History and myths related to left Handedness

In the Stone Age, implements created by the Stone Age man were equally divided for the use of right and left hand. The cave drawings when studied it showed that use of left hand was more prevalent in the earlier days. Gradually when the tools became more sophisticated a single hand preference emerged. Later the use of right hand developed through the habit of sun worship.

It is also said that the Romans were the one to create the left-handed customs and restrictions. As a fact the roman militant force was maximum right handed and this led for them to introduce the right hand shake and the fascist right hand salute and also the right to left alphabets, which till today creates problems for the 'many'.

In the French parliament before the revolution, the nobles sat in the right side of the king, while the capitalists sat on the left. The right became associated with the prevalent social order (Ruling), and the left with the subversive elements wanting to change it (Opposition).

Left Handedness from the beginning is not considered as a normal phenomenon. It is believed that right-handedness is the normality and left-handedness is a deficiency which results from a traumatic birth. It has been given various definitions according to the beliefs prevailing in the society. In countries all over the world there are many colloquial terms used to refer a left-handed person. Some of these are just slang or jargon words, while other references are sometimes very offensive or demeaning. It has been a notion that use of left hand for many activities of daily life is unacceptable and portrays disrespect.

Christainity is strongly based towards the right hand. It is the right hand that gives the blessing and makes the sign of the cross. In the bible there are 100 favourable references to the right hand and 25 such instances where use of left hand is provedto be unfavourable. For eg. The sheep are set on Christ's right hand and the goats on the left. Those on the right inherit the kingdom of god while those on the let depart into everlasting fire. The devil is nearly always portrayed as left-handed and evil spirits lurk over the left shoulder. So people always throw spilled salt over our left shoulder to ward them off.

In India use of Left hand for good purposes is percepted as an abnormal and a devilish act. A left handed person will normally use his left to write, offer flowers to lord , to eat etc. This is quite normal for a person who has knowledge about left handedness and believes the fact that right brain dominants will use their left hand naturally. But for the people believing in social stigmas and superstitions laid by the society will try to go against this habit and as a result normal life of a 'gifted' person will be disturbed.

A small child born as a lefty will face many obstacles in his life as he grows up.It can be difficult for left-handed children to learn to write if the teacher does not take the student's left-handedness into account. In fact, even in the later 20th century, some Indian schools were discouraging children from writing with their left hand which was often seriously affecting the child's development.

India is a very religious country which sometimes leads to creating extreme situations in such special cases. In some villages left handedness was and is percieved as a curse and people are convinced to conduct various pujas to impress Goa in order to relieve the person from the same. A small mishap in the house is being blamed on a left handed person who had offered flowers to the God the other day with his left hand.

Such small incidents occuring in a lefty's life affects the person to a great extent. In fact left hander are born geniuses in their own their right brain dominance enables them with this special quality. Each lefty does posess a talent out of the box and have the capability of carving diamond out of a stone. But with continuous discouragement from its family members as well as the society, lefties generally face a setback.

It has been seen that most of the succesful people today are lefties.Out of this population of 10-15% most of the people are know for their extraordinary work in a particular field. Hence this special people ought to have a special place in the society. Also they posses a right to build a society of their own. Here is the start and all the brothers and sisiters are welcome to be part of it.