CAST(E) AWAY

The invitation was for Satyanarayan puja, the worship of Lord Vishnu [1]. Frankly, I do not prefer to go much to any such ritualistic ceremonies. But this being a close friend’s invitation, I could not ignore it. We reached the designated time but were kept waiting for the arrival of the purohit [2], who was supposed to conduct the religious rituals. Even ‘God’ was waiting!

Finally, he arrived, a good hour late. Wearing traditional yellowish-orange dhoti [3] and janeu [4]. It was all decked out for the ‘show’. The purohit gave some finishing touches and then started his commentary on mantras [5]. Along with other friends and their families who were also invited, we were mute witnesses to the puja. When the puja was almost over, my friend’s wife seemed to be unusually worried about something that she had supposedly missed. I tried to be of help. This would also give me a break from the rhythmic chants in Sanskrit that I hardly understood. I soon found out that she needed four coins of one rupee each. I volunteered and went around the neighborhood to arrange those coins in time.

After the puja was over, I observed the purohit whispering something in the ear of my friend. He nodded obediently, and soon after I saw him distributing a coconut, a beetle leaf, an areca nut, and a one-rupee coin to four other friends present there. Somehow, he chose to ignore me, not making me the recipient of this set of goodies that looked like a return gift. Not that it mattered much, but I was curious about my omission. I kept quiet until all the rituals were over. A cab was arranged for the purohit, and he left with a bag full of fruits, sweets, other goodies and dakshina [6].

After most people had left, I confronted my friend and asked him why he had chosen to make me devoid of his goodies. It was then that I realized that the ‘goody bag’ was meant only for brahmins [7], and the purohit had instructed my friend via whisper to give the same to any four brahmin men. I was terribly disappointed and made no bones about expressing the same to my friend, who was both apologetic and empathetic to my complaints. I was his closest friend, yet somehow today my caste seemed to make me a tad inferior to others, and I was suddenly this second-class invitee in that group of people. It really hurt. As I have aged, my belief in traditional rituals and practices has increasingly diminished owing to such belief systems.

How can the caste determined by the birth of a person be a determinant of his purity or piety? Why should upper-caste people be put on a pedestal? Why should caste and not the karma (deeds) of a person determine his worth? How can we discriminate against people based on their birth, created by the same God? And how can we please the almighty when we do not care two hoots about hurting a fellow human being? If we are all children of God, then would a parent be happy if they found one child discriminating against or hurting another child?

And finally, why did my friend choose not to defy the purohit when he issued such diktats? But to be fair to him, I cannot blame him too much for his behavior. Afterall, most people find it comforting to conform, rather than confront.

 Footnotes

[1] The second God in the Hindu triumvirate, according to beliefs, is responsible for the upkeep of the world.

[2] the sacred brahmin blessed by a guru.

[3] A loose piece of clothing wrapped around the lower half of the body.

[4] a sacred thread (yagyopavita or janeu) that is received by a brahmin boy during the Upanayana ceremony marking acceptance of a student by a guru teacher and an individual's entrance to a school in Hinduism and that he continues wearing across his chest thereafter.

[5] A mantra is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words in Sanskrit believed by practitioners to have psychological and/or spiritual powers.

[6] Cash or money paid to Purohit for his religious services.

[7] Brahmins are the upper caste cohort. Hindus have four main castes: Brahmins, Vaishyas, Kshatriyas, and Shudras, in decreasing order of their status in society. 

Photo credit: Andrii Yalanskyi