Author:
Publication: Hinduism Today
Date: May/June, 2001
Did journalists and photographers
have a narrow depth of field?
The following article will appear
in the May/June, 2001 issue of Hinduism Today, as part of the magazine's
comprehensive coverage of the 2001 Kumbha Mela in Allahabad, India. It
may be freely distributed or reprinted.
Text:
Sooner or later, some conscience-struck
journalism student will finally send Hinduism Today a copy of 'The Journalist's
Guide to Reporting on Hinduism.' We already know what is in it: 'If you
are a journalist posted to Delhi for a year, then proceed in sequence to
report on the following items: child marriages, widow burning and abandonment,
bride burning and beating, caste oppression, the Ram temple, Hindu fundamentalists,
harassment of Christians, phony gurus, greedy priests and, when you really
have nothing else to report, the rat temple. At no time in your reports
shall you extol Hinduism or ever compare any of these topics to identical
or parallel issues in the West, such as teenage pregnancies, abuse of the
aged, domestic violence, racial and ethnic discrimination, Christian fundamentalists,
harassment of religious minorities, disgraced preachers, pedophile priests,
or even the pervasive mistreatment of laboratory rats.'
We believe another section of this
Guide to say, 'And if by great good fortune, you are in India or sent there
for the Kumbha Mela, the single greatest gathering of humanity for any
purpose whatsoever, let alone a sacred one, make little or nothing of that
fact. Instead, your sole duty shall be to talk to naked sadhus, take pictures
of naked sadhus and report and comment derisively on naked sadhus. Be sure
to photograph them smoking ganja [marijuana, sometimes hashish]. Open every
story with something about naked sadhus. Relegate all reports on other
saints and all pilgrimsºexcept famous Western movie starsºto
the end of your report, where they may most easily be cut out.'
Unwarranted exaggeration, you say?
Consider what happened right from the get-go on January 11. That's when
the UK's Channel 4 launched its coverage with extended shots of naked sadhus.
Britain's National Council of Hindu Temples, representing more than 600,000
Hindus and 140 temples, complained loudly. Their spokesman said, 'When
I saw the documentary, it seemed as though Hinduism was all about smoking
ganja. For 70 percent of the time, they're talking to sadhus who are smoking
ganja and doing nothing else. The person who sees the footage will ask,
'Is this what Hinduism is about?' I'm not saying that what they portrayed
does not happen, but this is not normal, mainstream Hinduism. No one explained
what the Mela is really about.'
Fran?ois Gautier, reporter for France's
largest circulation newspaper, Le Figaro, is one of the few Western reporters
not following the rules, and in a recent editorial he discussed this very
issue. 'There was a very symbolic photo published by the Indian Express
during the early days of the Kumbha Mela, a naga sannyasin wanting to take
a quiet dip in the Sangam, was trying to shoo away a group of (mostly)
Western photographers. The fully-dressed lensmen versus the naked sadhu,
might have given the impression of civilization versus Paganism, enlightenment
versus Middle Age, as if the educated world was photographing the monkey.
It was at times as if the Western press was reflecting the images of a
colonial India: mysterious Pagan rites, naked sadhus, teeming masses praying
to an alien God. Very few foreign newspapers cared to say that it is extraordinary
that in the 21st century tens of millions of people endure endless travels,
hunger, cold and discomfort to pray to That which is beyond us. These millions
of people, mostly poor folks from the rural areas, are embodying the best
of India: its virtues of tolerance, gentleness, patience, faith and simplicity.'
Gautier did not spare the local
media, 'During this Mela: very few Indian newspapers and magazines showed
that they were proud of their own culture, or highlighted the fact that
for once, the Indian Government did a wonderful job. There has never been
such a huge congregation of people. Yet everything is working. Water is
flowing, electricity is on all the time. Roads are watered periodically
to restrain dust, and the place is extremely clean for Indian standards,
thanks in part to a us$32 million contribution by the Central Government.'
India Today and India Abroad, both
widely distributed in America, managed just about the same lurid coverage,
two Naga sadhu photos each, two of ganja for India Today and one for India
Abroad. India Today even captioned one of the ganja photos, 'literal evidence
of religion as opiate' a slur harking back to Karl Marx's dismissal of
religion as 'the opiate of the people.'
Finally, Western reporters seem
woefully ignorant of factual details of Hinduism. Some didn't know the
white substance on a sadhu was holy ash and called it 'paint.' Many called
the Nagas Hinduism's 'highest priests,' which they are not, though they
are greatly revered for their asceticism. One even called the Ganga water
'warm' when it is freezing cold. Some reporters did do a good overall job.
But even someone knowledgeable about Hinduism, such as Mike Wolbridge of
the BBC, still devoted much of one of his last reports to an interview
with a stoned British pilgrim. Nearly every newspaper launched into their
report with Naga sadhus storming the river for their bath. It may sell
newspapers, but it does little justice to the extraordinary holy event
which took place.
