Kashmir Shaivism

[Madhav Deshpande]

The passage cited by Ganesan need not indicate a female earring.  The
kings and other folks in the society used to wear Kundalas, the
ear-rings.  Wearing an earring was a common thing for Pandits in
Maharashtra until my grand-father's time.  There are instances of kings
honoring a Pandit with a gift of an earring ( = bhikbaaLii in Marathi).
Male children have their ears pierced in Maharashtra to this day.  My ears
were pierced as a child and this came handy when I acted in zaakuntalam
and maalavikaagnimitram as the king (during my college days in Pune), and
I had to wear the Kundalas.  I have a photograph of myself as Duzyanta to
prove it.
        Best,
                                Madhav Deshpande

On Sat, 5 Dec 1998, N. Ganesan wrote:

> *The Nataraja sports a female earring (kundala) in his left ear
> * and this is the only give away of its female aspect.
>
>   Tevaram (640 AD) canon starts with the words -
>    "tOTu uTaiya ceviyan2" - He who sports kuNDala
>    in his ear.
>
>   Regards,
>   N. Ganesan
>
>
>
>
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