[sri ramanuja] 'Saala-GrAmam'.

November 26, 2006

The correspondent is right in pointing out that not all of the marine fossils are held to be sacred, but I was speaking only of the (marine pre-coral fossil of) dvAravatee (found on offshore Dvaarakaa). Besides the dvAravatee, the conch shells (both the vaamaavarta 'iDam-puri' left-spiralled and dakshinaavarta 'valam-puri' right-spiralled) are also included in the list of objets de sacre (sacred objects) which the Vidura-neeti requires to be kept in every household.

As for the 'Saala-grAmam' gathered from river Gandaki, the Puranam describes it as 'jalajam' (~ as found in water streams), as different from 'sthalajam' (~ as found on soil surface). The latter is found in the now-defunct course of the sacred river sarasvatee, near Jaisalmer in Rajasthan, along the Indo-pak border, and also in areas surrounding Ariyalur in TamilNadu which was covered by the Tethys sea of geological peiods. (I have a spiral one of deep pink colour from Jaisalmer, and one mustard-seed in colour from Ariyalur.) The Ariyalur finds are being massively exploited and mindlessly calcified in the thriving cement industry units which abound in the area.

aDiyEn rAmAnuja-dAsan,

tirumanjanam Sundara Rajan

(Srirangam).

acharyatvsr (AT) hotmail (DOT) com

> ramanuja

> RE: [sri ramanuja] . 'Saala-GrAmam'.

> Sat, 25 Nov 2006 11:29:50 +0000

> Dear Sriman Sunderrajan,

Thank you for your informative article on the Salagrama Silas. It is intersting to note that the name Baramullah is a corruption of the term Varaha Moolam. There are other names in Kashmir which allude to Lord Vishnu viz. Ananth Nag, Shesh Nag etc

Though such fossils are available in many places beyond the Gandaki river basin, probably only those collected from the Gandaki river basin are said to be fit for worship and are called Salagramams. Is it not so?

Actually the coral etc from the sea are all fossils and the ocean is a veritable mine for fossils. All such fossils are not Salagrama Silas.

> Adiyen,

> Dasan,

> Ramanujam