Today, in Tamilnadu, Akshaya Thrithiyai (Dhantharas) day is being celebrated very lavishly. Every family is trying to procure some bit of precious metal - Gold or Silver - or even Covering metal ornament ! This day is becoming famous for the past three years and heavy media hype is made!
That Krishna came to have food after Draupathi cleaned her "Akshaya" vessel -during their Vanavasam - and that Krishna's hunger was fed with a single food grain - which in turn turned food for all the living beings - is supposed to have been taken place on this Thirthiyai following Chitra Amavasya!
This day is auspicious for purchasing - movable and immovable assets - including Gold / vehicles / properties; Manjal / Kunkumam - for Sowbagyam; Uppu (salt ) - for presperity; Kaikkuthal arisi - to eradicate food shortage;
also auspicious day to pay Guru dakshina / commence new ventures.
This day is celebrated by Buddists & Muslims also. Regionally some Keralites also showing interest ... cutting across religeous and regional lines ....
For Non-believers, there is a comforting information:
Last year, a political Party filed all its nominations on this day, and lost all the candidates in an Election!
Theethum Nandrum pirar thara vaara ..
Good and bad do not come through outside sources ..
Good interpretation for Akshaya Trithiyay and superstition...
But one thing.... just because you don't understand the meaning of something, do not call it superstition.......
Somebody's belief can look as superstition to you, whereas your belief can be a superstition to other person....
A person like "Kamalhassan" who says he does not believe in God and superstition has "Car Chase / Bike Chase " sequence during the climax or stages leading to the climax, in most of his movies . To name a few...
In my opinion, the "Car Chase / Bike Chase " is just a mere cinema formula.
Many movies have standard formulas: fights in horses, barrels exploding in fire / gun shot and a poor hero, well dressed in shoes, visiting the costliest bar in town to dance with the females there...
that is the same thing iam saying to you. just like " beauty is in the eyes of beholder", belief is also in the blood of the believer...
all i wanted to say is that , nothing in this world is superstitious. may be a lack of understanding of other's belief.
regarding kamalhassan's movie, our people have added, avvai shanmugi . one can also add Michael madhana kamarajan.. To be frank kamalhassan's all recent comedy releases in the last decade or so have not failed at the BO if not doing extremely well. and Majority of these comedies have chasing sequences. why then chase sequences in all these films
and of late the serious films to have fared well at the box office have been Devar Magan, Virumaandi and Indian(note that Indian too did have a chase sequence in the End)....
To my knowledge,Akshaya thrithiyai,Aadi kondattam,etc. are just business promotion techniques discovered by our T.Nagar people like fathers day,mothers day,valentines day,etc by western business people because they don't have festivals like us.During Christmas to new year only they do mass purchases.
But in Akshaya thrithiyai is a auspicious day for north Indians to start education( Vidhyarambam) and Krishna's cousin Balarama's birthday.
Akshaya trithyai , true to what you have said , has been lately used by our T. Nagar people to cash in on people's belief in Luck.
But , i beg to differ. It is even popular in south atleast with a section of People (Brahmans). i have known Akshaya trithyay for long , for my mother used to purchase one form of gold or the other on Akshaya thrithyay. This tradition, she has said that has been handed over to her by her mother in law( My Grand Mother)
Good thread on the Akshaya Thrithiyai...Actually I came to know about such a day only three or four years back, when one of my friend said shes going home soon becuase she wants to go and buy a gold coin. When asked why, she said its akshya thrithiyai...and in the last two years it has become a business concept (probably like me, the Tnagar people also heard about it only two three years back..-:) )
What I understood from this day is, anything started/bought on this day, will prosper. As SPS wrote, even buying salt is good(though we never buy/bought anything on that day. Probably we would have bought a water can on that day...heheh..) I think earlier it was known to only a few people and the ads have made it popular amoung the masses. And since people are only behind money, material things, they go for the costliest thing , GOLD on that day. becuase even today gold is the dream of many middle class people. To some extent I too feel its superstitious as I too, like SPS,belive that Theedum nandrum pirar thara vaaraa...why dont people go and donate a few hundreds to an orphanage on that day? donating indirectly means that you have lots to offer others, which means you will have more. But our people wont do that....becuase we are too materialistic to understand the concept our ancestors have created...
> Chennai heat, chennai cold, chennai Air, chennai water yella > time-layum naan deactivate aagaama activa-adhaan iruppane. However, I > read mails while I sleep (i.e.) while I am in my office.
Adhu thane parten? vera edhoo forum le active nu teriyume... ipo kuda thokathile thane mail anupareenga?
Athu eppadi? naan ninaichen neenga sollitteega....In fact, one of the world's biggest marketing successes, I would say, is the Aadi thallupadi. In a month when auspicious (home) events do not take place [but a lot of temple festivals, esp. Amman Kovil festivals take place], the sales of silk sarees definitely takes a beating. And a discount was a normal business tactic to encourage sales. But marketing it in such a scale to make it the month when most of the textile purchases take place was a phenomenal change. Think, there are people who take new dress for Pongal 2005 in the Aadi discount of 2004.
Balarama's birthday was on Akshaya Thrithiyai - that's news for me.