Author: Ratnadeep Banerji
Publication: Organiser
Date: September 7, 2008
URL: http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=253&page=17
Garuda insignia of Indonesia
"Even during our short stay, what was
more than evident was how deeply the mind of the people of this country has
been influenced by the stories of the Ramayana and Mahabharata. We have read
in our Geography books how, when fauna and flora migrate to a favourable soil,
they multiply and spread more luxuriantly than in their original habitat.
In the same way people's minds here have been overlaid by the epic stories.
…..And so even today, the people, through their bodies, are giving dance
form to the lives of these epic characters, thrilled by the throb of life-blood
coursing through the stories that are the never-ending subject of their plays.
Although outwardly they appear to have been cut off from India for centuries,
they have acquired a subtle refuge within India's soul through the epics.
These islands are called the Dutch Indies; but in point of fact they are the
Vyasa Indies…………"
(Rabindranath Tagore's Travelogue: Excerpts
from August-September, 1927 letters from Java)
Sanskrit names are still freely used ere.
Irrigation water is called Sindhu-amrita (nectar of the sea)…..High-sounding
Sanskrit names that are unknown even in our country are not uncommon here,
as, for instance, Atma-suvijna (who thoroughly knows himself), Virya-suvrata
(who has taken a vow of good courage, Yaso-vidagha (on fire with the effulgence
of fame) and a host of others.
(Source: R Tagore, an anthology edited by
Krishna Dutta and Andrew Robinson, Picador ISBN 0 330 34963 5)
In another of Tagore's letters written to
Amiya Chakraborty while on Java trip on September 17, 1927, he says-"The
balcony of the palace of the king titled as 'Monkunagro', where I am sitting
now to write this letter, abounds with Ramayana stories beautifully drawn
on silk to be seen all around on the foundation pillars. But, they are Muslims
by religion. Yet, they know ins and outs of the Hindu deities. They have taken
as their own all the ancient streams of the India narratives.. In fact, there
is nothing wrong in it, as the characters of Ramayana and Mahabharata in abstraction
are roaming around in their land. Rather, they do not have such all pervasive
camaraderie in our country, where they do not figure in all their festivals
as at every home here."
The Erawan Shrine in Bangkok, Thailand, ercted
in 1956 is widely revered and happens to be a tourist attraction. It has a
statue of Phra Phrom, counterpart of Brahma. Devout worshippers throng the
shrine. It so happened that on March 21, 2006, a mentally disbalanced person
vandalised the statue that shot an outrage among the bystanders who subsequently
lynched him.
The resurgence of Hinduism in Indonesia is
led by Balinese Hindus.
Garuda marks the national symbol of Indonesia
and also to the airline Garuda Indonesia. The Indonesian coat of arms, Garuda
Pancasila, derives its insignia from Javanese Hindu elements.
The Indonesian government has officially sanctioned
five monotheistic religions-Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism.
Inspired by Hindu Javanese legacy, several hundred thousand Javanese converted
to Hinduism in the 1960s and 1970s. Some ethnic religions though not Hindu
were officially recognised under Hindu variants by Ministry of Religion in
1968 and 1980. Various tribal and animistic religions declared themselves
Hindu to avoid harassment or pressure to convert to Islam or Christianity.
Indonesian nationalists have all along praised the achievements of the Hindu
Majapahit Empire. This factor has led to an increased popularity and witnessed
a resurgence of Hinduism in Indonesia outside its Balinese stronghold. The
rate of conversion accelerated dramatically after the collapse of the former
President Suharto's authoritarian regime in 1998. The eastern part of Java
has witnessed a major resurgence of Hinduism with mass conversions. In this
region a prominent Hindu temple on the slope of Mt Sumeru, Java's highest
mountain has come up. Hindu communities are also proliferating around the
Hindu monuments of Prambanan.
Malaysia has witnessed widespread persecution
by high-handedness of the Government. Several imposing temples were razed
down on trivial reasons.
What is Hindutva? Is it redundant or still
remains redolent? Shri Bharat Gupta, a master raconteur during a discourse
at India International Centre embarked on a myth shattering spree to unravel
certain facets of Hinduism that remain obscure to people at large.
In 1966 the Raja Guru (Thai Royal Guru) and
the top Indian Brahmin appointed Pandit Vidyadharji to be the Chief Hindu
Priest of Thailand, a title he holds up to the present time. Sacred waters
from nine sacred rivers in India was used by Hindu Brahmins in a ceremony
to mark His Majesty the King's 72nd birthday.
And quite so, by being redolent one can perceive
that Hindutva can never become redundant. "The complexity of Hinduism
is mainly due to the number of attempts at explaining in different ways the
universal laws and the nature of the all pervading principles from which the
universe may have arisen." It has been the sole motive of the Vedas and
the Upanishads to decipher the ultimate nature of reality viz. the atman-brahman
concordance. Hinduism is not quartered into any precincts of dogmas. Hinduism
is a realisation based faith, where the individual's knowledge of the Divine
is the final aim. The Unity of the Divine can be brought about through amorphic
means of samadhi or through morphic means of icons, images, symbols, gods
or goddesses.
(Concluded)
(The author can be contacted at ratnaub@gmail.com)
