Sunday, 30 November. Jaipur
As the sun rises over a hill, I sit on a small rooftop hotel, after challenging the staff person about whether it was too cold. It seems that temperature is relative to culture; I feel a nice 65 degrees or so out here. By late afternoon, it will be near 90. Winter in India is not so bad.
Yesterday entailed travel from Pushkar to nearby Ajmer. Although very close towns, they are separated by a mini-mountain pass, as well as a religion. For the most part, Ajmer is Muslim, about 75% or so, whereas Pushkar is Hindu, with a smattering of Sikhs. The driver seemed less happy about coming here, and I wondered if it had anything to do with religious tensions. He said it was a town where I might get robbed. In the end, though, it was very pleasant, and full of new discoveries.
At the central mosque, down the end of a long bazaar street, and entered through a massive gate, there is a true “Islamic Center” where shops, hostels, and holy sites merge. The mosque is fairly nondescript, like most rather plain courtyards and inner porches for prayer. But the major reason people come here is to pay homage to a great medieval Muslim saint. This is one of the holiest Muslim sites in India. I was impressed with the way Indian/Hindu culture blends with Muslim worship here: Worshippers bring baskets of lotus flowers and sugar pieces to offer to the shrine, just as in Hindu worship. Also, it was interesting to see Sikhs and Muslims and Hindus all meeting here for prayers. No doubt most were Muslims, but the sentiment expressed is important.
The other major site here is a spectacular Jain temple. Jainism emerged about the same time as Buddhism, generally, with Mahavira as its founder. The Jains are known for their extreme nonviolence – some Jains will not eat any root foods as well as no animal products, for fear that organisms in the dirt will be killed. This temple, however, is more about their worldview, with a view of the universe with some 20+ planets. Here in the temple, a stunning gold model of this universe is placed. I need to investigate it further to be able to say much. It was certainly unique.
After our arrival in Jaipur, we visited the Temple of Sun and Moon, more commonly known as the “Monkey Temple.” In the summer, monkeys gather here at dusk in large numbers, but apparently they think it is winter too. Nonetheless, the temple itself is the central reason for coming here. There are numerous small shrines for prayer and worship, with different images of gods, and a major central prayer altar and shrine with the monkey-faced god Hanuman. Here I watched my driver go through his prayers. After purchasing a small amount of sugar crystals, he approached the “altar,” stood for the priest to bless him and accept his repentant attitude and gift, placed a mark on his forehead, gave him a bit of sugar which he ate, and then the driver prayed and walked away. Next, he rang a bell, said another prayer, and sat down, where he meditated a moment, prayed again, and bowed to the floor, just as Muslims do. The whole ceremony took less than 5 minutes, and as he tells me, basically he is showing the need for blessing, receiving blessing, and praying and offer praise to the god. Hindus do this, in some fashion, usually twice a day if possible. For each specific god, there are specific blessing emphases, and the mark placed on the forehead has a specific name appropriate to the blessing.
Watching the priest and crowds, for a moment I thought I saw a Roman Catholic service, where congregants were receiving the sacraments. When he bowed to pray, the driver reminded of a Muslim salat ritual. As people methodically moved through the actions, I sensed many a church service. The similarities abound.
As we left the temple grounds, I noticed what seemed to be a Muslim couple, she dressed in conservative face covering. I was right, for just beside the entrance to the temple was an entrance to an adjacent mosque. Here in this place too, there is room for both to pray. In the light of Mumbai and the commonly understood tensions between Hindus and Muslims, India and Pakistan, it is good to see that most people are more alike than different. The terrorism strikes, and the subsequent blame games and political maneuvering, make me angry. Likely what happened this past week here was intended to destabilize good movement toward better relations between Muslims and Hindus. Political and ideological radicals are the same everywhere – they want their way at all costs, and they fail to see that the world will never know peace without common human courtesy, what Jesus summed up in the “golden rule,” and what he and the prophets and wise people of every faith sum up in loving God and loving neighbor.
slp
As the sun rises over a hill, I sit on a small rooftop hotel, after challenging the staff person about whether it was too cold. It seems that temperature is relative to culture; I feel a nice 65 degrees or so out here. By late afternoon, it will be near 90. Winter in India is not so bad.
Yesterday entailed travel from Pushkar to nearby Ajmer. Although very close towns, they are separated by a mini-mountain pass, as well as a religion. For the most part, Ajmer is Muslim, about 75% or so, whereas Pushkar is Hindu, with a smattering of Sikhs. The driver seemed less happy about coming here, and I wondered if it had anything to do with religious tensions. He said it was a town where I might get robbed. In the end, though, it was very pleasant, and full of new discoveries.
At the central mosque, down the end of a long bazaar street, and entered through a massive gate, there is a true “Islamic Center” where shops, hostels, and holy sites merge. The mosque is fairly nondescript, like most rather plain courtyards and inner porches for prayer. But the major reason people come here is to pay homage to a great medieval Muslim saint. This is one of the holiest Muslim sites in India. I was impressed with the way Indian/Hindu culture blends with Muslim worship here: Worshippers bring baskets of lotus flowers and sugar pieces to offer to the shrine, just as in Hindu worship. Also, it was interesting to see Sikhs and Muslims and Hindus all meeting here for prayers. No doubt most were Muslims, but the sentiment expressed is important.
The other major site here is a spectacular Jain temple. Jainism emerged about the same time as Buddhism, generally, with Mahavira as its founder. The Jains are known for their extreme nonviolence – some Jains will not eat any root foods as well as no animal products, for fear that organisms in the dirt will be killed. This temple, however, is more about their worldview, with a view of the universe with some 20+ planets. Here in the temple, a stunning gold model of this universe is placed. I need to investigate it further to be able to say much. It was certainly unique.
After our arrival in Jaipur, we visited the Temple of Sun and Moon, more commonly known as the “Monkey Temple.” In the summer, monkeys gather here at dusk in large numbers, but apparently they think it is winter too. Nonetheless, the temple itself is the central reason for coming here. There are numerous small shrines for prayer and worship, with different images of gods, and a major central prayer altar and shrine with the monkey-faced god Hanuman. Here I watched my driver go through his prayers. After purchasing a small amount of sugar crystals, he approached the “altar,” stood for the priest to bless him and accept his repentant attitude and gift, placed a mark on his forehead, gave him a bit of sugar which he ate, and then the driver prayed and walked away. Next, he rang a bell, said another prayer, and sat down, where he meditated a moment, prayed again, and bowed to the floor, just as Muslims do. The whole ceremony took less than 5 minutes, and as he tells me, basically he is showing the need for blessing, receiving blessing, and praying and offer praise to the god. Hindus do this, in some fashion, usually twice a day if possible. For each specific god, there are specific blessing emphases, and the mark placed on the forehead has a specific name appropriate to the blessing.
Watching the priest and crowds, for a moment I thought I saw a Roman Catholic service, where congregants were receiving the sacraments. When he bowed to pray, the driver reminded of a Muslim salat ritual. As people methodically moved through the actions, I sensed many a church service. The similarities abound.
As we left the temple grounds, I noticed what seemed to be a Muslim couple, she dressed in conservative face covering. I was right, for just beside the entrance to the temple was an entrance to an adjacent mosque. Here in this place too, there is room for both to pray. In the light of Mumbai and the commonly understood tensions between Hindus and Muslims, India and Pakistan, it is good to see that most people are more alike than different. The terrorism strikes, and the subsequent blame games and political maneuvering, make me angry. Likely what happened this past week here was intended to destabilize good movement toward better relations between Muslims and Hindus. Political and ideological radicals are the same everywhere – they want their way at all costs, and they fail to see that the world will never know peace without common human courtesy, what Jesus summed up in the “golden rule,” and what he and the prophets and wise people of every faith sum up in loving God and loving neighbor.
slp
