Restrictions Re-solved

 Why are there so very many restrictions on eating and drinking during the month of Shravana? Actually, such restrictions are followed even during the Navaratri that lead to the Dasara festival. Such restrictions are taken seriously, too, so much so that a lady from the non-teaching faculty in one of the PG centres for M. A. (English) would never wear chappals nor utter a single word during the Navratri days.

Similarly, on the no-moon Amavasya day just before the Shravan begins, the whole day, people seem to eat non-veg and drink liqueur almost as if to top up for the thirty days to follow as during Shravan, they do not eat non-veg nor drink alcohol.

Equally excluded from the kitchen are onions and garlic. Why must there be all such restrictions? Why such customs? One of the reasons could be that the stomach cannot digest heavy food, given the seasonal climactic changes.

Yet another possible reason could be that this is mostly the period of reproduction for most fowls, fish and animals. May be, such restrictions thus help in the  great chain of being, in the natural/normal food cycle. May be, these kind of rules take the ordinary individual closer to nature and to his/her self which would otherwise be obsessed with the pleasure principle alone.

I would not know for sure. Anyways, I am a pure veg and a 'total teetotaler'. For me, such restrictions exist only as far as the consumption of onions/garlic goes. During the Chaturmas, beginning with the  Dev-shayani/Ashadh Ekadashi till the Dev-utthan/Kartik Ekadashi, no onions/garlic for me so as to continue the family tradition in honour of my mother as she hailed from Pandharpur. 

Well, beyond my love and respect for my mother, in my opinion, such practices would help in channelising the mind in habit formation as well. A sense of self control that emerges from following such restrictions leads to self respect as well.

In other words, instead of looking at such customs as religious or cultural interference in the "I, me, my" space or as societal control over individual freedom, why not re-solve restrictions with a creative, thinking, and open mindset?

Pratima@I have never understood the 'modernity' involved in consciously eating onions/garlic/non-veg during festivals such as Ganesh Chaturthi or Dasara or Diwali. True, every individual is free to choose his/her food, and as many people, as many possibilities of food/drink/dress, etc, which in my opinion are absolutely basic themes, and by now discussed ad infinitum and ad nauseaum, even to keep on arguing about them.

 Yet, I do love to remember that animals, whom we oh-so-very-scientifically consider our inferiors, naturally follow many such restrictions! Do not you believe me? Well watch the Discovery or the Animal Planet Channel. Better still, read up or ask a biology/zoology/marine biology expert. 

You would be surprised to know how 'evolved' the so-called animals are when it comes to avoiding self-indulgence, and preferring instead a sociable togetherness!