Haribol, I was wondering what the standard was for dressing Shrimati Radharani does her hair have to be covered? when i dress radha sari style i don't cover her hair with the chundari but make sure she's wearing a larger crown that properly cover her head, and was wondering if this was acceptable. I've noticed at ISKCON bangalore they don't cover radha's hair but i think this more of a cultural thing as most traditional south indian temples don't cover the hair of female deities, also i think South Indian brides don't cover thier hair. I personally like the style the dress radha at ISKCON Bangalore with all the flowers in her hair (i just posted some pics)
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Re: Dressing Style
Sat, July 7, 2007 - 7:46 PMthe standard is to usually have her head covered :)
even when we put a sari here, we use the palloo to cover her head as well as adding a crown,
and u are quite correct it is a very south indian thing, for females to not have their heads covered, even when entering the temples a southern woman is not going to do it. brides either. neither the deities. except for iskcon, usually the head of radharani is covered, even in south india. except for bangalore maybe, i havent been there in a while....
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Re: Dressing Style
Sun, July 8, 2007 - 6:09 AMSo does this also apply to women coveing their head on the altar. I don't see it as necessary but really more of an impedement. Even the south's sari styles for women don't have the head covered. I was told because only lowcaste and servants cover their heads. Also in the north it is mainly do to Muslim influence that the women cover their heads. -
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Re: Dressing Style
Sun, July 8, 2007 - 12:38 PMSome of the outfits i have don't look right when dressed the traditional way with the chundari just draped over radha's head. Because of the had positioning of my radha bengali style sari dosn't look right so i usually drape it gujarati style with the cheru draped over the front of her right shoulder, so there's usually not enough fabric to cover her head. i might use a second piece of fabric to cover her head like guju brides do. -
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Sun, July 8, 2007 - 7:08 PMSo being all from south India and everything, Manu prabhu is right. More than the head covered, the single braid of hair is more of a sign of chastisty. Loose hair is most frowned upon...Deities of goddesses in south India usually wear crowns (the helmet style), and with this, the hair line shows, but not much more. They don't need a head cover, nor do They wear anything like tiaras, or chandrikas, as ISKCON deities do.
With ISKCON, the deities are dressed in more versatile ways. I think the style of dressing should reflect some degree of local variation. The shilpa and natya shastras for sculpture and dance have a considerable amount of leeway for local ideas of esthetics. Most of Indian sculpture and dance have the same sanskrit manuals. We can see even in ISKCON, some European temples have more European style outfits (lace collars, etc). So this is a perfect example of adaptation...
The shastras don't mention Srimati Radharani as covering Her head/hair. They mention Her hair as a long snake-like braid, and Her head as covered in jewels. If anyone has more references for this, please share! I also think that is deities in a temple have always been dressed a certain way, it should be maintained, even is slight changes are made over time (inevitably). The whole mood of deity worship in ISKCON is to maintain what Srila Prabhupada gave us, keeping the essence, and having deity worship support preaching...
On a side note, I have seen the Bangalore deities about 4+ years ago. I wasn't very inspired by Them in person. I have a feeling it's the way Their eyes are painted, Their pupils don't make eye contact when you take darshan. Other than that, I think They are always dressed the same way, and the garlands are professionally made (which is good, but sometimes, too pristine and perfect isn't always good). Krsnachandra never wears turbans, as do Gaura Nitai and Krsna Balaram, which is sad :-( All the deities all wear the same jewelry with the same outfit (Krsnachandra, Krsna, Balaram, Gaura and Nitai all wear exactly the same necklaces!)... Not meaning to be offensive or criticize unnecessarily, but just what I notice from their darshan...
If anyone has other thoughts on this, I'd love to hear them. Sorry for rambling. Hare Krsna!
SriRKd
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Re: Dressing Style
Sun, July 8, 2007 - 7:10 PMManu prabhu, by "being all from south India and everything" I was referring to myself! Sorry if you took offense to it! None intended!
SriRKd -
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Re: Dressing Style
Sun, July 8, 2007 - 8:38 PMnone taken prabhu ji :)
and thanks for that post and its information:)
i agree about the bangalore temple (without offense intended) those deities dont inspire me either, or at least the way they are dressed. i prefer a little more variety and personality. and definately turbans!!!!
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Sun, July 8, 2007 - 10:10 PMI must admit i also don't care too much for thier dressing style its a bit too staged looking for my taste (especially Radha's pallu). Although the jewelery is nice it is a bit too monotanous even the same peacock fan is used on krishna chandra every day.There is one pic in the archives of thier site that shows the deities in turbans, mind you the turbans aren't the greatest.
I've always liked the style of south Indian deity worship withs lots of jasmine garlands, opulent silk outfits etc. which is why i liked the style of the flowers in radha's hair -
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Re: Dressing Style
Mon, July 9, 2007 - 3:54 AMHaribol prabhu,
If you want more of the hair to show, you can put the veil lower, and so it still shows from the sides, but little or none of it is visible on top of Her head. I did that this sunday (check my photo album for the day darshan). Also, in Mayapur, it was done once with the all gold outfit. Srimati Radharani looked like a queen!
I remember the turbans now that you mention it. They looked like the pre-fab Swami Narayan style turbans if I'm not mistaken. Maybe the temple has a very strong head pujari who wants everything to look the same all the time. He he he!
Hare Krsna!
SriRKd -
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Re: Dressing Style
Mon, July 9, 2007 - 5:52 AMHaribol Prabhu!
Indeed, just like the Manor, I wish they would change their darshans even a little bit sometimes :o( Radharani always has a mukut on, never chandrika (then again, these are the deities that have been carved with clothes on, incl crowns) but always the same type of dress, same shringar, and same garlands with the white c'mums. Festival days are always nice though, such opulent arrangments are made for their Lordships, esp when Radharani wears saree style, very nice!
I also love south Indian deity worship, esp the arati rituals, so rich in variety! The black granite murti's with their long dresses and silver/gold shringar look just amazing!
btw Krishna Prabhu, do you have that pic of Mayapuri Radharani with the gold outfit?
Haribol
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Re: Dressing Style
Mon, July 9, 2007 - 5:18 PMCheck out the Arcana gallery. I posted two pics of Radharani in Mayapur in the gold outfit I mentioned.
Hare Krsna!
SriRKd
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Mon, July 9, 2007 - 6:19 PMYou know now that I am thinking about it. The Bangalore deities look very much like Laxmi Vishnu even down to the hastam on Radharani's right hand. If you have ever seen the utsav deities that they take out on parade around the temple they look very much like the deities in Bangalore. I just think that it is a different mood, more with the kingly Vishnu side serving as servant rather than rasa with Krishna in a more intimate mood than servant. Just my observation I could be(and most likely am) wrong. -
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Mon, July 9, 2007 - 6:38 PMIt's true...the Bangalore deities are worshipped in the south Indian mood....right down to the garlands, the ornaments, and even the processions, and veshas used for the little deities on festivals...
The other thing about these deities is that They are cast in metal. Metal isn't meant to be made into large scale deities (as far as I have seen in south India). The same sculptors who made these deities later made the Pancatattva in Mayapur. I think the Mayapur deities look better, esp Their eyes. I visited this sculptor in Kumbakonam, and even saw the wax copies of the Pancatattva before They were cast. I wasn't really a devotee then, but I guess I can say I have seen the Mayapur Pancatattva, without going to Mayapur! So They are very kind...
Hare Krsna!
SriRKd -
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Re: Dressing Style
Wed, July 11, 2007 - 6:05 AMHaribol Prabhujis !!!
It´s funny I lived in Bangalore for one year and always felt the exaclty same way about the deities in the "ISKCON" temple, but I never mentioned it because I was afraid to be misunderstood... -
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Wed, July 11, 2007 - 6:18 AMBut anyways I like the clothing and the flowers in Radha´s hair... Maybe as a BN dancer and south india lover I am biased...
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Wed, July 11, 2007 - 7:24 PMWell there is nothing wrong with it as some might think, it is just different than we are used to. Kinda like Indian food and Cajun Food, which speaking of if anyone is in Louisiana in October I will be entering the first veggie gumbo at the Gumbo Festival stop by and have some:)
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Re: Dressing Style
Wed, July 18, 2007 - 4:54 PMI posted a picture of the Utsav deity showing the hastam and padaam if anyone is interested. Actually the whole deity is covered.
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