Ancient Tamil community divides the women’s life into eight phases according to her age. Our ancestors describe it based on the experience gained by them on each phases of women’s life.
Period from birth to till 7 years is termed as Paethai. From 8 to 11 years, the phase is termed as pethumbai. From 12 to 13 years, the phase is termed as mangai. From 14 to till 19 years, the phase is termed as madanthai. 20 to 25 years is termed as arivai. 26 years to 31 years, phase is termed as therivai. From 32 years to till 40 years, the women’s are termed as paerilam penkal and beyond 40 years they are termed as viruththai.
Let us see the physiological facts and the Siththars explanation for the phase of mangai which involves the age of 12 to 13 years. During this period, normal girl attains puberty which is termed as poopeithal. Even though this is physiological change in a body, it may also cause some pschycological mystification. Hence, this is the period in which parents should give more attention to their girl children.
This physiological change of poopeithal or first time menses may get delayed for some girls or may not happen at all. This delaying process in turn delays the process of further physiological changes. In modern allopathy medicine, there are lots of medicinal cure for this problem. However, these medicines may cause side effects.
This delay in attaining puberty may cause pschycological stress to that girl children and concerned parents. For this problem, Agathiyar gives simple cure in his book “Agathiyar Paripooranam’, as follows:
போமப்பா யின்னமொரு புதுமைகேளு
poamappa yinnamoru puthumaikaelu
பெண்களிலே புத்தியறியா திருந்தால்
penkalilae puththiyariyaa thirunthaal
நாமப்பா சொல்லுகிறோங் காரணந்தன்னை
naamappaa sollukiroang kaarananthannai
நாட்டமுடன் வித்துநீர் யிறக்கிக்கொண்டு
naattamudan viththuneer yirakkikondu
ஓமப்பா பெருங்காய முரைத்துக்கொண்டால்
oamappaa perungaaya muraiththukkondaal
உத்தமனே பெண்ருதுவாய் உண்மையாகும்
uththamanae penruthuvaai unmaiyaakum.
- அகத்தியர் (Agathiyar)
Agathiyar says that, the delay in puberty is due to downfall of viththuu neer. Accorting to the modern medical science, we can correlate viththu neer to the hormones. To get cure, for this problem, give the grinded Asafoetida (perungayam) to those girls.
Original – www.siththarkal.com
Translated by Lalithambika Rajasekaran
