Most events that involve some kind of substance transformation also involve heat. Events could be cooking, rituals, pilgrimages, ceremonies, etc. Several researchers have observed that menstruation is viewed as a heat generating process. Other heat generating events include the ceremony of Grahapravesham (house opening) where the generation of heat in the process of the homam (ritual fire) has to be counteracted by the use of cooling ghee and where all rooms in the house have to be washed with manjal thanni (tumeric and water) which is a cooling substance. Sexual intercourse is generally heat producing.
Another common event that anyone visiting a Hindu temple can observe is the performance of abhisheka. The ceremony of abhisekha involves the ritual bathing of the temple diety. The bath usually involves a pre-determined sequence of substances. A typical sequence may involve the milk - water - jaggery (vellam) - tulsi (mint) water. Others common bathing substances include butter, ghee, turmeric water, and bananas mixed with milk or jaggery.
Only certain sequences may be followed. In all
my observations, I have yet to see a sequence that em starts or ends with a hot substance. I hypothesize that the primitive sequence
followed can be described by a iconic grammar cold hot
cold. However, as in the example shown above, the exact sequence may
involve several cold substances followed by a number of hot substances
followed by a number of cold substances. The primitive grammar is
context-free since it always follows a regular sequence of
substances. The exact sequence which involves a grammar of the form
, where
implies a sequence of
cold substances is context-sensitive. The
basic pattern bears an intriguing resemblance to Daniel's
[Daniel] analysis of the flower ritual in Tamil Nadu, and
the notion of a context sensitive grammar can be a potential unifying
interpretation of the two different rituals. However this possibility
awaits future research.