RELIGIOUS PRACTICES OF KASHMIRI HINDUS

Deyjehuor its Meaning and its implied view of Kashmiri Marriage

AUM ParamaSivAaya NammaHa! AUM BhairVAaya NammaHa!
by Rabinder Koul

Introduction
As part of Kashmiri marriage tradition Deyjehuor is perhaps the most important of Kashmiri Bride’s AabhUushan (Jewelry). Commonly, we say, it is supposed to be a symbol of marriage for the Kashmiri Ladies. It definitely serves that purpose, but why this symbol should have been construed to stand for the symbol of marriage, as against the “Sindhoor” or “Mangala-Soutra” used by almost every other population following Vedic or Aagamic lineage?  The answer to this lays in the effort of our ancestors to encapsulate the divine nature of reality in the parallels they found in the routine daily life. In effect the models of existence as experienced by them got incorporated in a very deep way in ethical, moral and social codes of daily life. In a certain sense it goes far beyond the present day analog we find on printed T-shirts our generations wear. (For example often we see the T-shirts worn not only by scholars but also by other young/old people on which are printed the equations of Physics, or some new concepts in Biology or Chemistry etc..) 

I would like to point out that the roots of this symbol, Deyjehuor, are in the Spiritual experience of a Yogi, in YAamla (union) of Siva and its Shaktee, which are non-distinct from each other. To understand this clearly, I will follow the following seven steps. In the first step,

1. The shape of Deyjehuor will be explained for those who may not have noticed it or may not have seen it. After that 
2.  A short introduction to categories of Advaitic-Siva a-la PratyabhijnyAana will be provided. Following that we will,
3.  Introduce the notions of the four states of consciousness/existence. And relate highest state to the state of ParamaSiva and the categories of PratyabhijnyAana. We will next,
4.  Introduce the notion of Kundalini, functional aspects of Kundalini, its states and relate it to Vimarsini/Shaktee. And its relation to highest state of existence. Next we will,
5.  Introduce Chakras and Bindu the main spiritual centers of the microcosmic Human Body and the process of Kundalini Yoga, the Trikona and Shatakona. Having understood the above five we will,
6.  Describe the experience of Kundalini as it rises and the joining of two TriKona’s in BrahamrandraDhAara. After that we will
7.  Relate this state in BrahamrandraDhAara with Deyjehuor.

The shape of a Deyjehuor
The perimeter of the facial projection of a Deyjehuor on a plane is hexagon (Shatakona). The face of this hexagon carries a Bindu (dot) at the center. This Bindu appears in the center of a regular Deyjehuor as tiny red or white colored semi-precious or precious stone, called CHUUNE in Kashmiri. In total along with the central point “CHUUNE” Shatakona has seven points. In the following we will try to under-stand what is the relevance of this shape and the CHUUNE in its center (Figure below):

To understand the root significance of Deyjehuor we will have to take a slight detour to understand certain Concepts in which Advaitic-Siva is understood. 

The Categories I will use are primarily from the PratybhijnnAa. The Advaitic-Siva in PratybhijnnAa is described the reality which is one without the second. This one reality is called PraKAasa-Vimarsini. This compound name is really a compound characterization of one reality. It is further added that this PraKAasa and Vimarsini are not separate or distinct from each other. In fact these aspects can not be separated from one another. The analogy given is that of Fire and Heat, (Please keep in mind that these are only analogies are only direction pointers) which can not be separated from each other. 

What is being said is that reality is PraKAasa, and unlike ordinary PraKAasa, this PrakAasa is self- aware. Self-awareness here has been used for the technical term of Vimarsini. The closest English term corresponding to PraKAasa is Light and the closest term to Vimarsini is the Awareness of consciousness. Thus from this point ultimate existent is Light, not an ordinary Light, but Light which is self-Aware. In this context PraKAasa should be understood as that which lights-up (as in a meaning, or as in ordinary light some thing is brought forth,.. “Ah! That is It.”). That is as a source of cognition. (The simplest example would be ordinary Consciousness, which gets manifested by the Awareness. As awareness of the limited self, or glass, etc.) Notice that even ordinary Awareness can be shifted from one limited object to the other, bringing forth that particular object in to ‘manifestation’, or it can fold back and focus on to the self. Even in ordinary routine life the awareness becomes the outer manifestation of the inner individual Consciousness. 

The PraKAasa is thus an unchanging transcendent aspect of that one reality and Vimarsini the changing, immanent aspect of the same one reality. However these transcendent and immanent aspects are not and can not be separated from each other.  (Notice this contradictory transcendence and the immanence is held together with out a difference and is the reason why Advaitic-Siva is simultaneously both realistic and idealistic.) In Sanskrit language the PraKAasa has masculine gender hence is “HE” aspect, also called Siva. Where as Vimarsini in Sanskrit language has feminine gender hence called the “SHE” aspect. Vimarsini (Awareness) because of being able to be Sankuchit (limited) and as well as Visa (universal), is hence called Immanent.  It is this aspect which manifests both the limited aspects and the universal aspects. And because of that Vimarsini is called Shakti, for it alone manifests both the limited and the universal aspects. PraKAasa being unchanging transcendence. (Keep in mind that it is not different from PraKAasa. The highest state of this reality is called ParmaSiva.) The message from here I want to take forward is that of (Vimarsini) the characterization of Shakti.