Sabarimala row: Hinduism’s moment of Draupadi Vastraharan.

Published in PGurus.com and Vijayvaani.com

Never in the 70 year history of free India has Hinduism faced an existential threat as it is facing now in the State sponsored and judiciary abetted desecration of the temple of Ayyappa at Sabarimala. Threats have been happening over the years ever since foreigners intruded this country thousand years ago with the first ever worst assault on Somnath. Millions of our forefathers sacrificed their lives in saving Hindu temples and Hindu culture, with the result that Hinduism was able to thrive in the face of and inspite of all odds. At the crucial moment when India should have been declared a Hindu nation, it started well with a Constitution, the original document of which displayed the rich Hindu past of India. This handcrafted document has the scene of a Vedic Gurukul in the beginning of Part II on Citizenship, in a thoughtful portrayal of where we, the Indians trace our sense of belonging.

But all this is past and forgotten in such a short period of independent India compared to a thousand year old struggle against invaders. Liberty, the second clause guaranteed in this document in terms of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship sounds non-existent to Hindus today but is used deftly against the interests of Hindus only. Once secularism entered the nomenclature of the Constitution of India, it is no holds barred affecting the interests of Hinduism. Temples, the edifice of Hindu culture had suffered the worst with systematic looting of temple properties, successful alienation of several communities from temple services they were associated with for ages and manning temple administration with non-Hindus.

With all these we, the Hindus, the practicing ones at that, had silently put up but the last straw happened with the abuse of tradition at Sabarimala initiated by the judiciary, executed by the Government of Kerala with an unseemly zeal and supported by the media while all through this a definite game-plan of pitting non-Hindus against Hindus was well orchestrated much to the shock of the unsuspecting Hindu lot, notwithstanding the fact that an early hint of Hindus versus non-Hindus was thrown by the actor turned politician Kamal Haasan in a TV debate as the narrative for 2019 general elections. So what is originally the identity of this land with a long history is sought to be openly trampled upon for the benefit of political ends and desert cults.

When the Mughals came, we knew who our enemies were. When the English came, we knew whom we have to protect ourselves from. But in free India we have absolutely lost our sense of judgement as to who works against us - is it the politician or the non-Hindu or the very Constitution that is supposed to protect our rights and our tradition or our own brethren, the fellow Hindus? The damage caused by the ignorance of our Hindu brethren is no less damaging than the collective effort of all those pitted against Hinduism. It is regretful to hear the Chief of a Mutt saying  that there is nothing wrong in the judgement on Sabarimala.

The height of ignorance of diverse ways of the Hindu tradition was demonstrated by a much respected spiritual Guru who welcomed the verdict initially but did a volte face after opposition to the verdict grew. The irony apart of persons like them seen as custodians of Hinduism influencing modern day Hindus, there are numerous others leading various sects of Hindu thought who have not even bothered to open their mouths, with the least realisation that what is seen now is fire in the next door which can engulf them anytime soon with all the inimical forces waiting to fan the fire to destroy Hinduism in its own country.

Judiciary, politicians, fellow Hindus in slumber – with all these having a part in hastening the pace of desecration of Hindu space and Hindu traditions, an average Hindu who is able to foresee the things to come is absolutely lost as to what to do, what next going to happen, how to defend himself and his faith and how to survive in the midst of all round assault on himself and his only source of visible connection with divinity - the temples.

Millions of Hindus undergoing the pain and sense of loss on seeing the State orchestrated pilgrim tours of non-believers to complete the process of havoc caused by the judgement of the Supreme Court have no idea of what to do next and how to react to this. The devout had reacted – but in an unfortunate way; the breach of sanctity of the abode of Ayyappa had caused them to abandon their vrat midway – a reaction much awaited by the assaulters of the tradition. 

There are others shouting for help at all directions, fretting, fuming, praying and tweeting but nothing else at their disposal. They almost look like the hapless Draupadi who wanted a Dharmic answer to her simple question after the Pandavas lost the dice game and staked her after losing themselves. She wanted a Dharmic answer and not a lawful answer, for Dharma is always Dharma, but the law need not be dharmic.

When she asked the same question to Bhishma, his reply was on law and not Dharma – something similar to what we are experiencing now. He just relied on power, authority and numbers on the side of the one who issued the decree when he replied that what is called as Dharma by a strong man in this world is regarded so by others, however otherwise it may be; but Dharma spoken by the weak man is scarcely regarded as Dharma, however correct it may be. Bhishma didn’t side with Dharma but with the brute power of those in authority which is absolutely unexpected and unbecoming of a person of his stature who avowed to protect the throne of authority.

Today Hinduism is disrobed like what happened to Draupadi. From all sides the wicked and the mighty are colluding to rip her apart. To name the salient ones:

·       The 4:1 judgement is akin to the power of numbers in the court of Dhritarashtra – the 5^th voice, that of the female (Justice Malhotra) was trounced by the power of the mighty (majority numbers), similar to how Draupadi’s voice was ignored.

·        Draupadi was in her menstruating season at that time – the very issue that is being used now to disrobe Hinduism. And that was the foremost reason for her refusal to come to the court. The menstruating women never mingled with anyone in this country since time immemorial. Then what to say about going to a temple?

·       The question raised by Draupadi addresses the issue of gender equality – the focus of Sabarimala issue today. Yudhishthira, the eldest of the Pandava brothers lost his four younger brothers in the dice game and finally staked himself and lost too. After losing himself he staked Draupadi and lost her. Her question in simple terms was whether the wife was a property of the husband or an individual entity by herself – a question that exposes the level of feminism and respect for female gender prevalent in the Hindu society even at that olden time.

Hinduism brimming with well thought-out and worked out paths of relevance cutting across times is now being made a Draupadi mainly because the assaulters as well as majority of the assaulted ones are ignorant of what and why of the many ideas of Hinduism!

Dharma and the mighty.

In the above listed issues, whatever the mighty says is not correct if it is not Dharma. And a law not addressing the underlying Dharma is not correct and hence untenable. Bhishma sided with the strongmen of the court accepting their word as Dharma which is completely deplorable. If the one at the helm, who is in a position to uphold Dharma, fails to do it, he is bound to suffer for that. This is not a curse but Natural Justice. Hinduism does not condemn anyone as a sinner –but sinner is the core concept in the religion that worships a dead body and another which condemns to death everyone other than themselves.  Hinduism only says you will get what you sowed –which is a universal concept. Bhishma paid for the dereliction of what is expected of him at the arrow bed 13 years later. What Draupadi felt all over her body when disrobed was felt by him with every inch of his body constantly pierced by arrows.  

One may give any kind of justification for him to have chosen the arrow bed, but that was the manifestation of Natural Justice for his failure to safeguard Draupadi. So there is something beyond the law of the mighty, and that is Dharma. When the law is different from Dharma, only Dharma must prevail and prevail it will sooner than later. In the course of it, those who harmed Dharma would stand to undergo Natural Justice.

Menstruation issue

On the second issue of menstruation, there are reasons why women don’t enter a temple during menses and why women of menstruating age are not going to Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala.  A temple is not just a building but an abode of the deity in the form of Vigraha which means ‘special embodiment’ that is made possible by mantra, yantra or tantra. So far experts have looked into the plan of the temples as well-crafted ones in alignment with natural forces. But an experiment done way back in 1980 and reported in Indian Express on 31^st December 1980 has something more to say. (The experiment and its results were displayed in a stall at the Trade Fair in the Island Grounds in Chennai that year) It says,

“Teachers and students of Parasakthi College, Courtallam, through a set of experiments using laboratory gadgets, make a scientific interpretation of the chanting of slokas, abhisheka of the idol and offering of fruits and leaves. "Temple worship has a definite scientific reasoning behind it", the assistant professor in charge said”.

While this reveals the beginning of an unknown science of temples, the Athirathram Yajna was already within the purview of scientific scrutiny with results proving the benefits of the Yajna. Similar tests conducted on Agnihotra Homa that was found to have saved two families in Bhopal Union Carbide gas tragedy revealed the scientific nature of the Homa wherein it was found that the expected results did not materialise when a menstruating woman touched the homa vessels in use and conducted the ritual herself.

This is an area requiring serious scientific study but what this reveals is that these yajnas must have come into existence after a series of studies and experimentations. The time needed for the experimentations prior to their formulation pushes back the origins of Hinduism farther back in time. Any advanced and civilised society would only like to preserve them and subject them to more scientific scrutiny without spoiling any of the features – one of them being restriction on menstruating women – and not barge on the community to disrupt the traditions, as the Kerala Government is doing now. With so much scope for probe into scientific aspects of these issues, what scientific or logical reason has been cited by anyone including the judges to show that ‘sanctity’ of the temple would not be breached if women of that age-group enter the temple? The burden of proof is on the prosecutors and persecutors of this tradition that nothing of the temple chemistry was breached by the biological conditions of the woman during her menstruation and no harm to herself during her menstruating age.

On the other hand the proof of the pudding is in the inbuilt process of maintaining equilibrium in the temple chemistry. The ritual of Shuddhikaran is one such proof aimed at restoring sanctity when the women of restricted age-group entered. Shuddhikaran is not something invented recently. It is part and parcel of the rules of the temple when the deity was consecrated as an embodiment of a universal principle.  The very existence of this remedy shows how the temple science has been perfected long ago.

Gender Equality.

On the third issue of gender equality, by staking Draupadi after he lost himself, Yudhishthira, one of the three acclaimed as knowers of nuances of Dharma (Vidura and Bhishma being the other two) had given the message that women are not to be treated as property of or subservient to men but are free entities on their own. Bhishma failed to voice this openly; But Vidura was unequivocal when he said that “If Yudhishthira had staked her before he was himself won, he would certainly have been regarded as her master”, but that he didn’t showed that the wife was not a property of her husband. She was neither lost nor won by anyone, which means that she was a free woman - always.

Can there be any better statement on gender equality as being part and parcel of Hindu culture, and above all supported by Dharma? Can such a culture shaped by the tenets of Dharma discriminate women on an issue unless that is Dharma-based? But why did Hinduism reach such a state as to be disrobed by too many Dussasanas today?

Redeeming Hinduism from Draupadi moment.

The story of Draupadi vastraharan shows a way out. When Dhritarashtra offered to grant her boons, she sought the release of Yudhishthira and then the other four Pandavas. When prodded to ask for more boons, she refused to oblige saying that covetousness brings loss of virtue. 

The five Pandavas released from slavery stood with her to pay back for the harm done to her and to restore her dignity. They are the five senses of each one of us released from the clutches of covetousness, with Dharma as the sole torch bearer. Let’s consciously stand by Dharma in whatever we do, and none of what we do should make Hinduism a Draupadi. We cannot stake her in the course of any work we do. He be the Tantri or the Prime Minister or the Chief Justice or a pilgrim or a common man – each one must do what is Dharmic in the situation.

A Tantri cannot allow himself to be cowed down by a contempt threat in as much as a pilgrim cannot afford to abandon the pilgrimage, for, more the pilgrims, stronger will be the deity’s power. The Vigraha is made a ‘special embodiment’ by the devotion of the pilgrim too in addition to mantra, yantra and tantra.  The sound effect of chanting plays a crucial role in transforming a temple into a divine abode much in the same way the Vedas create vibrations by recital. The above mentioned experiment by Parasakthi College proved that. So never stop going to the temple and never stop chanting His name aloud. We need more temples, almost in every street to make this sacred mother land of ours a divine land.

In the larger picture, all the heads of different paths of Hinduism must be brought under one umbrella and they must raise their voice every time an assault is made. Draupadi was able to win only because everyone in this land was drawn into the fight – whichever side they may be – but it must be known which side that one is seen, on the side of Dharma or Adharma. Let us accept the emerging narrative that it is Hindus versus non-Hindus and work for victory for Hindus. Victory for Hindus means victory for Dharma, What else is needed to restore the honour of Draupadi? 

Tipu Sultan assaulted natural resources too.

Tipu Sultan’s assault on men, material and temples is well known by now, but a lesser known atrocity by him was the destruction he caused to Tonnur Lake, popularly known as Tonnur kere located in Mandya district. This lake was named as ‘Moti Talab’ by Nasir Jung, the Subedar of the Deccan in view of the crystal clear water ever present in this lake. The waters are so clear that one can see the pebbles at the bottom of the lake.

Popular notion today attributes the modern Moti Talab to Tipu Sultan! People also believe that he repaired the lake, but facts speak otherwise. A dig into the history of this lake shows that Tipu Sultan was the only person to have caused extensive damage to this lake which was subsequently repaired by the British. In a short period of 200 years after that, the atrocity was forgotten or twisted deliberately with the result the one who breached it was credited with having repaired it! And the motive for the breach was his hatred for Hindus, as expected.... Read on here for the full article.

Increasing number of elopements with married men – isn’t this a signal to bring in Adultery law?

Published in PGurus

Just a month after the Supreme Court of India scrapped Section 497 of the IPC on Adultery, we happened to hear the Madras High court expressing concern over the increasing cases of minor girls eloping with married men. A division bench of Justice N. Kirubakaran and Justice S. Baskaran observed on 1^st November 2018 that four such cases had come up for hearing on that day alone making them express their worries on the rise in such cases. Since the cases involved minor girls of under-eighteen, the judges turned their attention to POCSO Act (The Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences Act) and directed the State to furnish a report on cases booked under this Act in the last 10 years. They also put the onus on parents and teachers to educate their teenage girls and wanted the Government to introduce counselling programmes for teenagers from getting lured and for parents and teachers for sensitising their wards to the dangers from luring persons.

Advisories such as this serve no purpose if they are really intended to make a change. There is no dearth of advises and advisories in our families but what makes one cross the boundary is that there is no fear of punishment. Take for example the helmet rule. The fatality rate is such that 73.14% of death of bikers was due to non-wearing of helmets, according to the Government release.  Although the Government of Tamilnadu had made it mandatory for all bikers and pillion riders to wear helmets, following the directions of the High court, it is rare to see helmet wearing riders on the streets where there is no traffic police in sight. Not that people are not aware of the helmet rule or the hazards of not wearing it, it is simply that they won’t be caught for not wearing. That is human mentality and the mentality of most people in India. Only fear of punishment keeps one to behave well even in advanced countries.

One can as well dismiss the helmet rule as an intrusion in one’s personal liberty and one’s privilege of likes and dislikes. But it is made compulsory as per Section 129 (a) of Motor Vehicle Act 1988 to afford a degree of protection from injury to the rider. Why should the Government worry about the safety of the rider who himself is not much worried about it? It is because the Government takes care of the safety of the person. When the person for whose sake this rule is made, is caught not wearing it, the State is empowered to penalise the person. With so much care running into the safety of the individual it is just inadmissible that similar care is not shown in the case of the individual embroiled in adulterous activities. There is no physical threat to the life of the one involved, but one cannot turn a blind eye to the indescribable mental torture undergone by those closely related to the person.

For example in the case under purview of the judges who expressed their anguish with the increasing number of eloping cases with married men, a 17 year old girl had eloped with a 45 year old married man. On the complaint by the mother of the girl, the police went on a search and nabbed them in three days. The man was slapped with kidnapping charges while the actual intention was not that. He again eloped with that girl when released on bail and this made the mother move the court with a habeas corpus. It was while dealing at this stage, the judges had asked for a report on POCSO Act. POCSO is once again a deviation from the original intent of the offense. Once the girl completes her 18^th year, no judge of India can stop her from eloping with that older married man. In the melee, the man’s wife and her children from him and the girl’s parents and her siblings are going to be left with terrible trauma for no fault of theirs, but for the fault of faulty judicial laws!

If the judges think that the girl has been unduly lured by the man, the same continues to hold good from the 1^st day of her 19^th year – that is., once she crosses her minor status. So the bottom-line of the issue is not her age, but the inadmissibility of the relationship she has with that man. Without admitting it and by passing on the responsibility to the parents and the teachers, the judiciary is perceived to have lost focus by slapping kidnapping charges and POCSO. 

Suppose there is an adultery law penalising them, both of them could have been deterred from their adventures and their families could have been spared of death like agony. Unfortunately there is no law in this country to check the elopement of a major girl with a married man. The only law on Adultery was the now scrapped Section 497 of IPC which was anyway a faulty law as it was based on a faulty notion of adultery committed by a married man and a married woman. Nothing can be more ludicrous than this, as even if one is already married while the other is not, it still amounts to adultery. In an advanced country like the USA, the Arizona adultery statute penalises both the persons if one of them is unmarried. The trauma such a relationship causes to the family members of those in adultery is huge enough to justify penalisation of both of them.

Unfortunately none of the six Sections of Chapter XX of the IPC on offenses relating to marriage speak about the extramarital relationship with an unmarried woman. The only one on adultery had now been scrapped but not replaced by a fortified Section to deter extramarital relationship with unmarried major girl (or anyone other than his spouse). The State and the judiciary cannot wash off their hands in the pretext of personal liberty as done by the 5-member bench headed by CJ Dipak Misra when it dismissed Section 497 of IPC as violative of Article 14 and Article 21 of the Constitution, because what is at stake is not the personal liberty and freedom of an individual or even consensual relationship, but the trauma caused to the legally wedded spouse of the one in extramarital relationship. Justice must be done to her by punishing the errant spouse even though their marriage is doomed for a divorce. 

Article 21 was behind another judgement of a similar type in the year 2010 when the Supreme Court did not find any offense in live-in relationship. While quashing 22 criminal cases filed against actress Khushboo for her alleged endorsement of pre-marital sex, the Bench asked for evidnece to show that girls eloped from their homes after hearing the actress endorse pre-marital sex.  Can the same yardstick be applied to the present case under discussion? The rise in the number of minor girls eloping with married men as observed by the High Court Bench a recent phenomenon after decriminalisation of adultery? The specific reference to 4 such cases on 1^st November seems to support a sudden spurt in the number of cases after decriminalisation of adultery by the Supreme Court. There is a case of suicide too, by a woman on hearing her husband justify his extramarital affair on the basis of the verdict by the Supreme Court.

Only the cases involving minor girls had come to the court. How do we know how many major girls had eloped with married men for, there is no way they come under the purview of the court? A judicial system that does not invoke Article 21 in giving freedom to a person to make a choice in wearing helmet or not, is allowing the destruction of families and family peace and passes sermons to parents and teachers on issues that involve a third party (the married man) who can be deterred only if a proper law is in place.

Before concluding it is not out of place to quote here what the judges in Khushboo-case asked the complainants. They asked whether the complainants had any daughters. When the answer was in the negative, the judges commented how then they were adversely affected by Khushboo’s support for pre-marital sex. Never knew that judicial empathy is so easily definable that I am tempted to ask the judges of the High Court and the 5 member bench of the Supreme Court whether none of them had daughters. If they had, weren’t there any cases of extramarital affairs in their families? This is being asked to point out the stunted logic in their comment and how disconnected the judges are with the real life hazards faced by millions of families in India.

Hindu value system – the victim of the two judgements.

Published in PGurus on 3rd October 2018.

The two recently passed judgements by the Supreme Court of India, one on adultery and the other on the entry of women of menstruating age into the Sabarimala temple are supposed to have set right the wrongs done to women. The first one has decriminalised adultery for the sake of ‘gender neutrality’,  for, now the woman committing adultery is released from the clutches of her husband as her paramour no longer requires the permission of her husband to commit adultery! So the judgement has relieved the woman from being treated as the property of the man. The second judgement is said to have ensured ‘gender equality’ by eliminating a discrimination against women imposed by patriarchal religious practice.

The media is agog with stories for and against these two judgements but what is missed out is that both the judgements have trampled upon the value system of majority of people of this country. Experts would come out with jargons and judicial terms to support the judgements, but as a lay person I would say that any judgement should be representative of the value system of the country. It is to protect these value systems we have the judiciary and not to derail them.

The value system at the receiving end in the adultery verdict is the age old and still continuing concept of the marriage oath in the Hindu society which is centred on “Saptapadi”, the seven steps. The man and the woman enter into lifelong commitment to each other by taking seven vows in seven steps in which the 3^rd vow is on fidelity to each other. The completion of the seven steps with seven vows makes the marriage legal in the Hindu society. One of the vows being fidelity, adultery committed by any one of the two must be considered as a crime. Only when the element of criminality is included, any temptation to commit the crime can be nipped in the bud. Law is not just meant for giving justice but also to play deterrence. However the judges turned into social scientists when they announced their discovery unsupported by data that adultery is not the cause of unhappy marriage but the result of unhappy marriage!

Section 497 by itself is a violation of the Saptapadi vow and by scrapping it the violation has been remedied but the crime is not checked. None of the judges except the lone female judge Justice Indu Malhotra seemed to have realised the aberration caused by scrapping the section when she questioned whether adultery can be brought under criminal offence, but restricted it to situations “where there is a public element in the wrong, such as offences against the State security and the like.”

One is at a loss to understand why this is not applicable to the entire society. The Hindu majority is still steeped into the value system of mutual fidelity and the law givers are expected to reflect that system and not create ways to encourage violation of the marriage oath. The first victim of this verdict is reported from Chennai. The husband had no qualms in telling his wife that she could not stop him from having an affair, by quoting the SC verdict on adultery. The CJI claimed in his ruling that adultery could be a ground for divorce. But the poor woman could not understand how sympathetically the court had devised ways for her benefit! She committed suicide instead. Ethically who is the first abettor for this suicide?

Source: Times of India, Chennai edition, dated 1^st Oct 2018.

The second judgement pertaining to Sabarimala pilgrimage was justified by CJI Misra on the basis of ‘gender equality’ and aimed at demolishing patriarchy in religion. Referring to the restriction on menstruating women he said, “Any rule based on biological characteristics cannot pass muster of constitutional test.” If the issue is about the biological characteristics of the woman, did he or anyone in the Bench care to assess the impact of those biological characteristics on women due to the pilgrimage?  Without doing that they have just passed a verdict that is once again a travesty of the value system of the Hindu society.

This value system takes utmost care of the woman’s health and had done the needful to reduce menstruation related health issues which modern science has not even thought of. Women were kept away from all chores on those days not because they are unclean but they needed rest. The impact of physical work was only recently acknowledged by sports committees on seeing that nearly 25% of the elite athletes suffer from menstrual dysfunction. A Consensus Statement on treatment and return to play was made in the US only in the recent years. In contrast the age old Ayurvedic system of India has remedies in the name of Rajaswala paricharya which is common household knowledge in India even today though it is on the wane in modern households.

The effect of going away from the traditional system of rest is felt in the reproductive disorder commonly understood as ovarian cyst. Recently a study by AIIMS claimed that one out of four women in the reproductive age is suffering from ovarian cyst (PCOS). Though no study exists to relate it to the changing lifestyle in disregarding the Rajaswala Paricharya, a comparison can be shown with the women of the past generations, our own grandmothers. They had produced not less than five children each, many a times more than that number. But today a quarter of the women population of India are not able to reproduce due to PCOS. What could be the reason for this sudden deterioration within a span of two generations? The only difference exists in the way the present generation treats their menstruation period.

Today in the name of equality women are brainwashed to do everything that men do which is in addition to what they do as women only. There is a gender inequality by Nature in women that nearly 80% of women are undergoing heath related premenstrual symptoms according to a publication which no man undergoes. Can the judiciary find a remedy to this inequality?

Recently in an article to Live Science, the researcher , Dr. Hilary Critchley with more than 40 years of standing in the study of menstruation lamented that the implications of menstruation on women’s health is not at all being studied. Such being the status of the academic understanding of this biological issue of the woman, out honourable judges are able to pass judgement on the biological issues of woman in an issue which would primarily impact her health – if she takes up the arduous austerities and a long journey by foot to Sabarimala. Opponents would easily come up with a solution to cut short the austerities and the journey. But that is a blatant interference in the right to religious practices.

The value system under discussion is not just the care for menstrual health of the woman in the Hindu society but also the respect for temple culture that is in vogue for a known period of more than 1500 years in South India. The temple culture is the Heritage of our country and age old rules are still being in vogue, one of them being non-entry of women during menstruation period. If this is termed as pollution, yes it is.

Biologically dead material including the dead ova is being expelled from the body during menstruation. Anything dead-related is not allowed near the temple. For example, if a person dies in the close proximity of a temple, the temple would be closed till the dead is taken away. Even if someone dies at home, the occupants of the house would not go to the temple for stipulated number of days. From this we can even reason out why temples are closed at the time of eclipses which are supposed to be the best time for offering oblations to the departed ones. From the rationale of abstinence of women from entering the temple during menstruation we can assume that similar effect on the temple-chemistry is anticipated during the supposed-arrival of departed ones.

This kind of abstinence is more about retaining the temple’s sanctity than about a stigma on the women or others. Even rivers are said to have menstruation period according to traditional Hindu wisdom, which is nothing but the early period of fresh arrival of waters in the rivers (in the month of June). The first waters would be bringing in lot of dirt spread on the until-then dry river bed. So it is better not to use that water. Only after the water starts flowing well in the next few days, the river is said to have finished her menstruation. The practices are no doubt well-thought out but lack of knowledge of the inner purport makes us think that they are absurd dogmas.

All Hindu theistic women respect this culture and voluntarily refrain from going to temples during their menstruation period. The austerities of Sabarimala pilgrimage is such that woman in reproductive age cannot follow them and make a trip without harming her health. Such deep thoughts had gone into devising the rules of this pilgrimage by our ancestors. It is regretful that the judiciary is not standing up as a custodian of these values. With Justice Indu Malhotra being the only voice reflecting the values dear to the Hindu women in the both the judgements, one is tempted to ask if it is time we must demand all-women bench to hear the cases that affect all women.

Related article: Ayyappa constitutes a separate denomination

Kerala floods caused by the ‘wrath’ of the deity?

Earlier published in PGurus.com

and

Bharatabharati

At a time Nature-induced unprecedented tragedy is sweeping across both human and divine abodes in Kerala, the question in the air is whether this is the result of the wrath of the deity at Sabarimala for interfering with the rules of the temple and taking it to the court to decide. The judges of the Supreme Court had reserved their orders, but did Lord Ayyappa deliver his judgement by making His abode inaccessible to all?

This is not the first time we are hearing this kind of justification for natural calamities. When the temple of Sri Raghavendra Swamy at Mantralaya was submerged by the floods of Tungabhadra in 2009, many people wondered whether it was related to the dismantling of the temple of Manchalamma, the family deity of Sri Raghavendra Swamy to provide place for his Brindhavan.

Similarly when a deluge struck at Kedarnath temple in 2013 caused by a cloud burst, many people attributed the resultant destruction to the wrath of Dhari Devi whose image was removed from her shrine just the previous day for the purpose of facilitating water storage for Alakananda dam under construction.

Linking natural disasters to the so-called ‘wrath’ of the deity is certainly disquieting in this age of reason. It also throws bad light on the deities in general and on Hinduism in particular. It raises many questions on the very concept of deities as benefactors and the way they ‘behave’ much like human beings in retaliating when things go wrong for them. The ultimate question is whether this is what Hinduism seeks to convey. This article is an attempt to answer these questions through two concepts, the concept of portents and the concept of deities as living consciousness.

Portents.

Portents are signs or omens that are supposed to indicate a calamity. Ancient sages of India had studied occurrence of such portents and found a link between an event and a violation or an event and an after-effect. Varahamihira in his treatise called Brihad Samhita had compiled the portents taught by sage Garga to sage Atri in the 46^th chapter of this book. These portents are basically related to the deities in the temple and the natural calamities caused by fire, rainfall, water (of the rivers) and wind that foretell the hardships to the people at large. According to the Vedic sages, they do indicate the displeasure of the deities. This concept seems to have thrived in the Hindu society for all these ages.

But this doesn’t clear the sullied image of the Hindu deities as angry ones and those who can be displeased. Are these deities ordinary mortals who show their displeasure when things don’t happen in the way they like, is the question that comes to our mind. Without stepping into theological realms, we can answer this by visualising the relationship between the deities and human beings in the same way how different elements of the earth behave.

The earth behaves like a single unit or a unitary cell. Whatever happens in Nature in one part of the earth has its impact in another part of the earth. The wind, the heat, the ocean currents, the atmospheric changes and the like do behave as parts of a single cell and interact and influence each other with the final result sinking on the earth impacting human life at some place in some way. This concept is almost accepted by the scientific community.

Our Vedic sages had gone beyond this level of understanding and treated the earth, the atmosphere and the stellar space as one unit- Bhu, Buvah and Svah –  because whatever happens at one impacts the other. A 4^th component ‘Mahat’ was discovered by sage Mahachamasya, that encompasses all the three (Taittirya Upanishad 1- 5.1). This fourth component is known as Brahma or Atma or we can name it as consciousness for our understanding.

This consciousness pervades all the three levels starting from the earth in the same way how our consciousness pervades our physical, vital and mental state of our own existence. Anything that happens in any part of our body would send a signal throughout the body and different parts of our body would react accordingly. This concept is applicable to our larger frame of existence, constituted by Bhu-Bhuvah-Svah. In this larger frame, every entity including human beings, animals, birds and even natural forces react or adjust with each other to attain a state of equilibrium – which at times appears as portents.

Consciousness as binding factor.

Though Hinduism is vast source of theological concepts on Gods, the underlying feature is that deities are living consciousness. The installation of the consciousness happens in two ways. The Universal consciousness is installed through mantra, yantra and tantra in temples. The consciousness of those who once lived in flesh and blood is also installed by the same means. This is based on the logic that nothing ceases to exist in Nature.  The feeling of I-ness, emotions, aspirations and thoughts that were very much real while alive cannot disappear into nothingness. All these as part of the consciousness are expected to live in a place while deified.

This is the idea behind many deities of Kerala, village deities and roadside deities who are supposed to guard from accidents those who seek blessings from them. These deities were once real persons who died while saving someone from death. Until a century ago this practice of deifying someone who died under distress was in vogue.

Lord Ayyappa was a historical person who has been deified due to the exemplary nature exhibited by him while alive. A major difference between Lord Ayyappa and other deities is that strict discipline is maintained both in the case of upkeep of temple and also in the lifestyle of the devotees who plan to visit the temple. This creates a kind of entanglement between the deity and the devotees in such a way that if anything upsets the equilibrium, it gets a reactionary manifestation somewhere.

A comparable incident can be quoted from Silappadhikaram, the Tamil Epic on Kannagi who lived 2000 years ago. It tells about a time when the door of the Durga (Meenakshi) temple at Madurai could not be opened. This was perceived as the anger of the deity and a search was on to find out the wrong committed. It was found out that an innocent Brahmin was wrongly confined and only when he was freed, did the temple door open automatically.

This shows that the stronger the power of entanglement between the deity and the devotee, instantaneous would be the result of the violation committed to anyone one in the entanglement.

These nuances help us to answer certain questions before us.

1. Many mistakes and wrongs are reported in many temples. But nothing of the kind of ‘wrath-manifestation’ happens in those places. So the whole idea of Lord Ayyappa showing his displeasure is wrong and silly.

Loads and loads of violations and wrongs are being done in most temples. The sanctity of those temples is definitely afflicted. This is certainly in contrast to Lord Ayyappa temple where strict adherence to discipline is followed. When it is violated, it is immediately detected through Prasna and rectified. This temple stands on a different plane.

2. Floods and natural calamities are seen in many other places too. Which deity is responsible for those calamities?

A deity is primarily a manifestation of consciousness of high level. This consciousness is present everywhere, even in the natural forces around us. When we are upsetting their equilibrium, they pay us back. The environment pays us back. Which deity was responsible for the Chennai Floods of 2015? It was the environment that showed its fury. As part of the environment we failed to act in unison with Nature as collective consciousness. The closing of waterways and damage to land paid back as ‘anger’ or ‘displeasure’ of the deity (Nature).

3. Kerala is in the front of receiving excessive rainfall all these years. It always stands the risk of floods and devastation caused by floods. Why connect such a natural occurrence with a deity?

Kerala had been receiving incessant rainfall almost on all years. But never in the known past of 100 years was a devastation of this extent experienced. When it happened, we look out for the causes. And there exists a cause now in making a tradition and discipline of this temple subject to judicial scrutiny. Never in the past had anyone dared to question the tradition of this temple. When it was questioned, a calamity broke out. This is as simple as that.

However the liberals would not take any of these ideas. Our only word for them is that at least by thinking in these lines people get awakened to a collective conscience of a responsibility towards our environment. Hindu Thought dictates that everything in the environment – including animals like cows are part of the entanglement of the consciousness. Let people awaken to the consciousness in everything, both sentient and non sentient and be aware of their right to existence and their right to their own tradition and not just the right to one’s own self-interest

Can Carnatic musicians sing Christian songs set to Carnatic music?

Earlier published in PGurus.com

A huge furore is being witnessed now in the social media and among ardent followers of Carnatic music over reports of popular Carnatic singers singing songs on Christ set to Carnatic music. The reactions have been varied but one cannot deny the agenda of cultural appropriation behind this trend. Having tried many techniques for harvesting the Hindu souls right from the times of Roberto de Nobili of the 16^th century by donning the Hindu symbols, the Christian marketing team seems to have come around to getting popular Hindus of the day to don the Christian robe. That these Hindus happen to be or are supposed to be the torch bearers of Carnatic music is the reason behind the instant outrage against them.

Dr Nithyasree Mahadevan says that she sang the songs to “to bolster communal peace and harmony”

For the Carnatic music lovers, taught by the Tyagaraja kriti “Sangeeta gnaanamu” that devotion is the purpose of music this response is something odd. Aren’t there others to take care of communal harmony?  As one who grew up in gurukul type of learning from her own mother and illustrious grandmother Smt D.K. Pattammal, she owes an explanation whether this was goal with which she was groomed in Carnatic music. Her grandmother had sung for national causes but could she ever have thought that her prized granddaughter is going to use the skills learned from her to praise Jesus someday? Let Nithyasree do soul searching.

Another musician, Chitravina N Ravikiran came in support of O.S. Arun with a justification that

“..more listeners from diverse religions are likely to end up becoming Carnatic fans where they may end up getting hopelessly impacted by the predominantly high majority of songs on Hindu deities!”

What a childish thought! Is there any missionary compulsion for Carnatic musicians to increase the number of Carnatic fans? What they could not achieve by their songs on Hindu Gods, they want to achieve by singing on Jesus Christ!  By his own logic, the new fans are going to come for the songs on Jesus and Carnatic music is only a means. The popularity quotient of these musicians is an additional attraction. And these musicians are willing to sell their image to attract more people sing their songs on Jesus!

In support of his view he quoted his concert at Madison Square accompanied by artists from different religions and wondered if it made them betrayers of their religion?

They aren’t, for, they gave the instrumental support only to show their talent in fusion music. It was meant to be an entertainment in which they set the music to their tunes and not to Carnatic tunes.

Similarly he or Nithyasree or any other Carnatic musician is free to sing any western song or a song on Jesus in Christian music, but definitely not in Carnatic music. Carnatic music has its own tradition and goals confined to Hinduism.

This is unacceptable to the Magsaysay awardee T.M.Krishna for whom the current uproar “comes from an RSS-BJP, a very extreme right-wing kind of thought process.” He says that “music belongs to everybody; it belongs to Rama, it belongs to Jesus, to Allah and even to atheists. The best thing musicians can do is sing and I’ll do the same”.

He is free to sing about any God, but should he use Carnatic music for that is the question. He rejects the idea of Moksha or Bhakti related to Carnatic music and accuses that Carnatic music is not taken to masses. This kind of thought processes of modern day musicians had led to the current situation.

In this backdrop let us look at the basic questions heard around us.

• Should Carnatic musicians sing on Gods of other religions?

They can sing if they want. It is individual freedom.

·       Can they use Carnatic music for songs of other religions?

No, they can’t. Carnatic music should not be the carrier of those Gods. Carnatic Ragas are carriers of specific deities, particularly Vedic deities. There is a tradition still continuing in our temples to invoke Vedic Gods by means of specific Rāgas meant for them. In a temple ritual called “Nava Sandhi Koutthuvam” approved by agamic tradition, the nine directional Gods (including Brahma at the centre) are worshiped by means of specific Rāgas and Tālās. In Srirangam temple akasha is worshiped as the 10^th direction!

Rāga is a unique Indian innovation that traces its origin to Sāma Veda. The multi-tonal Vedic chants with different notes called svarita, udatta and anudatta are the basis for rāgas. The folk music of Tamil Sangam age has a parallel to this system and one finds that each of the 5 land forms of that period had their own Paṇ (Rāga) and Tālā. They were all directed at the deity of this land. What is important is that the Paṇ of a land and deity was not used for another land and another deity. Will Nithyasree and others take a leaf from them? Nithyasree’s song on Jesus is in Sankarabharanam, the Rāga of Jewel of Sankara! That much for their respect for Carnatic music!

Before they want to step into singing for other Gods, they must know that there is so much to explore in Carnatic music and folk music, a facet of it is found in the 17^th chapter of Silappadhikaram. Here is a sample from the lecture- demonstration of S.Swaminathan and Uma Swaminathan  titled “Indian Musical Heritage”.

  

• Why shouldn’t they, after all isn’t music Universal?

The straight answer is no for Carnatic music for other religions. Music is universal, but the only common music for all people is perhaps the lullaby that calms down a child. But it has an identity in Carnatic music as Rāga Neelambari. Once the child grows up music becomes exclusive for regions, developed by the indigenous people. Every religion has its own music. Christian songs are best heard in their music. Would it sound good to hear about Rama and Krishna in carols? The same holds good for Jesus in Carnatic music.

There is also the concept of Metres that can be traced to Vedas. All the poetic creations including Ramayana by Valmiki are set to certain metres and were musical in rendition. Why a certain metre is given preference over the other is by itself a subject for research. The development of Carnatic music from metres is also worthy of research. A highly trained and successful singer is expected to be a guardian of these concepts and through that the musical tradition itself. It is comparable with how the Vedic pundits are expected to safe guard the Vedas and the temple priests, the temple tradition. When a singer violates this, it is proof enough that he or she has not imbibed the concept and tradition of Carnatic music.

• Do we complaint against persons of other religions singing on Hindu Gods – a popular example being K.J.Yesudas?

We don’t find fault with anyone singing Hindu Gods. Nor do we find fault with those singing gods of other religions. We only say sing in the say that is suitable for those Gods. Yesudas didn’t sing Hindu Gods in Christian music. His long innings in Carnatic music has a lesson for all those who want to take Carnatic music to Christianity. By his continuous connect with Carnatic music Yesudas had become a Hindu himself which we could see in his trips to Hindu shrines and recently to Sabari Mala by following due rituals meant for that pilgrimage. It underlines the fact that one becomes what one sings or thinks.

The Christian songs that the new age singers promote would definitely alter their receptiveness to Hindu Gods in due course. Their followers from Hindu fold would also fall a prey to that trend by starting to sing their songs on Jesus. So a reverse osmosis is very much possible. This is in addition to the underlying motive of conversion by cultural appropriation.  Will the singers realise that they are becoming tools of conversion?

Post script:

My thoughts on certain issues raised on this article:

1. Ilayaraja composed Thiruvasagam symphony. Is this not a violation?

Ilayaraja  used it to sing the praise of Hindu Gods. In the context read this blog on Mahaperiyava’s words on conversion into Christianity  https://mahaperiyavaa.blog/2018/08/09/taking-my-post-down/  Mahaperiyava recounted that Arthur Kostler and Christians who came to see him saw “Jesus” in him. Many people from foreign countries who came to see him, saw their God in him. This happened for a Hindu sage, imagine what it would be for the Hindu God. You can see Jesus or any other God in a Hindu God, but you can’t see Hindu Gods in Jesus. That is the message. Why bring in Jesus in Carnatic music that was copyrighted with Brungi Natesha and others?

2. We accept a Christian Yesudas sing Carnatic music, why we don’t accept Nithyasree et al do the same?  

The fact is Christian groups roped in Nithyasree and others and not Yesudas to propagate their mission. Why didn’t they engage a Christian Carnatic singer, Yesudas to sing for them Jesus songs in Carnatic music?  The reason is simple. Can Yesudas lure non Christians to Christianity by his songs? No. He made more Hindus to become deeply religious Hindus. That is where he stands and where the singers under discussion had failed.

3. It is high time Carnatic music is assigned the Heritage tag of music on Gods of Hinduism. The earliest reference to sapta swaras comes in the 1st century Tamil text Silappadhikaram as “Kural, thuttham ….” etc. This had pre-dated Silappadhikaram date as it is part of the ‘ Aichiyar Kuravai’ the traditional musical dance of Yadava women. A broken sutra in Tamil says that there were 11,990 ‘Aadhi isai’ (ancient music). This is mentioned in the ancient commentary to Silappadhikaram. In the verse starting from “Aadal, paadal, isaiye, thamizhe…” in the 3rd chapter of Silappadhikaram a long list of music-types and instruments are given. These are enough to claim Heritage Tag for Carnatic music as the heritage of Hinduism. Hope this is realised soon.