Cultural Notes: In Real Time!
Of Annual Festivals, Alms, Decorations, and Co-existing with Traditions.
Imagine a world where amidst the hustle and bustle of modern life, there exists a pause—a natural interruption to our relentless pursuits.
In India, ancient celebratory days are specially designed to offer such pauses, encouraging reflection on the self and spiritual renewal.
We explore one such celebration—the birthday of the revered monkey-god Hanuman, per the lunar calendar which falls today, April 23.
Whether these days of celebration also enhance personal reflection is ultimately up to the individual, but traditional practices offer some people the chance to do so.
The Context.
Hanuman is revered as the embodiment of courage, selfless love, and, above all, service. As a bachelor God, he is also the patron deity of those who forsake marriage in the pursuit of spiritual growth without renouncing worldly life. Moreover, bodybuilders and wrestlers look up to him for his unmatched strength and power.
Even without the annual celebration, weekly Tuesdays are of particular importance in the worship of this God. For on that day, many who worship him abstain from meat and offer special sweets, either at home or at his temple. These temples range from grand architectural feats to smaller shrines tucked into the lanes of cities and villages.
I once waited in a shared cab while a fellow tech professional, after an evening work seminar, visited the local sweet shop to buy sweets on his way home. It was a Tuesday, and he was a believer, he explained!
Thus, the modern blends with the traditional.
The Scene at a Local Temple
A well-known local temple, over fifty years old, went all out today.
It had arranged to cover its grounds with the traditional ‘shamiana,’1 an Indian canopy, providing shade to the hundreds of devotees.
The concept of 'darshan'—catching a glimpse of the deity—is central to temple visits.
Some temples often house a sacred fig or ‘Ashwatta,’ tree - the eternal tree of the Universe.
Beneath this tree, grown old in the courtyard, remnants of flowers and mud lamps are visible, left by those who came earlier to pray. The tree's shade fell on the white and orange canopy.
On a busy day like today, people queue up to see the main deity. Given the crowds, temples make special allowances for the elderly to bypass the regular lines, providing them quicker and easier access.
The average wait for those in the regular line was a tolerable fifteen to thirty minutes, as the line wound its way around the trees in the courtyard.
Practices
People bring offerings such as sweet treats, coconuts, incense sticks, fruits, and flowers to present to the deity, as the custom is never to go empty-handed to a temple.
They may also give a rupee (or more!) by inserting money into the various donation boxes, known as 'hundis.’ The offering of money is made with the understanding that it is given to the deity, not the temple.
The priests consecrate these in kind offerings by placing them in front of the deity, chanting mantras. Afterward, they return half of the food offerings to the individuals, as 'prasad.’
Temple volunteers, clad in white attire, direct the flow of people.
Once a devotee has patiently waited in line for a glimpse or darshan, it's natural for them to linger for a few seconds to pray at the final destination.
Unfortunately, helpers are often irked by such tendencies and tend to urge you forward, sometimes, in less than polite terms.
The irony of their impatience in front of Gods, known for their patience, seems to be lost on temple administrations.
If you wish to seek a meditative moment in front of your chosen deity, it is best to avoid busy festival days like today, or crowded temples.
At famous temples that attract huge crowds, especially on festive days, staff are known to push you forward by hand without discrimination, and that leads to verbal exchanges of the unkind variety.
The larger the crowds, the more impatient the staff become, and so your experience tends to get marred by such altercations.
Unless you are a VIP! More on that later.
Pausing in the Temple Courtyard
One of the beliefs in play during temple visits is that a person must not rush through the process.
The custom is to sit down after coming out of the main temple area, post the Deity’s darshan, and reflect quietly, even if only for a moment, on whatever appeals to one's devotional nature.
Perhaps they ponder for a moment on the deity’s attributes, or their own blessings, or prayers, or the wonder of the present moment.
God, the ancients decree, must not be worshipped by halves.
Thus, you'll find people milling about, sitting, and enjoying the prasad (blessed offering).
Community
Temple volunteers circulate glasses of water on a tray brought from a central station, where other volunteers poured water into individual glasses from the 20-liter mineral water bottles arranged for the event. Someone may have sponsored the water.
At this temple, in the courtyard, a priest-helper hands out a small milk-based dessert known as ‘pedha’ as ‘prasad.’
In a testy manner, he then rudely shooes people away by repeatedly saying ‘Chalo,’ ‘Chalo’ after handing them the ‘prasad,’ which means ‘Go Away,’ ‘Go Away’ in Hindi.
The entire experience for an average goer can be uneven. It may range from meeting kind souls who go out of their way to help to rude helpers with an attitude and varying moods, who may seem to have been put there by the Universe just to test your patience.
This is in stark contrast to the treatment of VIPs (often individuals with wealth, power, and influence) which sharply contrasts with that meted out to ordinary temple-goers.
This disparity can understandably irk regular visitors, whether or not crowds are present.
Here too, a VIP visited today and used their special entrance. Their black Range Rover was parked, obstructing the main entrance to the temple, while their security guards and aides parked another SUV at a ninety-degree angle on the street.
Once the visit was over, the security guards, wielding their machine guns, waited for the VIP to be seated before both cars vanished into the traffic in as much as traffic can vanish on Indian roads.
No one batted an eyelid.
The Alms Seekers
Outside the temple's main entrance, it's a special day for the alms seekers as well.
The expectation that many people may be charitable today is in the air.
Despite the scorching 100-degree Fahrenheit weather, the men and women seeking alms huddle together, seated in and around the telephone pole in their chosen spots, devoid of any shade, patiently waiting.
Modern Intrusions
The main temple entrance was adorned with flower arrangements - not every arrangement appeals to the aesthetically minded! But if you have ever visited a flower market in India, now you know why there are so many stalls! Every single day, in some temple (or home), flowers are offered, by the staff or by those who come calling for blessings.
But today, a new twist caught my eye at the temple entrance.
Alongside the usual floral decorations, three large billboards displayed generative AI images of divine figures. Though such images are circulating online, this is the first time I have seen them mounted on a billboard.
The rightmost billboard, however, featured an image with noticeably askew proportions—a stark reminder of the complexities and imperfections that dog AI image generation.
Showcasing mythological figures, especially those of divine nature, is an art lovingly cultivated by human creators. Their imagination, coupled with the inspiration and devotion they possessed, made each image unique to the artist.
Some used to stand on bamboo scaffolds and sketch and paint the figures onto the billboard.
I idly wonder what they make of this move to AI!
As people pass by this temple, some observe the goings-on with interest, while others simply shrug their shoulders, as though to say, ‘it's just another day!’
Nearly everyone accepts the traffic snarls around the temple.
So ends the celebration of the brave warrior Hanuman, the epitome of love and service.
Until the next special day dedicated to another deity rolls around, life continues on.
The word 'shamiana' was first used in the 1600s according to Oxford's etymology. Of Persian origin, it was later adopted into Urdu before becoming part of the English lexicon in India.
Lovely essay, Jayshree. The accompanying photos highlight the magic and diversity of our country. In Hindu mythology, there are numerous instances of an entity interposed between the awesome, often intimidating deities of the primary pantheon (Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva) and us mortals. They are more human: imperfect in specific ways. Hanuman is one, Narada, Ganesha, Iyyappan are some other examples that come to mind. BTW - I am constantly impressed by the span of your writing interests, the language and your persistence. Keep at it.
Great post, Jayshree. I'm for anything that awakens our spiritual side. Though the SUVs & AI made me nauseous–neither have any place in our relationship to higher things, no matter which religion.
"shamiana"-reminds me of an early definition of Vritra–to cover, to obstruct, though in Vritra's/ Vatra's case this was clearly negative, as obstructing caused drought. Great post, and not only because my real name–Fitzgibbons–actually means "son of gibbons" and I feel connected to apes & trees.
I also wonder if Hanuman influenced the later Sun Wukong in China. I am also curious to learn if there are stories of Hanuman's birth...None of them would be stone-related, would they, as they were in the case of the Monkey King?