01-20-2006, 01:51 AM
Op-Ed in Pioneer , Jan 19, 2006, about the controversy in Guruvayoor Temple in Kerala
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Diplomatic gaffe in a shrine </b>
For a religion founded on ideas of tolerance, recent events in Kerala should prove alarming for the Hindu community, says Anuradha Dutt
The more things change, the more they are the same. This is the natural response on learning that custodians of Kerala's famed Guruvayoor shrine are belatedly enraged over the entry of a non-Hindu - a foreign dignitary - into the temple premises some days ago.
<b>A similar controversy erupted when permission was denied to the visiting Thai princess to enter the Jagannath shrine in Puri.</b> Then, as now, a <b>debate had raged on the ethics of a practice, which derived from orthodox biases against mlechhas, women and the impure castes. </b>Over the years, Hindu reformers have clashed with revanchists over lifting restrictions on the entry of Dalits into shrines such as Nathdwara, and permitting women as well as lower castes to officiate as temple priests. <b>The right of non-Hindus to worship at Hindu shrines, so far kept out of their reach, is one aspect of this ongoing conflict.</b>
While the catholicity of Hinduism is its most attractive feature, certain prejudices and traditions still continue to influence religious practices, even if prohibited by laws. <b>The myth that a person is born a Hindu, and cannot become one, is a popular misconception, despite socio-anthropological findings suggesting that many successive waves of intruders were incorporated into the Hindu fold, in various castes and sub-castes.</b>
Swami Vivekanand, a most devout Hindu, by any criteria, and an exceedingly well-informed traveller through India, stated in his writings that the process of religious and social transmutation was an old one. <b>Citing some instances, he said that Adi Shankaracharya in the 8th century AD, spearheading the theistic offensive against the heterodox faiths that were more concerned with individual freedom than God, had made tribes of Balochis into Kshatriyas and southern fisher folk into Brahmins.</b>
Whether Advait or Dvait, the great reformers declared that in the kingdom of God, all were equal. But this does not apply to the bastions of orthodoxy. <b>The person to have invited the priests' ire in the present instance happens to be Ms Shiranthi Rajapakse, the wife of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse, who donated a gold crown at the Sri Krishna temple in fulfillment of a vow. </b>He was accompanied by his wife on the pilgrimage. Since temple rules forbid the entry of non-Hindus, barring Buddhists, Jains and the ilk, from India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh and other culturally linked neighbours, the lady's religious affiliation has suddenly become a matter of serious concern. Authorities are assailing the State Government with queries about the Sri Lankan dignitary's faith.
The issue has triggered a row in Kerala as well as Sri Lanka. The media in the neighbouring country is devoting extensive coverage to the possible lapse, which reportedly, has been denied by the President. <b>The information available suggests that the first lady was born a Catholic but converted to Buddhism.</b> She, perhaps, has religious contacts with Christian leaders in the island nation. However, the temple authorities, dismayed by the prospect of pollution of the shrine, are considering antidotes that recall the India of yore, when priests held sway and prescribed the most debilitating remedies for transgressions, with good Hindus obsessed with the rites of expiation and purification. Much of their energy was expended on such activities, rendering them unfit to combat foreign intruders.
Little matter that India's secular Constitution guarantees the freedom to worship and abolishes discrimination against anybody on the basis of birth and religion. The democratic promise of equality seems to have failed to shake off the stranglehold of orthodoxy.
As in earlier times, when the heterodox impulses of Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism, in addition to the cults of Tantra and Bhakti, enshrined the egalitarian spirit, modern India has opted for a prejudice-free society and polity. But, the gap between the ideal and the real persists, especially in areas that were the domains of certain privileged groups. Hereditary priests are yet to reconcile themselves to the erosion of their powers over their flock and the loss of control over many important pilgrimages, which have been taken over by Government-appointed bodies.
The Guruvayoor authorities are considering cleansing ceremonies to expel the alien's polluting influence. Such a course would not only be a diplomatic blunder, but also revivify the orthodox forces. The conflict between modernity and obscurantism takes many forms, whether it be the sporadic demand to recognise the right to commit sati, revive polygamy, or accord precedence to priests over other castes.
This is an opportune occasion for the state to further free the domain of religion from obsolete shackles that divide people.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Diplomatic gaffe in a shrine </b>
For a religion founded on ideas of tolerance, recent events in Kerala should prove alarming for the Hindu community, says Anuradha Dutt
The more things change, the more they are the same. This is the natural response on learning that custodians of Kerala's famed Guruvayoor shrine are belatedly enraged over the entry of a non-Hindu - a foreign dignitary - into the temple premises some days ago.
<b>A similar controversy erupted when permission was denied to the visiting Thai princess to enter the Jagannath shrine in Puri.</b> Then, as now, a <b>debate had raged on the ethics of a practice, which derived from orthodox biases against mlechhas, women and the impure castes. </b>Over the years, Hindu reformers have clashed with revanchists over lifting restrictions on the entry of Dalits into shrines such as Nathdwara, and permitting women as well as lower castes to officiate as temple priests. <b>The right of non-Hindus to worship at Hindu shrines, so far kept out of their reach, is one aspect of this ongoing conflict.</b>
While the catholicity of Hinduism is its most attractive feature, certain prejudices and traditions still continue to influence religious practices, even if prohibited by laws. <b>The myth that a person is born a Hindu, and cannot become one, is a popular misconception, despite socio-anthropological findings suggesting that many successive waves of intruders were incorporated into the Hindu fold, in various castes and sub-castes.</b>
Swami Vivekanand, a most devout Hindu, by any criteria, and an exceedingly well-informed traveller through India, stated in his writings that the process of religious and social transmutation was an old one. <b>Citing some instances, he said that Adi Shankaracharya in the 8th century AD, spearheading the theistic offensive against the heterodox faiths that were more concerned with individual freedom than God, had made tribes of Balochis into Kshatriyas and southern fisher folk into Brahmins.</b>
Whether Advait or Dvait, the great reformers declared that in the kingdom of God, all were equal. But this does not apply to the bastions of orthodoxy. <b>The person to have invited the priests' ire in the present instance happens to be Ms Shiranthi Rajapakse, the wife of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse, who donated a gold crown at the Sri Krishna temple in fulfillment of a vow. </b>He was accompanied by his wife on the pilgrimage. Since temple rules forbid the entry of non-Hindus, barring Buddhists, Jains and the ilk, from India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh and other culturally linked neighbours, the lady's religious affiliation has suddenly become a matter of serious concern. Authorities are assailing the State Government with queries about the Sri Lankan dignitary's faith.
The issue has triggered a row in Kerala as well as Sri Lanka. The media in the neighbouring country is devoting extensive coverage to the possible lapse, which reportedly, has been denied by the President. <b>The information available suggests that the first lady was born a Catholic but converted to Buddhism.</b> She, perhaps, has religious contacts with Christian leaders in the island nation. However, the temple authorities, dismayed by the prospect of pollution of the shrine, are considering antidotes that recall the India of yore, when priests held sway and prescribed the most debilitating remedies for transgressions, with good Hindus obsessed with the rites of expiation and purification. Much of their energy was expended on such activities, rendering them unfit to combat foreign intruders.
Little matter that India's secular Constitution guarantees the freedom to worship and abolishes discrimination against anybody on the basis of birth and religion. The democratic promise of equality seems to have failed to shake off the stranglehold of orthodoxy.
As in earlier times, when the heterodox impulses of Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism, in addition to the cults of Tantra and Bhakti, enshrined the egalitarian spirit, modern India has opted for a prejudice-free society and polity. But, the gap between the ideal and the real persists, especially in areas that were the domains of certain privileged groups. Hereditary priests are yet to reconcile themselves to the erosion of their powers over their flock and the loss of control over many important pilgrimages, which have been taken over by Government-appointed bodies.
The Guruvayoor authorities are considering cleansing ceremonies to expel the alien's polluting influence. Such a course would not only be a diplomatic blunder, but also revivify the orthodox forces. The conflict between modernity and obscurantism takes many forms, whether it be the sporadic demand to recognise the right to commit sati, revive polygamy, or accord precedence to priests over other castes.
This is an opportune occasion for the state to further free the domain of religion from obsolete shackles that divide people.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->