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| courtesy: blog.dictionary.com |
Most common syllable
the entire world utters when they take their first breath is [ma].
Philosophical implications of sound are immense. And the real wonder is that,
most of the world's recognised languages has 'ma' sound in them, whether it is
Mama, Mummy, Ma, Amma or Mom. Is it bcoz of that 'aa' is one of the easiest
sound to produce? What ever may the reason be, it is the sound our entire
species is familiar with. There are a lot of emotions entangled with this
sound. May be that's why we think there would be a divine intervention in the bonding between
mother and child, as the child seems to utter the word even before it could
think and reason with the outside world. In Indian culture sound 'Ma' and
'Amma' conveys lots of emotions, whether
it be respect, love or kindness. One will find loads of stories about motherly
love and sacrifice in our culture, and any culture for that matter. Its "
matha(mother) pitha(father) guru(teacher) daivam(god)" according to Indian philosophy. Mother
is allotted with the highest status among the four and god comes last even
after teacher. So what could have triggered the trend for such a view? Putting
something human before god. Everywhere nature is considered as mother, why?
bcoz nature provide us with everything we need, just like a mother? We equate
everything that gives and cares with motherly love, Why couldn't it be fatherly
love. Is it that love of father is any less? There must be some other reason,
something deeply engraved in our subconscious. Hindu goddess
"Parvathy" is personification of perfect beauty and power, but she
have an other side too. A strong motherly side where she react vigorously to
other gods and even her husband Lord Shiva in a hostile manner, defending her
son "Ganesh". We knew about the furious side of motherly love, that's
why we concord nature and goddess with this 'mother' status, we regard
motherhood higher than almighty himself. May be that's one of the flexibility
we have with old belief systems rather like new religions, beliefs can be
improvised according to arising needs. Contradictions are tolerated.
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| courtesy: www.thebubblebox.com.au |
All animals show
motherly attachment to their siblings, its a natural process inevitable for the
survival of the sibling in this tough world. There is not a straight answer to
why a mother is called Mom or Mamma. It wouldn't be easy to triangulate when and
why this 'ma' sound is assigned to the 'mother' in linguistic process. Does
this commonality in sound show the single root of all languages or does it bcoz, humans think
alike everywhere. What ever may the reason be, we must've noticed, the first
sound a baby can easily produce is 'aa', then after a little, more refined
'maa' sound. A baby usually use such sound to call out, the person who is
always in contact with it, that would
usually be it's mother, for getting attention. So there is possibility that the
child could be the reason for the assignation of the sound, to the person who
cares and manages them. Before the linguistics were developed, before the
grammatical intricacies of the languages, a small helpless child looking at the
person, extending it's arms to whom it trusts, produced a sound which only it
knew to make, revolutionized the entire philosophical and religious fraternity
for centuries to come.
