A moonlight dinner

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             Yes, the whole family had a gr8 time yesterday night having our dinner on the terrace with moonlight. Chitra poournami is day when ppl usually prepare mixed rice (kalandha sadam) and have their dinner in the moonlight. Don't know the reason behind it, but it was really amazing. So we carried mats , food , camera to terrace. Sanja on her part brought along her kutti papa. First Sanja had her share of Curd rice, looking at the stars, the big moon, aeroplanes then we all settled down for dinner.
              The dinner itself was a simple affair - Chappathis, Thovayal( Chutney like), Milagu kozambu sadam, curd rice and of course papads. Sanja wanted her papads in a plate and kept creating menace by walking over to each dish and trying ti imitate us by serving food. She poured the curd on the mats and went off . After the dinner, we spent time chatting and asking Sanja to perform her dance, song etc.. We video recording the entire show and eagerly awaiting its telecast :).
              As a side note here is the importance of Chitra Pournami. This day is the day when Chitragupta , assistant of God Yama ( God of death), looks at our karma balance. Elders in home advise that on this particular day we must never utter a lie or steal things as they get recorded in our Karma book. My maternal grandmother used to go 108 rounds around the Peepal tree on this day praying to the Gods. To maintain the count, ppl have 108 pencils, some savouries (like mulagu vadai) or sweets lik laddoos which are later distributed as prasadams. 
I dont know about other significance of this day. So if someone out there knows please share it here.

Well signing off with a happy and contented smile, at least we were able to follow the tradition to a certain extent .

Comments

  1. GeekApril 29, 2010 at 1:02 PM

    Well Chitarai Pournami is the Birthday of Chitr Gupta..

    I think you missed out that.. We should have cut a cake and maskafyied him .... so that he will write something good on our balance sheets

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  2. GeekApril 29, 2010 at 1:06 PM

    Chitra Pournami Day falls on the full moon day in the month of Chitirai (April – May). The day is dedicated to Chitragupta, the official assistant of Lord Yama. This day is considered as Chitragupta’s Birthday.Chitragupta, the first assistant of Lord Yama, is the one who keeps record of the good and bad deeds of human beings on earth. After death, when one reaches the abode of yama, it is he who tallies the good and bad deeds and declares it to Yama. Therefore, the day is dedicated to Chitragupta and devotees pray to him to forgive their sins.
    There is only one temple in South India for Chitragupta at Kancheepuram. Another important event associated with Chitra Pournami, involves Lord Indra, the king of Gods, and his Guru Brihaspati. Once Indra and Brihaspati had an altercation, and the Guru stopped advising his pupil. Without the sound counsel of his Guru, Indra committed numerous sins. Finally, when Brihaspati relented and took up his duty. He then advised Indra to undertake a pilgrimage to the earth to alleviate the burden of sins committed by him in his absence.

    One day during his pilgrimage, Indra had a sudden realization that he has been redeemed from his sins. He looked around and noticed a Shiva lingam under a Kadamba tree. He was sure that it was Lord Shiva who had helped him in alleviating his sins. He decided to worship the Lingam and to his surprise he found golden lotus in a nearby pond. He prayed to Shiva by offering the golden lotus. This happened on a Chitra Pournami day and the place was Madurai in Tamil Nadu. And he had a temple constructed at the spot. That spot is present-day Madurai in South India with its Meenakshi temple. In remembrance of this event, in the Madurai Meenakshi temple, a Devendra Pooja is observed on Chitra Pournami day.

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