Hullabaloo in our Hindu Hearts (final)
When there's nothing to do, lets poke our noses into stupid causes, shall we? The latest issue that the expat Indian community is up in arms about is related to the special Christmas stamps issued by UK's Royal Mail. So basically Royal Mail has issued stamps from a variety of cultures worldwide depicting the nativity scene. There's Haitian, Italian, Native American, and, to the Indian's surprise, Indian! Specifically a 17th century Mughal painting of Mary Joseph and the infant Jesus with tilaks on their foreheads and being worshipped by people with similar tilaks on their heads. This has automatically led the Indian to assume that Hindus as worshipping the Christian saviour and get defensive.
(More links to this: Pickled Politics and Sepia Mutiny
There are many complex issues at play here.
On one hand many Indians will automatically assume this this is some sort of subtle and subliminal (well, not really, quite obvious if you're looking for it) way of asserting the superiority of Western culture and a statement of the influence of primarily western hegemony on coloured peoples worldwide (I would have said former dominions but Haiti has been influenced by the French). It also reminds the patriotic ones with some knowledge of history of some of the laws the British had about the inheritance of ancestral property only being allowed for Christian converts and so on (I'm speaking from a vague memory of a statement that impacted me from our history textbooks nearly a decade ago).
But if you will care to notice, the Holy Family is depicted according to the culture and skin tone of the region the particular painting originated in! So the Haitian painting has them black and bony, the Italian one has milky soft features, the Native American has no face at all, only a spirit symbolism etc. God and culture is absorbed in a unique manner in different locations! And the Indian one has Mary looking like Mumtaz Mahal or a temple dancer. All gods are representations of humans in their Dvaita forms (as opposed to Advaita or the formless nirguna - beyond description of human qualities - roop, of God)! And our Hindu conceptualisation in particular, is Anthropomorphic in nature! Why, even the depiction of our chief Gods and Goddesses, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Vishnu etc, differs in form and feature between North and South India! The North Indian deities are fair-skinned and tall with large eyes and red lips and looking in general like Hema Malini, while the South Indian versions are darker. Big deal! It's what each culture is comfortable with! And the principle is the same!
First of all, every culture has some sort of Holy Family scene happening. Does our Hinduism not have Krishna and his two sets of parents, and Ganesha have Shiva, Parvati and Kartikeya? Was not the Santoshi Ma story made because Ganesha wanted a sister? Even Islam has Hussain and Hassan (though that's a different story type), and Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him), has his extensive family mentioned. While they are all not necessarily worshipped, the point is, they have been featured in many depictions, whether in war or in family scenes or whatever. And the nativity scene isn't worshipped for its family unity! Its worshipped because Mary is considered the Immaculate Virgin and Jesus was to be Messiah and it was all God's will. So what difference does it make?
And unlike what these communities would like to believe, according to my Religion Professor, there was no great struggle against Christianity. At the time, many religions supporting different traditions and beliefs were already flourishing. Christianity existed in India, albeit in small communities, since St. Thomas came to Calicut in 4 A.D. Hindus embraced Christ as one of the many avatars of Vishnu. How do we know that this actually isn't Hindus worshipping Hindu Gods? Or is it wrong that, if this nativity scene is Christian, despite them having tilaks on their foreheads, that the priest/worshipper with the tilak on his forehead is Christian too? Or are Christians throughout antiquity only supposed to wander around in white gowns (oh sorry, I think those are only the Jesuits) with crucifixes around their necks and tonsured heads?What nonsense! If the Holy family can be depicted in Mughal era clothing with tilaks, why can't the Christian priest be depicted in the same way? Come on, one has to consider the climate and cultural conditions of the era one is preaching and the era a painting has been made in! Didn't the Graham family missionaries in Orissa last decade wear khakis?
To slightly digress, but to provide useful background information that these brouhaha causing freaks should be aware of, Hinduism isn't a polytheistic religion as such: it believes in a universal Omniscient, Omnipotent Brahman or cosmic spirit into which our human spirit, Atman, must aim to merge. (Hinduism is itself an inappropriate term because it groups myriad different cultural conventions under one roof for Western taxonomical purposes). This spirit, Brahman, takes on many forms to depict situations and human impulses in a way recognisable to us ignorant mortals. That's why our Trinity exists, Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh/Shiva, the forces of creation, preservation through manifestation, and Destruction respectively. Lakshmi for wealth (artha), Saraswati for knowledge (gyan), Parvati through her various avatars for fertility, motherhood, abundance (kama), the three aims of life, besides Moksha, salvation, becoming one with the cosmos, beyond death. This single power represents our function on earth, nature, our emotions. Filled with intrigue, though less conspicuously sexual than the Greek Gods, these forms simply create God in man's image so man may understand life better and live it in the right way as depicted by the teachings imparted to that particular religion. That's why Shiva has a temper but is the easiest to please, Krishna flirtatious, Ganesha a lover of both food and knowledge. There is a wealth of complexity in the cosmos that is present in human nature as well. These levels vary depending on the religiosity of the household. Food, rituals, beliefs, practices all differ from house to house here!
Even in the north and south the practice of worshipping the same Gods and the legends associated with them are different. Different aspects are given differing levels of importance in different places. Gujaratis tend to be male-aspect oriented, through the worship of Shiva and Vishnu, while some South Indians tend to be Saktas and Bengalis have a HUGE durga puja tradition. All the aspects of the goddess are more or less grouped under the Devi or Sakta sect, and the 9 chief different aspects are worshipped during Navratri, or 9 nights, which begin on Ashwina sud 1, culminating in Dassehra, which celebrates Durga's victory over the demon Mahisha. More on that later.
In fact, on impulse, in the evening, after writing this post, mom and I went to watch the animated motion picture Hanuman. It is so cute! Anyway the point is, and I learnt this in dance as well, is that Rama is the 8th avatar of Vishnu (i think, yes), and that Vishnu was appealed to by Brahma, Shiva and Indra to save them from the arrogance and violence of the demon kind Ravana of Lanka who had become mightier than the gods through his penances and granted boons. Hanuman, Rama's devotee, is himself the son of Vayu and a form of Shiva. Rama himself prays to Shiva at one point. If these gods can happily worship and credit each other, why on earth cannot we as human devotees? Why do Vaishnavs and Shaivites hate each other and bicker about the scriptures and which aspect of the Trinity is greater and then consider the Saktas as inferior because they are female force worshippers? What nonsense! We ourselves do not absorb the lessons of our religion and culture in the true spirit.
Why are we being all separatist about these stamps? This is the Royal Mail's effort in returning to a religious theme while attempting to include all the communities that have taken shelter in Britain.
All we're doing right now is displaying our ignorance and communalism - two tenets our beautiful many-faceted religion is NOT based on. My India, and the true Hindu (really ideally should be another word for humanism or universalism), not to mention soverign, socialist, SECULAR and democratic republic India is a land of religious harmony and acceptance, one that embraces differences!
Let's celebrate our differences!
There are many complex issues at play here.
On one hand many Indians will automatically assume this this is some sort of subtle and subliminal (well, not really, quite obvious if you're looking for it) way of asserting the superiority of Western culture and a statement of the influence of primarily western hegemony on coloured peoples worldwide (I would have said former dominions but Haiti has been influenced by the French). It also reminds the patriotic ones with some knowledge of history of some of the laws the British had about the inheritance of ancestral property only being allowed for Christian converts and so on (I'm speaking from a vague memory of a statement that impacted me from our history textbooks nearly a decade ago).
But if you will care to notice, the Holy Family is depicted according to the culture and skin tone of the region the particular painting originated in! So the Haitian painting has them black and bony, the Italian one has milky soft features, the Native American has no face at all, only a spirit symbolism etc. God and culture is absorbed in a unique manner in different locations! And the Indian one has Mary looking like Mumtaz Mahal or a temple dancer. All gods are representations of humans in their Dvaita forms (as opposed to Advaita or the formless nirguna - beyond description of human qualities - roop, of God)! And our Hindu conceptualisation in particular, is Anthropomorphic in nature! Why, even the depiction of our chief Gods and Goddesses, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Vishnu etc, differs in form and feature between North and South India! The North Indian deities are fair-skinned and tall with large eyes and red lips and looking in general like Hema Malini, while the South Indian versions are darker. Big deal! It's what each culture is comfortable with! And the principle is the same!
First of all, every culture has some sort of Holy Family scene happening. Does our Hinduism not have Krishna and his two sets of parents, and Ganesha have Shiva, Parvati and Kartikeya? Was not the Santoshi Ma story made because Ganesha wanted a sister? Even Islam has Hussain and Hassan (though that's a different story type), and Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him), has his extensive family mentioned. While they are all not necessarily worshipped, the point is, they have been featured in many depictions, whether in war or in family scenes or whatever. And the nativity scene isn't worshipped for its family unity! Its worshipped because Mary is considered the Immaculate Virgin and Jesus was to be Messiah and it was all God's will. So what difference does it make?
And unlike what these communities would like to believe, according to my Religion Professor, there was no great struggle against Christianity. At the time, many religions supporting different traditions and beliefs were already flourishing. Christianity existed in India, albeit in small communities, since St. Thomas came to Calicut in 4 A.D. Hindus embraced Christ as one of the many avatars of Vishnu. How do we know that this actually isn't Hindus worshipping Hindu Gods? Or is it wrong that, if this nativity scene is Christian, despite them having tilaks on their foreheads, that the priest/worshipper with the tilak on his forehead is Christian too? Or are Christians throughout antiquity only supposed to wander around in white gowns (oh sorry, I think those are only the Jesuits) with crucifixes around their necks and tonsured heads?What nonsense! If the Holy family can be depicted in Mughal era clothing with tilaks, why can't the Christian priest be depicted in the same way? Come on, one has to consider the climate and cultural conditions of the era one is preaching and the era a painting has been made in! Didn't the Graham family missionaries in Orissa last decade wear khakis?
To slightly digress, but to provide useful background information that these brouhaha causing freaks should be aware of, Hinduism isn't a polytheistic religion as such: it believes in a universal Omniscient, Omnipotent Brahman or cosmic spirit into which our human spirit, Atman, must aim to merge. (Hinduism is itself an inappropriate term because it groups myriad different cultural conventions under one roof for Western taxonomical purposes). This spirit, Brahman, takes on many forms to depict situations and human impulses in a way recognisable to us ignorant mortals. That's why our Trinity exists, Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh/Shiva, the forces of creation, preservation through manifestation, and Destruction respectively. Lakshmi for wealth (artha), Saraswati for knowledge (gyan), Parvati through her various avatars for fertility, motherhood, abundance (kama), the three aims of life, besides Moksha, salvation, becoming one with the cosmos, beyond death. This single power represents our function on earth, nature, our emotions. Filled with intrigue, though less conspicuously sexual than the Greek Gods, these forms simply create God in man's image so man may understand life better and live it in the right way as depicted by the teachings imparted to that particular religion. That's why Shiva has a temper but is the easiest to please, Krishna flirtatious, Ganesha a lover of both food and knowledge. There is a wealth of complexity in the cosmos that is present in human nature as well. These levels vary depending on the religiosity of the household. Food, rituals, beliefs, practices all differ from house to house here!
Even in the north and south the practice of worshipping the same Gods and the legends associated with them are different. Different aspects are given differing levels of importance in different places. Gujaratis tend to be male-aspect oriented, through the worship of Shiva and Vishnu, while some South Indians tend to be Saktas and Bengalis have a HUGE durga puja tradition. All the aspects of the goddess are more or less grouped under the Devi or Sakta sect, and the 9 chief different aspects are worshipped during Navratri, or 9 nights, which begin on Ashwina sud 1, culminating in Dassehra, which celebrates Durga's victory over the demon Mahisha. More on that later.
In fact, on impulse, in the evening, after writing this post, mom and I went to watch the animated motion picture Hanuman. It is so cute! Anyway the point is, and I learnt this in dance as well, is that Rama is the 8th avatar of Vishnu (i think, yes), and that Vishnu was appealed to by Brahma, Shiva and Indra to save them from the arrogance and violence of the demon kind Ravana of Lanka who had become mightier than the gods through his penances and granted boons. Hanuman, Rama's devotee, is himself the son of Vayu and a form of Shiva. Rama himself prays to Shiva at one point. If these gods can happily worship and credit each other, why on earth cannot we as human devotees? Why do Vaishnavs and Shaivites hate each other and bicker about the scriptures and which aspect of the Trinity is greater and then consider the Saktas as inferior because they are female force worshippers? What nonsense! We ourselves do not absorb the lessons of our religion and culture in the true spirit.
Why are we being all separatist about these stamps? This is the Royal Mail's effort in returning to a religious theme while attempting to include all the communities that have taken shelter in Britain.
All we're doing right now is displaying our ignorance and communalism - two tenets our beautiful many-faceted religion is NOT based on. My India, and the true Hindu (really ideally should be another word for humanism or universalism), not to mention soverign, socialist, SECULAR and democratic republic India is a land of religious harmony and acceptance, one that embraces differences!
Let's celebrate our differences!
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Speaking of this Hindu heart, I am a big fan of the principle of Tantra that believes in facing one's fears head on. I believe that accepting heartbreak and making a little bit of a ceremony of it is key to getting over it and moving on. Repression, suppression, denial and whatnot is so bad for one's health and also negatively impacts those around us. Writing I have found to be cathartic. It provides me succor and is an excellent form of sublimation.
posted by Princess Joya | 1:40 am
1 Comments:
I completely agree...but jus one thing...India's a secular counry...so its not HIndu India....
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