Right & Left

[mrabe at artic.edu]

A foot note prompted by the engrossing field-report by Peter Claus:
...
>During a fieldwork methodology workshop in India we made video of
>each of the stages of a wedding as practiced by Telugu-speaking
>Gollas (pastoralists) living in Karnataka.  During the stage when
>the couple is washed with turmeric, and then playfully smear
>large handfuls of turmeric on one another (the act resembling
>throwing a pie in someone's face!) the bride sits on the groom's
>right.  Later, as Dr. Bapat observed, after the garlanding, she
>stands to his left.
...
>They were indeed aware of it and laughed at our interest in the
>matter.  We suggested our interpretation of why it was done like
>it was.  They laughed again, harder.  The reason THEY gave was
>that with the bride on the groom's right, he could reach his
>right arm around her back and hold her firmly while he pasted her
>in the face with a handful of the turmeric!  Their explanation at
>first appeared purely practical: he could control (overcome) her
>better...*

* In much the same vein, but in total seriousness, my Sanskrit professor
(a Brahman, Aryasamajist Panjabi) once confided to his chelas that the
wife's appointed place at her husband's left side originated in bed: the
better for right-handed men to make love...


My final comment on this thread (promise):
        the best student response to slide projections of ardhanArIzvara
icons, and to the question of why the female invariably occupies the left
half came from a senior-citizen auditor: instantly she shot back, "because
the heart is on the left."