Memories of Madi

 Personal practices

Madi

In earlier times, the mistress of the house, or the lady that handles the pujai and/or the kitchen would observe 'madi' or a purification process. While this was very strictly observed on pujai and other religious occasions, they were even incorporated in the daily rituals of women in orthodox homes. 

Madi meant remaining pure and untouched by others. It invariably started with the ritual bath, often very early in the morning. It also meant wearing 'madi clothes' or wearing clothes that were washed and dried separately, untouched by the hands of other members of the family. These would be washed by the women who would wear them, and they would be washed by her only after she has taken a bath.

The madi clothes for special occasions would be washed and put out to dry by women preferably after a a head bath, and most certainly before the first big meal of the day. 

The madi clothes ritual would be incomplete without mention of the madi kodi and the madi kolu/kuchi/stick. The madi kodi used to be clothes lines up close to the ceiling in balconies or sometimes even in the kitchen. There on the kodi far above the heads of all members of the family, the madi clothes would be put to dry, removed from any fear of being touched by human hands.

The madi kuchi/kolu would be a bamboo stick/pole - an important part of an orthodox household - which the woman of the house would use to put the washed clothes on the madi kodi. The spreading of a sari or dhoti on the madi kodi with the help of a kuchi was a skill in itself. The women would deftly fold and pleat the wet sari, balance it on the tip of the kuchi and then skilfully drape it over the kodi, before finally spreading it neatly all over it. I can tell you from experience it takes some practice. And believe, it is not for someone with vertigo!

When they were dry, she herself would remove them from the line and keep them aside in a bag (not cloth bag, only plastic) out of reach of others. My grandmother and others of her generation would not even do that. They believed madi clothes cannot be saved from impurity by packing them in bags. So their daily clothes were always waving breezily up there in those madi clotheslines and every moring, before going for a bath, they would neatly pick up their set of clothes for the day off the kodi using the kuchi and carry the pole into the bathroom with clothes balancing on its tip!

Half a century back, almost every homemaker observed madi every day at least until she completed the cooking of the lunch meal, and the daily puja and the offering of the food to the gods. Women would give up their madi after they had lunch and the more orthodox women would continue their madi until their dinner, which would be early, around 7 pm.

While observing madi, women would not touch or allow other people to touch them, or their clothes. Even children would be kept at a distance. Some of my earliest memories are of my extremely orthodox grandmother not allowing me too close and pushing me away by placing her hand on my head. 

Women observing madi would not lie on a bed or cot during the day. Nor would they use a pillow. They would prefer a traditional grass/plastic mat on the floor with a wooden plank for pillow. 

This extensive madi process has now almost faded away.

My generation observed a general routine of cleanliness on all days: taking a bath before cooking the main meal of the day, and handling the deity figurines in the puja space being the extent of the routine.

For puja days, I would try to wear a new set of clothes (there were always some waiting to be worn) or I would wash and dry a fairly nice, bright sari-set a day before the puja to be worn while working in the kithcen and doing puja the next day.

Nowadays, I don't even do that. I just pick out a set of washed clothes from my cupboard. The keyword is cleanliness.