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Hinduism
If you’ve missed the news in the past year about the violence between Christians and Hindus in India, ReligionTranscends will bring you up to speed.
Last year, violence escalated in Orissa, a state in east India, between Christians and the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP). The VHP is an organization that believes India is a Hindu Nation – always has been, always will be. Its leader was Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati.
Saraswati was upset about Christians who were constantly trying to convert the poor and tribe members. The swami made efforts to bring those people back into Hinduism. And the two sides have been fighting about conversion ever since.
The death of Saraswati
Then this year on August 23, the swami was murdered along with four others at the swami’s ashram.
Some government officials claimed it was an act of the Communist Party of India (CPI, or Maoists). But when Hindu groups began blaming the Christians, the government kept mum. This has led some Hindu groups to believe the government is blaming Maoists to cover for the Christians.
The aftermath
As a result of all the finger pointing, violence has continued to escalate, particularly against Christians. VHPs are retaliating against what they view as an attack on their leader.
Schools have closed across India to protest the violence. Around 20 Christians are dead; 4,000 are homeless; and thousands are reporting rapes, murders, and arsons.
The Prime Minister has sought to intervene, sending in units of the Central Reserve Police Force. But the violence continues.
Check out this news video from Reuters:
Want more?
Read Wikipedia’s bio of the swami.
Check out an interesting article from the VHP point of view.
On Monday, we reported that religious authorities in Nepal are searching for the next Kumari.
Today, we bring you an update from Afp.google.com:
A Nepali tradition of locking a young virgin girl in a palace and worshipping her as a “living Goddess” has been dealt a blow with the country’s Supreme Court ruling she has the right to go to school. The court said there was no justification for the specially chosen pre-pubescent girl, known as the Kumari, to be subjected to a practice that dates back centuries.
The ruling comes barely three months after Nepali lawmakers abolished the country’s 240-year-old Hindu monarchy, who received annual blessings from the Kumari in a ceremony designed to underpin the legitimacy of the royals. The court’s verdict was prompted by a complaint from local lawyers that keeping a young girl cooped up in an ornate but decrepit palace in Kathmandu’s medieval quarter was a violation of her rights.
But it was not immediately clear whether the court’s decision would herald the end of the tradition, given that the Kumari’s aura is to a large part dependent on her total separation from the outside world.
“This is not good news. In any case, she is a Goddess so how can court rulings apply?” asserted Rajan Maharajan, the vice president of the committee that looks after the Kumari and her palace. He also said the girl’s rights were not being violated because “her teacher comes to the Kumari Palace every day, and she has three hours a day when she can meet people.” “We do not keep her prisoner,” he said of the current Kumari. “We will ask the Goddess if she wants to go outside more, and if she wants, she can go, but I don’t think she feels comfortable leaving the palace.”
The search is on in Nepal for the next Kumari, the virginal “living goddess.”
Religious authorities and astrologers are consulting candidates’ horoscopes to find out who should succeed the current Kumari, according to Reuters. They are looking for a Buddhist who has perfect eyes, teeth, and hair; who has no scratches on her skin; and who could be as young as 3.
Who is the Kumari?
The Kumari is a girl selected from an ethnic family of Buddhists in Nepal (see below).
She becomes the “living goddess,” and many Hindus and Buddhists in Nepal believe she is the reincarnation of the famous Hindu goddess Kali.
The Kumari lives in a wooden temple in Kathmandu where she is revered and sought after (for her blessing) until she menstruates. At that time, a new Kumari is chosen.
The current Kumari is 11 years old, and authorities in Nepal seek to replace her before she menstruates. She is set to retire at the Daisan Hindu festival in October.
Who is Kali?
In Hinduism, there are many gods. However, they are all seen as manifestations of the One, the Ultimate Brahman. Kali is one of the most followed Hindu gods. She is the goddess who encompasses both good and evil, life and death, creation and destruction.
At times, Kali is worshipped as a sweet mother. At other times, she is worshipped as an angry feminist — bloodthirsty and enraged at masculine power.
Who are the Shakyas?
The Kumari will be chosen from a Buddhist Newar family. Newar Buddhists are an ethnic group of Buddhists from Nepal.
The Kumari will specifically be chosen from the Buddhist Shakya, the highest caste of Newar Buddhists found mostly in Kathmandu. The Buddha (Shakyamuni or Guatama Buddha) is originally from this line. Thus, the chosen Kumari should be in the line of the Buddha.
The high court in Great Britain will soon review its open-air cremation laws, according to the Calcutta Telegraph.
Traditionally, when Hindus and Sikhs pass away, they are cremated and their ashes are released into rivers in India. In Hinduism, open-air funeral pyres (which allow for cremation of the dead on platforms out in the open) allow deceased Hindus to be reincarnated in a peaceful manner. Fire is the necessary element for creating the transition from the physical world to the spiritual world.
Hindus in the UK sought to challenge the government’s prohibition of open-air cremation last year, petitioning to maintain their religious traditions. But they lost. Then this April, when a Hindu requested that he be cremated in that manner upon his death, the high court again opened discussions of the prohibition. They are now gearing up to make a decision.
Many UK Hindus argue that the open-air tradition doesn’t hurt anyone and doesn’t endanger public health. What do you think? Should this religious tradition be allowed? Is it necessary?