Pic from iloveindia.com
We started our tour of Varanasi (northwest India) by visiting the local university which is the biggest university in Asia. A dude wanted to start a university so he asked the government for land to do so. They told him he could have as much land as he was able to walk around between sunrise and sunset. He got a 10km piece for the school: good on you fine sir!
We then went to two Hindu temples. They were similar to many of the others I've described: take your shoes off, people bring lots of offerings, many little idol/temple/shrine things. Everything about the temples was detailed and ornate just not always maintained. Since Varanasi is an extremely holy place for Hindus, I should explain what I know about Hinduism. Much of this I learned from Joseph (the student I met up with on Monday), our driver and trying to find my own answers at night on the interweb. Please don't take this as gospel truth.
- the red dot on the forehead (bindi) used to symbolize that a woman was married. It has become more if a beauty symbol now and it can not be assumed that all women who have it are married. It is also said to ole the brain and bring peace
- feet are dirty hence taking shows off. In fact, if your foot touches someone else you are to apologize.
- orange is a holy colour. The sea of orange folks at the train station were dressed in the holy colour because I the Shiva festival which is happening now
- people colour their hair orange for this same reason
- Hindus but orange and pink flowers, little white balls and other things from vendors outside of temples. They use these things as offerings for the gods. It is then someone's job in the temple to sweep up all this stuff after its presented. It isn't used long.
- there are bells above to ring when you enter. Ringing the bell is good luck.
- it is all about good luck/good karma
- people wear red arm bands (looks essentially like string) to keep bad karma away
- there are two main symbols: the ohm and the swastika. What floors me is how many people have bonuses the Germans did not create this symbol. Before Nazi Germany existed the swastika (sanskrit) was in multiple countries/religions (Buddhism and Jainism too I believe) and it literally means "to be good"
- there are three main gods, like the trinity if Christians. Brahma: created the world. Vishnu: maintains the world (Vishnu is a very popular name in the Indians I have worked/interacted with). Shiva: god if destruction, can take away bad things
- Krishna is the incarnation of Vishnu, he's super good/revered/important to Hindus (Krishna/Krishnan is a very popular last name in Indian culture: aka Sunder Krishnan, pastor of Rexdale Alliance)
- cows are holy because Krishna rode them. Hindus do not eat beef (can't find it anywhere here) and, as I've explained previously, cows roam freely
- an area outside of Jaipur was flooded recently. Krishna used to live there. He must be angry with the people there.
- there are boatloads of different gods: I've heard there's about 300 million. There is literally a god for everything.
- you choose which god/gods you serve. Taxis will have different images on their cars. People have different 'shrines' in their houses. That is why at all of these temples there are little shrines and holy men along the way: they can all call on different gods on your behalf.
- incense is common, another way to worship/offering
- Ganesh is probably the most common: he has a human body but an elephants head. He is good luck and he is everywhere: in hotel lobbies, on our drivers car dash, taxies. Everywhere. It is said that he was born to Shiva (I think) but then shiva left for years. He came back to see his wife but Ganesh, his son that he didn't know, stood guard at the door and did not let Shiva in. Shiva was furious and cut off his head. When he later realized that was his son he vowed to replace his head with head of the next animal that crossed his path. This happened to be an elephant. This is Ganesh.
- as people enter the temples they'll touch the stairs and then pray etc...and that is a sign of respect for the god of the temple
The Shiva festival is going on right now where basically villagers travel miles to go to shiva temples and worship. They all come dressed in orange (holy colour). Shiva is the one who can take away bad.
In Varanasi the two temples we went to were the shiva and the Durga temples. The shiva one was busy and many, many offerings were being given. Durga has many arms and is, I think, the god of health.
Who knew I'd learn so much over my summer holidays? I'd like to think of it as my unique professional development.
No comments:
Post a Comment