Category Archives: Religion

Krishna for Christmas

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ABC Home is a Jagannath of a furnishings store which fills an entire New York City block. Here’s their sidewalk display for the holidays. They hawk Lakshmi with leather gloves, Buddha with bath beads. Reindeers game at Krishna’s feet, Ganesh sits blue by Christmas trees. Three white women, expensively dressed with close-cropped hair, chatted by the display: ‘And then the Buddhists get annoyed…’

30% Off — She Love You Long Time — Take Lakshmi Home Today

It’s syncretic, it’s pretty, it’s callow. I don’t see Jesus and Mary lounging among the loofahs, I don’t see Moses parting the Listerine. But you can buy ‘spicebodhi,’ capsaicin enlightenment in a bar. Symbols my parents revere become interior design props. Mild, tolerant, ‘cardamom-scented‘ Hinduism and Buddhism are gussied up and vended. We gave you Manhattan, you give us beads.

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Fatty fatwa

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From the showing-up-on-the-radar dep’t: The Colbert Report, a Daily Show spinoff, satirizes religious outrage:

My fatwa was issued by certain religious leaders because… I happened to say that Halloween was a better holiday than Romadon…

After I slammed Gandhi for his eating disorder, the Hindus came after me with an eight-armed Sheeva squeeze…

I got the Dolly Lama to take a punch at me just because I said Boodism is a religion for chubby chasers…

Nazi pope Benedict the 16th wanted to excommunicate me just because I called him a Nazi pope.

(The names are spelled the way he pronounced ’em .)

That’s not a Shiva image I recognize, though maybe it’s a style I’m unfamiliar with. The reference strikes me as a bit Temple of Doom-ish — Americans make a beeline for death cults. But hey, a funny mention is better than no mention. Watch the video.

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Stamp of disapproval

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In the U.S. we have been talking for a while now about a Diwali stamp. In the U.K. however, it is a Christmas stamp that has gotten the attention of the Hindu community. The Telegraph reports:

Hindus are demanding that Royal Mail withdraws one of this year’s Christmas stamps, claiming the mother and child image it represents is insulting to their religion.

The 68p Christmas stamp, which would be used to send mail to India, features a man and woman with Hindu markings worshipping the infant Christ.

The image is one of a series of six mother and child stamps that go on sale today.

Ramesh Kallidai, secretary general of the Hindu Forum of Britain, said the image was insensitive, because it showed people who were clearly Hindu worshipping Christ.

“It is the equivalent of having a vicar in a dog collar bowing down to Lord Ram on a Diwali stamp,” he said. “These things need to be done with sensitivity.”

The main feature in this stamp that is causing anger is the fact that the man in the painting has a “tilak” on his forehead, which identifies him as a Vaishnava Hindu, and the woman has a “kumkum” mark on her forehead, identifying her as a married Hindu woman.

“It is striking to see that Royal Mail thinks it prudent to issue Christmas stamps that can cause resentment in the worldwide Hindu community but remains silent on the issuing of stamps for Diwali, the festival of lights celebrated by the third largest faith community in the UK and by a billion Hindus worldwide.”

I usually roll my eyes at things like this but I can’t help but admit that the above point is a valid one. The argument in defense of the stamp is that it is art from the 17th century. Why revise/reject it just to be politically correct?

The picture was chosen for Royal Mail by this year’s stamp designer, Irene Von Treskow, an Anglican priest in an English-speaking church in Berlin.

She said she was fascinated by the image because it was so interesting to see a Mughal painting with a Christian subject.

She does not believe the picture is offensive. “How can it be?” she asked. “It is 17th-century art.”

Pickled Politics has more.

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Religious weaponry (updated)

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Saffronists are distributing trishuls (tridents), a Shiva symbol, in Rajasthan:

The government in the western Indian state of Rajasthan says it will closely monitor the distribution of a traditional religious symbol by Hindu hardliners… According to the VHP, over 75,000 tridents have been distributed by the Hindu hardliners in the last year causing concern to the state government. [Link]

The purpose seems both electoral and nefarious:

In neighbouring Gujarat, more than 1,000 people died last year in violence between Hindus and Muslims… Hindu activists say they have distributed more than 70,000 tridents (trishuls) in Rajasthan in recent months. One Hindu activist, Mahavir Prasad, said all able-bodied Hindus would be given self-defence training as the state government could not guarantee their safety. [Link]

Right, Hindus, who outnumber Muslims twelve-to-one in Rajasthan, need to stock mêlée weaponry at home. Purely for self-defense, you see.

But if we’re getting into avatar weaponry, give me a first-person shooter with a full armory. I want Parashurama‘s wikkid axe, Hanuman‘s berserker mace and Vishnu‘s self-levitating chakra. Give me multiple arms, a snake capable of churning the oceans and Garuda as a mount, and I’ll be pretty much invincible. As long as you don’t catch me in the twilight hour

Updated: I wonder whether the trishuls being handed out are purely symbolic, like most Sikh kirpans, or actually functional weapons. And if functional, can you imagine if churches handed out free handguns to, say, Episcopalians? Arms race! Normally the only religion I wouldn’t worry about is Buddhism, but then some crazy mofos uncorked a hand grenade at a Sri Lankan concert last year.

Oy vey. If having batleths is Klingon, only Klingons will have batleths.

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NPR’s “Geography of Heaven” series

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NPR’s recurring collaboration with National Geographic Radio Expeditions began a series this week titled, “The Geography of Heaven.”

Radio Expeditions explores how shared beliefs of the afterlife shape the lives of the faithful. The journey begins in Vrindavan, the Indian City where the Hindu faithful believe the god Krishna once took human form.

Long time NPR listeners will be quite familiar with the pleasure of a Radio Expedition:

Radio Expeditions blends narrative, interviews, and digital sound to document stories of our world’s threatened environments and diverse cultures. This pioneering series is a coproduction of NPR and the National Geographic Society. [link]

As you wake up sleepy-eyed in your bed, it is their job to aurally transport you to the scene of the story. When they succeed the result is incredible and the images sometimes enter into your dream world. As the quote above mentions, this week’s running story has been focusing on Vrindavan (Monday, Tuesday).

Among the constellation of Hindu deities, Krishna is the truest expression of God. The faithful believe Krishna assumed human form in Vrindavan thousands of years ago and lived a single life as a man. For countless generations since, the town and the miles of low hill countryside surrounding it have been considered sacred.

Reminders of the Hindu faith are everywhere. There are countless temples, pilgrims marching through narrow streets following holy men in saffron robes, devotional music and singing. There is also stark, third-world poverty and suffering. It’s city of narrow, trash-blown streets and open sewers, alongside a river black will pollution — the overcrowded capital of New Delhi lies upstream.

As if the audio was not enough, the website features a breathtaking slide-show for those whose curiosity overpowers their imagination. In addition to the main stories, NPR also has a running tape of the ambient sounds in four locations around Vrindavan:

  • A Rickshaw Ride Through the Streets of Vrindavan
  • Women Gather to Sing on the Shores of the Yamuna River
  • Bells Call the Faithful to See a Statue of Krishna
  • A Song of Devotion at the Shri Raman Temple

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Courtesy calls

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Who got the courtesy calls when Dubya nominated Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court:

White House officials began calling close conservative allies around 7 a.m., just as they did in the hour before Mr. Bush announced his two previous [Supreme Court] nominations. Karl Rove, the president’s top political adviser, reached Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention, on his mobile phone in an airport… an aide to Mr. Rove, called the Rev. Jerry Falwell around the same time. [Link]

What the Southern Baptist Convention says about Hinduism — it’s a fevered, Victorian-era fantasy straight out of Temple of Doom. I hear they eat monkey brains… only the Shadow knows! *cackle*

The SBC [Southern Baptist Convention] released 30,000 copies of [a conversion guide for missionaries] just before the most important Hindu festival of 1999: the three-day celebration of Divali…

‘Hindus seek power and blessing through the worship of gods and goddesses and the demonic powers that lay behind them… Hindus lack a concept of sin or personal responsibility… the darkness in their Hindu hearts that no lamp can dispel… demonic powers lie behind Hindu gods…’ Hindus live under ‘the power of Satan…’

‘Mumbai… is a city of spiritual darkness. Eight out of every 10 people are Hindu, slaves bound by fear and tradition to false gods… Satan has retained his hold on Calcutta through Kali and other gods and goddesses of Hinduism. It’s time for Christ’s salvation to come to Calcutta.

‘… more than 900 million people lost in the hopeless darkness of Hinduism… Walking through the streets of India during Divali is a sobering reminder of the power of darkness that lies over this land…’ [Link]

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Exotica shop

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Beads of Paradise is a small furnishings shop by Union Square in Manhattan. Earlier this year, it sold random old photos of a Rajasthani family for six hundred bucks as nothing more than visual texture for interior design. This struck me as comical. Now they’re selling Hindica for the same purpose:

The most egregious in this vein is actually ABC Home, a giant imports store down the street (Moroccan lanterns go for thousands) with expensive Krishna and Nataraja icons in its sidewalk displays.

Religion and art are closely linked, of course; churches in Italy feel to me like shared art galleries. But you generally won’t find secular furnishings stores in the U.S. selling pricy Christian icons because of the disrespect that implies. On the flip side, you can get Ganesh idols at many stores in Jackson Heights, but most of those selling anything larger than a keychain are religious artifacts shops. New Jersey has elevated the metallic dashboard Ganesh to an art form.

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Scott McClellan feels the heat

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As I correctly predicted yesterday, the White House Press Secretary was beseiged today by a question that may end up rocking the administration later this week:

Q Scott, two quick questions. Remembering Miss Rosa Parks. Then in 1955 it was like Mahatma Ghandi in South Africa, same thing happened to him. And during her time, there was very little or not many immigrants in the U.S., but today we have millions of immigrants from all over the globe. What message do you think President will have today as far as civil rights moments —

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, the President just spoke about her passing a short time ago in his remarks to the spouses of our military officers from all the branches of our military. And the President talked about what a remarkable women she was, and how courageous she was. She is someone who changed America for the better. She is an inspiration to generations, and we mourn her passing.

Q Second question is on the — now again, most of Indian-American community thankful to the President for initiating — or did initiate the Diwali Festival of Lights at the White House. Now it will be next Wednesday, November 1st, when millions across India and America will — Indians will be celebrating the festival around the globe, including at the White House here. What they are saying in the Indian American community, really, just like President initiates prayers with other groups here in the White House, like Muslims and Jews, and all that, that they are requesting him, please, to the President, this time, that if he can take a few moments and be there at part of the White House Festival of Lights on Wednesday, November 1st.

MR. McCLELLAN: On Wednesday, November 1st? Well, we’ll update you on the President’s schedule later this week.

How much do you want to bet that Goyal was the one who asked that question?  I wonder if he reads us?  Keep it locked onto SM for minute by minute news and analysis of this growing scandal.  I am considering launching my own “Special Counsel website” focusing on just this issue.  The truth is that I don’t care one way or the other whether Bush celebrates Diwali.  I just like raging against the machine. I’m good at it.

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Party Politics

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iftaar.jpg

“43” hosted an Iftaar dinner at the White House yesterday, the fifth time that Bush has held one in the State Dining Room. Ambassadors Ronen Sen and Bernard Goonetilleke attended, as did other diplomats and prominent Americans who practice Islam. After the Imam’s prayer, the President announced a “first” which seemed especially appropriate; a Koran is now part of the White House Library.

The President used the occasion to express his gratitude towards Muslim nations who have assisted in the WoT. As for the rest:

“I believe the time has come for all responsible Islamic leaders to denounce an ideology that exploits Islam for political ends and defiles your noble faith,” he said at the White House, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP). [link]

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A Hindu symbol, misused against Sikhs in Lodi

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Some disappointing news from last week:

Vandals this week sprayed several swastikas and racial epithets on property that includes a Sikh temple at the northeast corner of Armstrong Road and West Lane.

Lodi, CA is a city that is 90 miles northeast of the bay. The vandalism went down at a site where plans for a larger Gurudwara were approved by the San Joaquin County Planning Commission. I don’t think the vandals’ choice of targets was coincidental.

Apparently there are close to a dozen groups of White Supremacists in the county. No one believes me out here on the right coast when I mention that I grew up near Klan members; they can’t get past the Golden Gate bridge/Hollywood sign in their heads. All the peaceful, flaky, uber-tolerant golden state stereotypes just make more sense, not that I can blame anyone for their disbelief. Unfortunately, stories like this validate a point I never cared to prove.

Nirmal Samra owns the 8.6-acre property and said he noticed the graffiti on his produce stand and a big-rig trailer Monday morning. The vandalism included remarks such as “killers” and “white power” along with other racial epithets directed at Muslims of Middle Eastern origin.

Nirmal Uncle is a grape farmer who

has never before experienced prejudice in his 30 years living in Lodi…

And I want to stress the following point: my experiences aren’t meant to be a blanket statement regarding racism or ignorance in the bay area or NorCal. Use Mutineer Manish’s statements for that. He went to the better school. 😉 Continue reading →