Group Condemns Bollywood Couple's Use of Hindu Ritual, Astrology

[Guest guest]

Troy, Michigan [uSA] Feb 11, 2007 (IANS): A US-based international

Hindu reform organisation has expressed disapproval of certain Hindu

rituals performed by Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan for his son

[superstar actor] Abhishek and fiancée [superstar actress] Aishwarya

Rai.

 

Aishwarya is a Manglik (astrologically Mars-bearing), which is

believed to have negative consequences for her impending marriage.

[in order to expiate these supposed deficiencies,] the actress is

said to have married a peepal tree at Benares, a banana tree at a

Bangalore temple and a god's idol in Ayodhya.

 

The organisation, called Navya Shastra, commends the Bachchans for

their Hindu religiosity and charitable works but is extremely

concerned about their actions, which [it believes] will have an

unhealthy impact on their fan base.

 

Before announcing their engagement, Abhishek and Aishwarya performed

a series of poojas [Hindu prayers and ceremonial offerings] at the

Kashi Vishwanath temple and the Sankat Mochan temple in Varanasi,

Uttar Pradesh. After their engagement, the couple also sought the

blessings of the deity at the Vindhyavasini Temple.

 

"What concerns us is that millions of people may rationalise their

mistreatment of women based upon the Abhishek-Aishwarya example,"

said Navya Shastra chairman Jaishree Gopal in a press statement.

 

"As it is, hundreds of thousands of women, and even some men, have

difficulty marrying because of the alleged perniciousness of a

random confluence of stars," added Gopal.

 

The organization contends that "astrology and similar unscientific

practices should be renounced in marital matchmaking and other

everyday activities in Hindu society."

 

The organization further notes that "much of so-called Hindu

astrology is an imported amalgamation of long-invalidated pseudo-

sciences emerging from Babylon , Greece and Persia , and should be

discarded as irrelevant to the Hindu tradition."

 

Navya Shastra notes that the religious rationale for untouchability

is also based upon an accidental birth, and exhorts the Bachchans

and Rai to renounce such actions.

 

SOURCES: (1) NowRunning.com

(2) Navya Shastra

URLS: (1) http://nowrunning.com/news/news.asp?it=9511

(2) http://www.shastras.org/PressRelease22.html