The Kumbha Mela: The Real Report

[Guest guest]

François Gautier

The Kumbha Mela: Who are the Monkeys?

 

There was a very symbolic photo published by the Indian Express

during the early days of the kumbha mela: a naga sannyasin wanting to

take a quiet dip in the Sangham, was trying to shoo away a group of

(mostly) western photographers. The fully dressed lensmen versus the

naked sadhu, might have given the impression of civilisation versus

paganism, enlightenment versus Middle Age, as if the educated world

was photographing the monkey. While it is true that quite a few

foreign media, such as the BBC, under the guidance of Mark Tully and

Mike Wolridge, did try to convey the inner meaning of the mela, it

was at times as if the westerner press was - probably unconsciously

and without ill intent - reflecting the images of a colonial India:

mysterious pagan rites, naked sadhus, teeming masses praying to an

alien God. In many European countries, the kumbha mela is only worth

thirty second spots on television news, showing visuals of the mela.

Will the clichés created by Herge and Kipling forever haunt India?

 

But who are the monkeys: the photographed or those photographing? Do

you know what are the TV shows which boast the highest ratings in the

West today? You take a few ordinary people, lock them together in an

apartment for three months, place cameras everywhere and record their

every moment: when they bathe, fight, talk, make love. At a time when

globalisation has brought a lowly sameness all over the world Coca

Cola, MTV, Mac Donald's and Calvin Klein - very few foreign

newspapers cared to say that it is extraordinary that in the 21st

century 80 millions people endure endless travels, hunger, cold and

discomfort to pray to That which is beyond us. These millions of

people, mostly poor folks from the rural areas, are embodying the

best of India: its virtues of tolerance, gentleness, patience, faith

and simplicity. It is thanks to these humble people who form the

backbone of India, that in spite of murderous Muslim invasions,

British colonialism and Nehruvian Marxism, this great Indian culture

has survived.

 

But the saddest is that the Indian Press showed once more that, bare

for a few brilliant exceptions, it is often a pale copy of the

western media. Press a button say VHP, for instance and you have one

hundred voices and pens which faithfully come up with a pre-recorded

(by the British more than 200 years ago) message: fundamentalists,

Hindu fanatics, communalists, etc. And this is exactly what happened

during this mela: very few Indian newspapers and magazines showed

that they were proud of their own culture, or highlighted the fact

that for once, the Indian Government (the UP administration in this

case, which is supposed to be the most inefficient and corrupt in

India) did a wonderful job: there has never been in the history of

the world such a huge congregation of people at the same time. Yet

everything is working: water is flowing, electricity is on all the

time, roads are watered periodically to restrain dust and the place

is extremely clean for Indian standards, thanks in part to the

efforts of the adopted son of the soil, Murli Manohar Joshi, who took

personal interest in the mela and intervened so that the Central

Government contribute 150 crores. No reporter also mentioned the fact

that for the first time in history, the three religions born in

India, Jainism, Buddhism and Hinduism, came together to devise ways

to protect their faith. Instead, the Indian Press has mostly two

leitmotivs: the VHP and Sonia Gandhi.

 

Any religion worth its name tries to defend is culture and heritage:

the Pope not only is attempting to stem the falling attendance in

Churches, but also tries to propagate Christianity even declaring

Asia as the ground of Evangelisation for the Third Millennium during

his visit to India (it is as if the Shankacharya invited in Paris,

would tell Frenchmen that Christianity is a false religion and that

they have to embrace Hinduism). What is wrong with the saints and

Hindu leaders of this country trying to unite to stem the conversion

drive by Christian missionaries and the Islamisation of South Asia ?

But instead of highlighting this point and the fact that no country

in the world can boast of so many saints, enlightened beings and

sadhus who have consecrated their lives to the Unseen, the Indian

press only spoke of the political agenda; of the VHP and the Ayodhya

controversy.

 

Sonia Gandhi is spelling doom for the Congress, as under her

stewardship this venerable party is doing its lowest scores in its

history. The lady, whatever her qualities and goodwill, has

absolutely no idea what India is about, having been confined to Delhi

by VIP security for most of her stay here. She probably went to the

mela out of political compulsion more than out of religious faith,

being a Christian, as she has every right to be. But this obsession

of the Indian intelligentsia with the White Skin is too strong: her

half dip took the centre stage, superseding everything even though

she as only one soul amongst millions of others. Indian journalists

played the very game of the Congress when the Times of India went as

far as saying that by coming to the mela, she was taking the wind out

of the VHP blitzkrieg. Does the Times of India know what the word

blitzkrieg mean? It was coined by historians to describe Hitler's

treacherous invasion of Poland and subsequently Belgium and France,

using tanks, planes and canons and murdering thousands of innocent

people. What an expression to describe a religion which not only

always accepted the divinity of other Avatars, but never tried to

convert others, never invaded other countries like Christianity and

Islam did to impose their religion?