VJG Niche Notes

           Rome exceeds all descriptions and classifications. Undoubtedly, the city is a world of incessant noise, intermingling scenes, landscapes and faces, and is almost an infernal affair: chaotic, yet enveloping. While strolling amongst evocative ruins, occasionally splashed with graffiti, or peeking through a shop window to check on the latest fashion, you will be entirely enthralled. Rome’s excessive eclecticism is probably best mirrored in the city’s outer diversity. Here you can, for example, admire structures by 17th-century architect Bernini, and simultaneously, upon turning around, bump into an Egyptian obelisk.

             Perhaps this is the city which best deserves to be named ‘the cradle’ of Western civilisation due to the numerous influences, epochs and cultural trends, as well as the large number of learned men who have happened to pass through, occasionally leaving pieces of what would later be named ‘world heritage’. Its colossal structures, regardless of the era to which they date back, form a strangely heterogeneous setting, a reminder that the ‘Eternal City’ has been through centuries of continued heights. Rome’s most distant past, which was dominated by slaves, gladiators, the praise of citizenship, the emergence of law, high art and imported pagan deities, has long been a site where cultures have intermingled.


          An even more grand chapter in the city’s history is the spiritual reign of the Vatican, which has, in a way, also created an architectural trend within Rome. Having cleared the ancient ruins and taking the precious marble off the Roman temples for their new projects, the Vatican authorities shaped the par excellence Renaissance splendour, meanwhile incorporating olden structures into new ones. Michelangelo was asked, for example, to transform the Baths of Diocletian into a Catholic temple. Still, the great Roman ruins, such as the Colosseum and the Roman Forum, have remained untouched by the ambitions of later architects, and recent guides even include reconstructions of these largely dismembered structures, thus enabling you to view them in their original splendour.


            When it comes to museums and palazzos, Rome is the place to be. Culturally eclectic, the city is surprisingly consistent in its care for restored objects and pieces of heritage. Other than that, your experience of the city might be plagued by the endless lines outside museums and attractions, with ticket purchase in advance still being an uncommon practise. Also, while a half-an-hour wait at the doors of the Galleria Borghese was considered immense luck in older times, recently a policy to issue passes and combination tickets has made things easier. However, a wait at the Palatine and Forum Museum, the Palazzo Altemps and the Domus Aurea may be unavoidable.

                      While Rome seems to offer an endless list of newer and more exciting attractions, there are some classic cultural landmarks, which are to be explored by all means. One must visit the world’s largest church, St Peter’s Basilica with its enormous dome, along with the buildings at the historic Via della Conciliazione and the evocative Piazza San Pietro. A further must is the Sistine Chapel, decorated by Botticelli and Michelangelo, as well as the 4th-Century San Giovanni Cathedral and Baptistery in Laterano, together with the lavish Palazzo Lateranense, Scala Santa and the Hospital of San Giovanni. Other than that, significant structures representing eras of heritage and development are the church of San Paolo fuori le mura, completed in the 5th Century, and the Santa Maria Maggiore , boasting Rome’s tallest bell tower. The Vatican Museums, a group featuring the Egyptian Museum, the Ethnological Museum, the Painting Gallery and the Raffaello Rooms, contain thousands of works of art collected by Popes over the centuries, while the 15th Century-founded Capitoline Museum houses discoveries tracing the entire history of Rome, from antique sculptures to the most recent paintings.

                Thali is Lord Brahma. Thali is Lord Shiva. That is to say Thali is both creator and destroyer. When tied to a girl’s neck, thali promotes her to wifehood and when removed from her neck it demotes her to widowhood.Thali simply means a pendant. Suspended from a strong yellow string and tied to the bride’s neck on the auspicious hour of the marriage day, the thali is a symbol – an insignia that proclaims to the world that the wearer is married. She is someone’s property to be respected thereafter and not to be ogled at anymore.
                In Hinduism, when a girl gets married she adorns certain jewelry and observes special customs to make obvious her marital status. Just as a many of you wear the wedding ring after marriage, the married Hindu girl, according to the tradition, has to wear the 'mangalsutra,' bangles, nose and toe rings and a red bindi or apply 'kumkum' or vermilion on her forehead symbolizing not only her rite of passage from a girl to a married woman but also her heightened position in society as an adult who is respected and is capable of running a household, which is, in a way, the microcosm of the society at large.
            Thali is the guardian of the wearer; a sort of fence as the Tamil saying goes. To every woman thali is precious, as precious as her loving husband. Temple goers invariably touch their thali with the Kumkum offered by poojaris as prasad.
          On the wedding day, a yellow thread is prepared by using turmeric paste and is tied around the bride's neck with three knots during the marriage ceremony while the priest recites Vedic hymns and partakes in prayers. In some customs, the groom ties the first knot and his sisters tie the other two knots. Later, the mangalsutra may be restrung on some auspicious day in the form of a necklace made of gold and black beads strung together on one or two yellow threads or gold chains with an elaborate pendant of gold or diamond. In an arranged marriage, the design of mangalsutra is usually chosen by the groom's family in keeping with their customs.
          The mangalsutra, worn by most married Hindu women across India, is known differently in different parts of the country - 'thaali', 'thaaly', 'pustelu', 'maangalyam' or 'mangalsutram' in the southern states of India and 'mangalsutra' in the northern states. Each black bead in the mangalsutra is believed to have divine powers that protect the married couple from the evil eye and is believed to safeguard the life of the husband. Hindu women are extremely superstitious about the mangalsutra. If it breaks or gets lost it is considered ominous.   Therefore, the Mangalsutra is much more than a piece of fancy jewelry, but a sacred necklace of love, trust and marital happiness of a Hindu couple - a vital symbol of wedlock.
             With changing times and varying needs of women, especially in the metropolis, who are no longer stay-home wives, the concept of wearing a mangalsutra has changed visibly. Now, it is more of a fashion than a symbol of marriage. Rarely does a working woman don a mangalsutra over her trendy business suits. Also, there is a dramatic change in the style and make of the mangalsutra these days. Previously, women wore heavy and elaborate gold mangalsutras, but now, the trend is to wear short, sleek and single string ones with small designer diamond pendants. However, the black beads remain to ward off the evil and uphold the sanctity of the institution of marriage.