Apparent Dharma

I’ve been meaning to write on this topic for some weeks, but I figured that now is as good a time as any to sit down and just do it.

In America, as separated as the church is from the state, God or the concept of God is always there. In God we trust, thanking God in acceptance speeches, even arguing aggressively against the existence of God. As true as this might be, it is still not difficult to escape from religion. The Christians are in their churches, the Jews in their synagogues, the Muslims in their mosques. With the exception of the few fire and brimstone preachers you see damning everyone on University campuses, you need not enter any sort of religious zone unless you absolutely intend to do so.

India is officially a secular state, but this in no way means that religion takes a backseat. Just down the street from my guest house there is a small Hindu shrine right by the side of the road which blast devotional music in the evening. Since Lucknow has a sizeable Muslim population, we hear the call to prayer loud and clear five times a day. I’ve heard it so many times now, I’ve started to be able to distinguish the different muezzins (the guys who do the “azhan” or call to prayer). There’s one who sounds like a computer starting up, and one who actually sings pretty melodiously. Driving down the road you pass so many mandirs and masjids. And they aren’t off in their own little areas, they’re in the middle of the busiest marketplaces or right in a residential area. There’s even a famous sufi shrine at the Lucknow train station.

Backstory about the train station shrine, as told to me by Naheed. First of all, shrines are generally built over the grave sites of sufi saints. These shrines become places of pilgrimage and worship for people of all different faiths. You’ll see Muslims, Hindus, and I’m sure even Christians going there to listen to Qawwali and to meditate or pay their respects. So this was the burial place of a Sufi saint, whose name I cannot currently remember. The story goes that the British tried to build the station over his grave, but every time they tried there would be some disaster and the work would fail or someone would die, etc. So eventually they built a shrine for him and had to build the tracks AROUND the shrine. So to get to this place, you actually have to get down and walk across the tracks. This explains why Emily and I couldn’t find it when we tried to go there. Next time!

And then, of course, we have the religious festivals. I, unfortunately, have not as of yet had the chance to witness any of the big festivals, since I’ve usually been here during the sort of off-season. However, there are so many festivals here like Holi, Muharram, Diwali, Eid, etc etc. For example, in Lucknow, Muharram entails a procession to mourn the death of Ali, the grandson of Muhammad. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mourning_of_Muharram Check out the section about Lucknow)
Then of course there’s Holi where people throw colors on each other. I’ve talked to a lot of people who have told me that even though these festivals are specifically Muslim or Hindu festivals, that people from both communities will end up joining in.

Some might say “Well, all sorts of people celebrate Christmas and Easter in the US…what about that?” Yeah that’s true, but over time it seems like people have become more and more terrified of the religious aspects of these holidays. Here, Diwali is still a Hindu festival and Eid is still celebrating the end of Ramadan, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy both with your neighbors.

This isn’t to say that all is well all the time. There are still riots sometimes and there are still these idiots who feel that people of other faiths are the enemy, but there are still so many others who just want to worship or find their own peace with God and don’t mind if you’re worshiping someone else right next to them.

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~ by yatrahindustan on July 26, 2009.