Foundations of Indian Psychology, Volume 2

15

Lālan-pālan: A Psycho-Spiritual Experience for the Indian Mother

Anjali Singh

Motherhood is a universal phenomenon and its concerns are common across cultures. At an apparent level, they are shared between a British, a German or an Indian mother so far as daily-life schedules of maternal behaviour are concerned. But there is an inner layer of consciousness involving a deeper experiential aspect which makes them distinct. To an Indian mother, motherhood tends to be a psycho-spiritual phenomenon. A mother represents Mother Earth, Mother Nature and the Mother Goddess. The experiences of the Indian child growing up in this milieu are explicitly rooted in this unique context. The entire process of bringing up a child in India is termed lālan-pālan ...