function in that capacity for a group of families. Such Othikkans will also have designated Othikkans. Othikkans come from "Picha" or the higher class of Namboothiris.

So, returning to “Ponoth”. The saying “ponam othu-inu” subsequently got shortened to “Ponothu”. I got this information from my Father’s cousin from my grandmother’s side sometime in 1992. At that time, I did not bother much about gathering more details in this regard. The rest of the details, like what Othu is and all, is my own research and understanding. On a side note, I also came to know during a Ponoth family event (in 1992-93), that the Ponoth family has its roots in the North-West region of Kerala, or that the Ancestors are from there. The family had come to Ernakulam from there, and this land (from Kaloor market till the JLN Stadium) was supposedly provided by Kurumur Mana. This Mana still exists on the southern side of our house. Kurumur Mana incidentally used to be in charge of the famous Pavakkulam Sreemahadeva Temple.  This again is a historic temple, and it is also recorded that King Sakthan Thampuran of the earlier Kochi State stayed in this Temple to worship Lord Shiva.

My thoughts at this time are that the Ponoth Family must have had a definite family name other than Ponoth. There are many unanswered questions, too; I have still not been able to figure out when, how, or why the othu tradition/lineage stopped. Ponoth is my Grandmother’s family. My Grandfather’s family name is Puliyanezath, which is ideally what our family name should have been. However, my Grandfather moved to Ponoth, and the next generation(grandchildren) adopted the Ponoth name instead of Puliyanezath without much challenge, as both names start with a P.

Nevertheless, there is a lineage and history that is waiting to be revealed, not sure when though!

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Musings of a driver - Part 2

Disclaimer: The following are my observations in my locale and may not be necessarily applicable to other places, people.

Continuing from the last post...... Musings to Amuse the self and others.....

• The Zebra crossing is meant for the zebras, for pedestrians, anywhere it is a zebra crossing.
• And talking about zebra crossings, one can also find a zebra crossing that finishes onto a barricade or side rail 😄
• The two-wheelers can park anywhere, in spite of the "No Parking" sign while the 4-wheelers would get fined 🙄
• The bicycles are excused from all traffic rules. They can pop up from anywhere without any warning. They can change lanes at will. At night all drivers are advised to wear night vision so that cyclist can be spotted from far 🤓.
• When there is a traffic jam or slow-moving traffic, two-wheelers freely use the footpath to avoid the traffic. The pedestrians are expected to give way lest they get overrun.
• When any mishap happens, the bigger vehicle is always at fault, except where the bigger vehicles are buses.
• In recent years, one finds that when a vehicle is taking a right turn, the driver virtually switches himself/herself to left-hand drive and lands in the lane of the opposite traffic. Of course, they do not have any remorse about that, and if the other driver honks as a natural reaction, it is returned with a cold stare. 🤨
• The older vehicle has to struggle with the factory-fitted dim headlights/foglamps, whereas the newer version of the same model of the vehicle flaunts lights that are as bright as tube lights almosting blinding the opposite side driver.
• The older vehicles are periodically audited for fixing color films on the glass windows, and many a time made to remove, citing reasons that they are too dark. Whereas the newer versions of the same car model have factory-fitted tinted glass, which can be dark.
• Video games are so popular that most two-wheeler drivers believe that they have a reset button for their life or more than one life.😇.
• Most roads give the driver and the passengers a cross-country experience, thus preventing the driver from accidentally falling asleep😴.

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Musings of a driver

Disclaimer: The following are my observations in my locale and may not be necessarily applicable to other places, people.

• Traffic rules are only applicable between 8am and 8pm; the rest of the time, it is optional
• In any mishap, the bigger vehicle is always at fault.
• Pedestrians have higher priority on the road than vehicles.
• One can put all kinds of boards and stickers on the vehicle, especially cars like 'chairman', 'Manager-X bank', 'baby on board', 'Member - ', etc, and expect other vehicles to give way. I am thinking of putting a sticker 'Citizen'!
• One mostly sees 'Army' sticker, but no Navy or Air Force 🤔
• It is wise to have a two-wheeler so that one can avoid traffic blocks, hence people buy 4 wheelers and park them in their house and drive around in a two-wheeler.
• The high no. of two-wheelers on the road is like an unorganized swarm of bees, and the prime cause of traffic snarls and slow-moving traffic.
• There is an immediate need to create an online, regularly updated handbook of traffic signals so that motorists can know at which signals there is free left, whether the right turn starts at the beginning of the straight signal or towards the end, and many such… This should be made mandatory for getting a license 😇
• For two-wheelers, the pillion rider would show the hand signals; however, the driver does not have to comply and can drive using his free will.
• When driving behind a two-wheeler, it is important to be focused in observing the head of the two-wheeler driver to speculate whether they will turn left or right.

To be continued.......

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