Almost
80 children aging from 2 to 7 years are running on bare foot in the
small room arranged as a kindegarden in one of the Christian churches
in Dharavi slum. They don't speak English, I can communicate with
them only by gestures or asking other teachers for the translation.However,
Christmas is approaching, and the room is filled with decorations:
reindeer shapes, santa claus masks and christmas trees. Have they
really ever seen one of these things?
No,
they have not, of course. But they all know the answer to the
question: what is this, babu? Christmas tree!! And this? Baby
Jesus!They scream out loud.I
started wondering: many of those children belongs to hindu families,
other are converted to catolicism. But they all celebrate Christmas.
Why?
FOTO1.
Christmas party in Dharavi Slum for children attending the Creché
program.
Beside
the small percentage of people who define themselves “christians”,
which is lower than 3% of the total religion faiths in India, the
real number of christians over the entire population of the country
(1 billion people) is 25 millions. One of the largest Indian
Christian Communities is in the capital of Maharashtra Community:
Mumbai, and the majority of them are Roman Catholics.
The
Hindu population do not recognize Christmas as a religious tradition,
however, many people I met during these days will take part to the
celebration. The reason behind this choice is pretty simple: they are
treating the holiday as a secular festival, in part also due to the
assimilation of the American culture.
With
more than 330 gods and godnesses, it has been said that Hindus have a
holiday for every day of the year. Among
the existing major religions,
Hinduism is the
oldest
one and the general opinion about its principles and symbols is still
very blurry, especially in the Western society.
It is a general opinion that Hindus
believe in a pantheon of deities, the cyclical nature of the universe
and they have a wide variety of symbols to represents their faith
Beside, they worship cows.
FOTO
2: Hindu temple in the District of Mahim, Mumbai.
Is
it exactly like this?
Let's
try to answer some of the most common misunderdantings and beliefs
people have abound hinduism.
HAVE
HINDUS A HOLY BOOK?
Like
many other religions, also hinduism refers to books which state the
principles of their faith.The Hindu Bible is called Shruti
(meaning “listening” in sanscrit language) referring to the event
when saints heard the words of god. The Shruti
contains four subchapters called Vedas
(meaning “knowledge”). The four Vedas
(also referred to as the
Vedic Literature)
may be considered the main, or at least the original and most
authoritative "holy books" since they are the first
religious written works in Hinduism, emerging approximately 2,500
years ago. The most ancient among the four Veda is the Rig Veda,
which contains the lyrics of the songs from ceremonies. The other
ones are named: Yajur Veda, Sama Veda and Atharva Veda which were
compiled around 3500 BCE.
FOTO
3: The four Vedas.
From
Sindu to Hindu
According
to Wikipedia, “Hindu”refers to any person who regards themselves
as culturally, ethnically, or religiously adhering to aspects of
Hinduism.
However, the term “hindu” is not even Sanskrit. So,
where does the term “hindu take its origins?
Alexander
invaded India around 325 B.C. , he is supposed to be the first who
renamed the River Sindhu as the Indu, dropping the beginning “S”,
thus making it easier for the Greeks to pronounce. Later in history,
when the Muslim invaders arrived from such places as Afghanistan and
Persia, they called the Sindhu River the Hindu River. Thereafter, the
name “Hindu” was used to describe the inhabitants from the
northwestern provinces of India where the Sindhu River is located,
and the region itself was called “Hindustan.”
Because the
Sanskrit sound of “S” converts to “H” in the Parsee language,
the Muslims pronounced the Sindhu as “hindu,” even though at the
time the people of the area did not use the name “hindu”
themselves. Thereafter, even the Indians conformed to these standards
as set by those in power and used the names Hindu and Hindustan.
FOTO
4: The trimurty composed by Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva gods.
In
order to take control of the
world and its living beings there are 33 gods called the Tridasha
('Three times ten') and their different representations: every god
and goddess borns many time to fight the evil in the world (Shiva
only presents 12 different shapes). They consisted of the 12 Adityas
(from the sanscryt: the Sun God), the 8 Vasus
(representing aspects of nature and cosmic natural phenomenon), the
11 Rudras
(they are very violent and aggressive, described as armed with golden
weapons) and the 2 Ashvins
(they symbolise the shining of sunrise and sunset).
WHERE DOES THE SWASTIC SYMBOL COME FROM?
I
was sitting in the hall room of an hostel in Khar district in Mumbai
only two days after landing in the country. While drinking my glass
of water, my sight was caught by a symbol on the main door. It was a
swastic. A red swastic with four dots between its arms.
FOTO
5: The hindu swastic.
My
mind automatically linked this symbol to the nazi one, beside the
fact that it was impossible to find a nazi symbol in India. It is a
common mistake to associate the swastic to a negative event, the
olocaust and the nazi period during the mid '40s.
DO
HINDU WORSHIP COWS?
Last
but not least, it is believed that hindu worship cows.
FOTO
6: Hindu votive truck.
This
is not true, hindu do not worship cows, even though they have a high
esteem of them. The reason is pretty obvious: cows represent a great
source of income and primary resources for the family. Milk, dairy
products are sold or used to support family needs. Cow dung is
crucial for agriculture. And for religous purpose during ceremonies.
One
example? The vedic tradition named yajna,
literally
means "sacrifice, devotion, worship, offering", and refers
to any ritual
done
in front of a sacred fire which involves symbolic offerings in the
presence of sacred fire named “Agni”.
A typical Hindu marriage involves a Yajna where milk products,
fruits, flowers, cloth and money are offered, where Agni is taken to
be the witness of the marriage. Various
mutual promises between the bride and groom are made in front of the
fire, and the marriage is completed by actual or symbolic walk around
it.
“The
two rake the holy cow in the presence of Agni ... In the first four
rounds, the bride leads and the groom follows, and in the final
three, the groom leads and the bride follows. While walking around
the fire, the bride places her right palm on the groom's right palm
and the bride's brother pours some unhusked rice or barley into their
hands and they offer it to the fire ...
Which
part of the cow is deployed during this votive ritual? The cow
dung as a fuel, which is mixed to the ghee
butter in an inverted copper pyramid at dusk and dawn precisely.
FOTO
7: The yajna ceremony.
" A
special
acknowledgment to Shivgopal Yadav, PhD student, for his
contribution".
An article by the journalist and collaborator in Mumbai, Silvia Simonetta.
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