Significance of Sumangali Pooja
The Sumangali Pooja is done when an elderly woman dies in the family even when she is in wedlock and her children honor her after her ancestral rites, sometimes people even perform this Pooja as a promise in return for fulfilling pending auspicious events in the family. Our Divine Astrologer Thethiyur V.Mahadevan recommended that each and every family should do this Pooja performed once in a year.
Purpose And Benefits
This Pooja is generally performed for invoking the blessings from departed women who attained swarga (peaceful death , heaven) when their spouse still lived on and the women in the family who take part in this Pooja are said to be blessed with a happy married life .This Pooja , differs from each family and there is no standard procedure being followed . The mother who is considered to be the guardian of the mangalasuthra of her daughter along with the grandmother blesses her for a happy and fulfilling life.
Pooja Benefits
The women take an oil bath and wear a 9 yard sari and the number of women invited generally is an odd count (3 , 5,7,9 etc) depending up on the family hereditary. The place of the Pooja is filled with Pooja materials such as Turmeric, Kumkum, Saris , Coconuts, Camphor, Banana and other fruits for Neiveidhiyam , Blousebits, Betel leaves and other eatables for the feast that followed . The invited women have a procedure that should be adhered such as applying their cheeks with turmeric and sandalwood paste and are also adorned with bangles and jewellery and it bears a divine sight equal to the female goddess Sri Maha Lakshmi.
The women are treated very respectfully and even when unmarried girls are also seated and the elder men & women take their blessings .That Blessing is more power than other Pooja Blessings. They are treated with a good feast and gifts which go with the feminine gender are being exchanged and the while the scene bears a unique aura much to the fact some women get divine initiations and start prophesying and give out predictions about the people present at random . It is an event which mainly glorifies womanhood and married life of a woman and they are held in high esteem.