2 MAR 2004 TUESDAY
Published in Free Press Journal Indore by Mridual Kalia Bhatnagar
The temples, mosques, dargahs, gurudwaras, synagogues, churches…. The Indian landscape is dotted with the places of worship. I wonder if any one would know how many? I wonder if the correct number is listed or has figured in any directory. Temples, Mosques, Gurudwaras and innumerable places of worship such as Dargahs spring up at places as weird as the centre of the a boulevard, at crossroads, on the railway crossing, on the highway bridge and in the trunk of a tree, in the cave of a hill and even a steep turning..(even on the Gate pillar of a building) At many places faith arises out of fear because these places are accident prone areas. But the problem arises when these small places to offer obeisance become larger than life. They grow in size thanks to the growing faith and growing number of deities. Is faith directly proportion to the size of the temple? Won’t a prayer be answered if offered at a small place?
The fact is it is far easier to build a place of worship on a buffer land or on a disputed property. The goons in the builders lobby do it to harass someone. Some others will do it to enforce encroachment on government or private land. They erect four walls and place a religious symbol in it. If someone dares to ask he is blasphemous. Any god fearing common man will get scared to tamper it. The non believer criminals don’t have love lost for anyone and certainly no fear of god.
The Moguls who invaded India were certainly men of criminal bent of mind. They caused lots of destruction to men, material and mandirs during their rule. Many generations later Hindus are trying to settle a score. But this time they should not perpetuate the same mistake because somewhere the line must be drawn. Babri masjid- Ramjanambhoomi has to set a precedent for so many other religious sites where mandir and masjid co-exist. One thing is for sure that Gods, Hindu or Muslim, can surely stay side by side. Although one still does not understand how two diverse religious structures come to be built in the same vicinity in the first place. And if they did, there surely had been harmony at the time of construction.
Few would know that right atop Charminar there is a masjid to offer prayers and right below in one of the four minars towards the east is a small but conspicuous temple. Surely it must be agreeing with the Muslims in that predominately Muslim area. I could not gather more information about its origin. The vendors and shopkeepers in and around Charminar area have no clue about how it came into existence. It is an integral part of the world famous structure that is Hyderabad’s signature on the world tourist map.
Our religion is our social conditioning. Our faith is our own. I know of a Muslim young man who always visits Lord Balaji in Tirupati every six months without letting anyone know that he is Muslim. That does not make him any lesser musalman because he offers his namaz to Allah with the same sincerity.
We are lucky to be born in a country where religious freedom is fundamental right. There are family owned temples which actually are extended pooja-ghars but on religious festivals they are decked up only to attract devotees and of course donations. The fact is that these places are moolah raking sites. There are people who operate these places as businesses. For them God is nothing but a commodity. This is true for Dargahs as well.
It is important to be religious but it is time we learn to respect each other’s religion as well. Tolerance is the key. We can not go on building religious structures indiscriminately at any place. Some times with such disregard to the surroundings that there is a heap of garbage right behind or a dirty nullah flowing right besides. It is no good to erect new places of worship and abandon the old historical ones. There are famous religious sites, now only the so called heritage sites, and in common man’s terms ‘ruins.’ I would say famous Ellora temple which has lost its religious importance and has been reduced to just being an ancient site. There are many others like that.
The right to religious freedom does not mean that we forget about the future of these structures and the future of the structures we are going to make. We have to plan and develop these sites else we will be disrespectful and blasphemous. There has to be a law that new places need to be registered before constructing them. There has to be a trust to ensure that these places are taken care of. Government should have the right to demolish any illegal and unregistered such place.
One is astounded at the Shiva temple of Ellora which is said to be carved from top to bottom, feels puny standing next to the 7 ft. tall Shivlinga in the Bhojpur temple, and feels ecstatic going to Shankracharya temple in Srinagar where the valley of Kashmir seems so serene. There are many more fantastic religious places which have gathered the dust of time. Why not make these places accessible? Why not develop these and worship there?
Even the new, to be built, places of worship should be placed in locations where loud speakers or big congregation does not cause inconvenience to the residents. There should be minimum specified area and minimum specified requirements to ensure civic amenities to develop such places. Since these places are money collecting centre by way of donations by the public, a percentage of these collections must be paid back to the government to enable better connectivity and better civic amenities around that area. The Tirupati Devasthanam is one such place and Balaji is said to be richest Lord in the world due to the huge sums of donations received. Not only that these places should also be held accountable and they should disclose their statement of accounts to the public vide news papers. The religious heads and leaders should be held responsible for development of these areas and all the activities that take place in these premises. The same should be done for Ajmer Sharif Dargah and Shirdi Sai Baba or any Churches, Gurdwaras, Synagogues or Fire temples across all religions.
History has it on records that the places of worship have been exploited as shelters for nefarious and terrorist activities. Golden temple, HazratBal and may be many others have been the hideouts of terrorists. Such activities can be checked only if regular inspection of these premises is allowed to be carried out.
It’s time that all the religious places are registered and governed by some laws. Its time to stop indiscriminate erection of such structures and evaluate the importance of existing ones so that we and the generations to come learn to truly worship at abode of the gods.
Mridual Prabhaa Writingdoll
This is an old article of mine published in my series of weekly articles "2020" in Free Press Journal, in the year 2004. The subject is topical and relevant even now. I would like to hear your views in the comment section.
Published in Free Press Journal Indore by Mridual Kalia Bhatnagar
The temples, mosques, dargahs, gurudwaras, synagogues, churches…. The Indian landscape is dotted with the places of worship. I wonder if any one would know how many? I wonder if the correct number is listed or has figured in any directory. Temples, Mosques, Gurudwaras and innumerable places of worship such as Dargahs spring up at places as weird as the centre of the a boulevard, at crossroads, on the railway crossing, on the highway bridge and in the trunk of a tree, in the cave of a hill and even a steep turning..(even on the Gate pillar of a building) At many places faith arises out of fear because these places are accident prone areas. But the problem arises when these small places to offer obeisance become larger than life. They grow in size thanks to the growing faith and growing number of deities. Is faith directly proportion to the size of the temple? Won’t a prayer be answered if offered at a small place?
The fact is it is far easier to build a place of worship on a buffer land or on a disputed property. The goons in the builders lobby do it to harass someone. Some others will do it to enforce encroachment on government or private land. They erect four walls and place a religious symbol in it. If someone dares to ask he is blasphemous. Any god fearing common man will get scared to tamper it. The non believer criminals don’t have love lost for anyone and certainly no fear of god.
The Moguls who invaded India were certainly men of criminal bent of mind. They caused lots of destruction to men, material and mandirs during their rule. Many generations later Hindus are trying to settle a score. But this time they should not perpetuate the same mistake because somewhere the line must be drawn. Babri masjid- Ramjanambhoomi has to set a precedent for so many other religious sites where mandir and masjid co-exist. One thing is for sure that Gods, Hindu or Muslim, can surely stay side by side. Although one still does not understand how two diverse religious structures come to be built in the same vicinity in the first place. And if they did, there surely had been harmony at the time of construction.
Few would know that right atop Charminar there is a masjid to offer prayers and right below in one of the four minars towards the east is a small but conspicuous temple. Surely it must be agreeing with the Muslims in that predominately Muslim area. I could not gather more information about its origin. The vendors and shopkeepers in and around Charminar area have no clue about how it came into existence. It is an integral part of the world famous structure that is Hyderabad’s signature on the world tourist map.
Our religion is our social conditioning. Our faith is our own. I know of a Muslim young man who always visits Lord Balaji in Tirupati every six months without letting anyone know that he is Muslim. That does not make him any lesser musalman because he offers his namaz to Allah with the same sincerity.
We are lucky to be born in a country where religious freedom is fundamental right. There are family owned temples which actually are extended pooja-ghars but on religious festivals they are decked up only to attract devotees and of course donations. The fact is that these places are moolah raking sites. There are people who operate these places as businesses. For them God is nothing but a commodity. This is true for Dargahs as well.
It is important to be religious but it is time we learn to respect each other’s religion as well. Tolerance is the key. We can not go on building religious structures indiscriminately at any place. Some times with such disregard to the surroundings that there is a heap of garbage right behind or a dirty nullah flowing right besides. It is no good to erect new places of worship and abandon the old historical ones. There are famous religious sites, now only the so called heritage sites, and in common man’s terms ‘ruins.’ I would say famous Ellora temple which has lost its religious importance and has been reduced to just being an ancient site. There are many others like that.
The right to religious freedom does not mean that we forget about the future of these structures and the future of the structures we are going to make. We have to plan and develop these sites else we will be disrespectful and blasphemous. There has to be a law that new places need to be registered before constructing them. There has to be a trust to ensure that these places are taken care of. Government should have the right to demolish any illegal and unregistered such place.
One is astounded at the Shiva temple of Ellora which is said to be carved from top to bottom, feels puny standing next to the 7 ft. tall Shivlinga in the Bhojpur temple, and feels ecstatic going to Shankracharya temple in Srinagar where the valley of Kashmir seems so serene. There are many more fantastic religious places which have gathered the dust of time. Why not make these places accessible? Why not develop these and worship there?
Even the new, to be built, places of worship should be placed in locations where loud speakers or big congregation does not cause inconvenience to the residents. There should be minimum specified area and minimum specified requirements to ensure civic amenities to develop such places. Since these places are money collecting centre by way of donations by the public, a percentage of these collections must be paid back to the government to enable better connectivity and better civic amenities around that area. The Tirupati Devasthanam is one such place and Balaji is said to be richest Lord in the world due to the huge sums of donations received. Not only that these places should also be held accountable and they should disclose their statement of accounts to the public vide news papers. The religious heads and leaders should be held responsible for development of these areas and all the activities that take place in these premises. The same should be done for Ajmer Sharif Dargah and Shirdi Sai Baba or any Churches, Gurdwaras, Synagogues or Fire temples across all religions.
History has it on records that the places of worship have been exploited as shelters for nefarious and terrorist activities. Golden temple, HazratBal and may be many others have been the hideouts of terrorists. Such activities can be checked only if regular inspection of these premises is allowed to be carried out.
It’s time that all the religious places are registered and governed by some laws. Its time to stop indiscriminate erection of such structures and evaluate the importance of existing ones so that we and the generations to come learn to truly worship at abode of the gods.
Mridual Prabhaa Writingdoll
This is an old article of mine published in my series of weekly articles "2020" in Free Press Journal, in the year 2004. The subject is topical and relevant even now. I would like to hear your views in the comment section.
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