Sunday, May 20, 2007

God in his own image

The picture above is the welcome arch for this years celebrations.
The first line has the name of the goddess chapalamma dEvi
and the second one plEgamma dEvi
Come summer many small temples prepare for special celebrations.

Many of these temples are of minor gods and goddesses or bhootas or devvas or daivas. Many of them represent local deities and are said to have specific powers. Whereas gods do not harm you even if you do not offer prayers to them or propitiate them in any manner, many of these minor gods are said to harm you if you do not treat them ”properly” periodically.

Many of these minor goddesses are said to unleash an epidemic of some dreaded disease if not propitiated. That is why perhaps, these local festivals always take place around summer when these epidemics are rampant. Perhaps, they were more so in the past than now.

In any case, there are deities that carry the names of the diseases they have in their power to unleash. These goddesses are referred to as ammas – mothers. At the same time, some of these diseases themselves are called amma. Measles and chickenpox are two examples. Smallpox, which is a ‘more virulent – “bigger” – version’ (I do not know if the pathogens that cause these are in any way related or even similar, but the symptoms definitely are. With smallpox, it could even be fatal whereas chickenpox rarely is) of chicken pox is called doDDa amma, doDDa being “bigger”.

These Ammas, which are said to have power over a particular disease, are known by those names too. daDaara (rashes/measles) Amma, doDDa amma (smallpox) and so on.

But now, we have Plague Amma (Kannadised as plEgu ammanavaru) too. Many do not believe this when I tell them that there is a plEgu amma’s temple. I being an atheist, all that I say about gods is suspect. However, there is in fact a temple of the plague amma in NR Colony in Bangalore. This summer I found one, hardly a kilometre from where I live – in Jayanagar 1st block, Bangalore. This post was triggered by the elaborate arrangements being made this year for the celebrations.

Does the fact that the word plague itself is used in plEgu amma mean that plague is a disease that is new to India? (relatively speaking, that is. 400 years ago, in this context is new. We apparently do not have a kannada name for plague and hence the usage of the ‘English’ word before amma?)

If it is so, what was this amma doing before Plague came to India and where? No idea.

Even though some religions claim that god created man in his own image, perhaps
Ludwig Feuerbach was right when he said that man created god in his own image. If you are a theist, you may say that man gave his own image to god, so that he is more comprehensible. Why are most of these minor deities in charge of epidemics feminine Gods? As far as I know there are no appas (fathers) for any diseases.

Any ideas?

Lost Forever . . . .






People are happy that roads are getting better – wider, smoother and well laid out. We can’t resist the temptation of flaunting our new office complexes and tech parks to anyone who is interested. I myself work in a posh office but am ill at ease in it.

Look at the pictures above. Lovely place, is it not? To get to this place, travel towards Tumkur, from Bangalore, NH4. At Nelamangala, another road intersects the highway. Turn left here. This road goes to Taavarekere, I think. This road is pretty bad right now. If you travel about ten kilometres along this road, you will see this beautiful place to your left.

Get off your vehicle and explore the hillock. Climb the rocks. Explore the small cave.

Do all this as soon as you can or before the hillock disappears, forever.

Pictures never lie they used to say. That was before trick photography and computers. Now most photographs may be lying.

My photographs do not lie. They conceal. They conceal the harsh, bitter reality that to the left of the picture, outside the frame, is a quarry. Like a cancer it has already eaten into this lovely hillock. It will continue its inexorable gnawing and soon this hillock will be no more.

Many cancers are no longer as dreaded as they used to be. There is hope.

But for this hillock, there is no hope. This cancer called population explosion, greed, glitz and glamour, . . . . .

Sentinels from a Bygone Era






Have you seen such structures around your city? Of course, not if you are living in Bangalore, a city that seems to be running away from its yesterday towards an uncertain and unknowable tomorrow.

You see them near towns and villages all over Karnataka. They may be found elsewhere too, but I have not seen any.

Guess what they are?

They are stands on which, a weary villager carrying a head load of his wares to sell could unload it for a while - without assistance.

With hardly anyone to use them, these simple public conveniences are waiting to be pushed to the dustbin of history by the next road-widening project?