Creating Hindu space beyond India: Shrinivas Tilak

[Guest guest]

Creating Hindu Space Beyond India

By Shrinivas Tilak

 

Jun 01, 2005

 

The purpose of this essay is to propose a multi-pronged strategy of

staking claim to space beyond India on behalf of Hindus living in

India or in diaspora. The argument is developed with particular

reference to North America as an illustration and with necessary

modifications; it can be extended to any other area of the world.

Like other people on the move Hindus in diaspora have typically

experienced cultural displacement and alienation through migration to

non-Hindu areas. Preservation and proper depiction of their

religious, cultural, and social practices therefore becomes a major

concern for Hindus in the diaspora. If we concur with the Vedic

notion of the dynamic origin of human life (comparable to Bergson's

élan vital), then the essence of life becomes not a being that is

static and moribund but a being that participates in a flowing onward

and a being that is necessarily expressed in terms of lived time and

inhabited space--domestic and public. For, to be a person is not

merely to be embodied but also to inhabit a domestic and public place

with others. Our social selves are created not just symbolically but

also physically within roles determined by social, cultural, and

religious hierarchies as well as by considerations of gender and

age.

 

Space as dialectic of the particular and transcendent

Contrary to commonsense assumptions, space is not merely an abstract

category; it is neither something to pass through nor to remain

within. The sense of particular place is equally a complex phenomenon

partly generated within the human mind and partly provoked by a

particular location and specific time. This sense of space is

communicated in the Greek notion of topos meaning the physical

aspects of a particular place, much as we are conscious of today; and

chora, a mysterious property of space that is global, subtle, and

poetic. It is chora that provokes our sensibilities and stirs the

seeds of spirituality within us. Chora articulates the Greek

understanding of a universal or transcendent sense in localized form

(See Devereux 2000: 19-20).

 

Such modern philosophers as Martin Heidegger and Gaston Bachelard

have argued that place (i.e. particularized space) is prior to space.

A sense of place may actually precede and create a sense of space. We

come to know in terms of the particular knowledge of specific places

before we know space as a whole or in the abstract. A `person' for

Heidegger is Dasein (being-there); to be a person is literally `to be

there,' in a particular place (Sheldrake 2001: 7). Place involves a

specific landscape, a set of social activities and webs of meaning

and rituals, all inseparably intertwined (Sheldrake 2001: 13).

Landscape, along with human culture and action, create the

dialectical nature and foundation of place. People learn to be who

they are by relating to the foundational landscapes of childhood or

to adopted landscapes that become significant because of associated

events and activities.

 

Space in the traditional Indic world

Space does not exist merely as `objective' thing that is three-

dimensional, geometrical, evenly divided, and divisible into

commensurate sections. It is subjectively perceived and experienced

differently depending on the perspective. Deploying insightful

spatial metaphors the Ishavasya Upanishad alludes to the inevitable

tension between the local or particular and the universal dimensions

of space. Within every particular there is an impulse to transcend it

and attain the universal. Ultimate reality or truth, paradoxically

enough, must be sought through contingent time and place (verses #

4,5). The Veda calls this urge and drive `Aryan.' It is important to

remember here that `Aryan' is not a term with racial or territorial

implications. It denotes a person with high ethical and noble

character that transcends limitations of place.

 

Hinduism provides a more inclusive dimension in its overall approach

to space, which is often dichotomized as sacred and profane. In the

Hindu worldview there is no absolute dichotomy between the sacred and

the profane as defined by the Latin word sacer. Rather, like the

symbols of yin and yang in the Daoist tradition, the sacred and the

profane intertwine with the S-curve of their interface, suggesting

the inter-changeability of relationship. Space is at once plenum and

vacuum. "Space inside the heart is as great as the space extending

the cosmos," says the seer-poet (rishi) reflectively in Chandogya

Upanishad (8:1.3), which is a part of the Samaveda, one of the four

founding scriptures of Hinduism.

 

India: sanctified landmass (punyakshetra)

According to the Bhagavata Purana (5:17.12), the landmass of India

(Bharatvarsha) alone is the land of action and labor. It routinely

describes India as the land of moral action and righteousness

(dharmabhumi) dividing it into two categories: the realm of work

(karmabhumi) and the realm of pleasure and enjoyment (bhogabhumi).

The equation of the landmass of India and sacredness has become

axiomatic in Hinduism and its vast expanse has been organized into a

network of pilgrimage centres paralleling the network of

crisscrossing rivers.

 

The ideal of every Hindu is to undertake a ritual circumambulation

(pradakshina) of the sacred land of India in the auspicious,

clockwise direction around the four divine abodes (dhamas), which

stand at the compass points of the territory of modern India:

Badrinatha in the Himalayan mountains in the North, Jagannatha Puri

in the East on the Bay of Bengal, Rameshvaram in the South with an

opening to the Indian ocean, and Dvaraka in the West touching on

Sindhussgara (the Arabian sea).

 

Since in reality only a few Hindus of means can expect to accomplish

such a feat in their lifetime, it can be achieved symbolically by

visiting some of the more easily accessible sacred complexes where

replicas of the four dhamas have been conveniently produced under one

roof. One such modern complex, called Muktidham, has been built

recently in the ancient holy city of Nashik in Maharashtra. On a

raised platform at the center stand the images of Rama (an

incarnation of Vishnu), Lakshmana (his brother), and Sita (Rama's

consort).

 

Replicas of the four divine abodes (dhamas) as well as dozens of

statues or images of various gods, goddesses, male and female saints,

line individual alcoves and panels running in a clockwise direction

around the main altar. Symbols identifiable with Buddhism, Jainism,

and Sikhism are also included with a view to transmit the Hindu

belief that the sacred is universally approachable and that access to

it cannot be denied on account of creed or dogma.

 

Creating Domestic and Public Hindu Space in North America

In what follows below my particular focus is on the cultural life of

Hindus who have moved physically to North America from India or

elsewhere where their forefathers had settled. In the process they

have experienced a vivid sense of `displacement' that is at once

physical, social, and cultural. Consequently, the issues of space

explored here are in the multiple sense of that concept: 'social

space' of networks and identities created as Hindus interact as

individuals and collectively with the host communities in their

adopted new homeland. The 'cultural space' emerges in a wide variety

of ways as Hindus interact with one another and with the larger host

community.

 

Almost always, the interaction entails 'physical space' the very

concrete and tangible notion of residence, the erection of community

buildings and resource centres, the street processions and festivals

that mark the public areas of North America. Put differently, my

emphasis on the category of space would allow the exploration of

Hindu cultural and social practices beyond its articulations by

elites to the everyday life and practices of ordinary Hindus.

Hopefully, this essay will interest others to examine in greater

depth key spatially nuanced themes in Hindu cultural life: the matrix

within which cultural change is negotiated, the behaviours that

sustain cultural reproduction, and significant commonalities among

Hindus in North America.

 

(I)Domesticating space as Hindu

A sense of home is vital if human identities are not to be dispersed

or fragmented. The poetics of space (1969) by the French philosopher

Gaston Bachelard is an influential book on the modern notion of home

and domestication of space. The house is one's particular corner of

the world. It is our first universe, a real cosmos in every sense of

the world. The house contains within itself a great power of

integration for the thoughts, memories, and dreams of humankind.

Before being cast into the world, one is lovingly held in the cradle

of the house. The solitary lamp that glows in the window acts as a

symbol of the role that the house space plays in the human life.

House therefore can become a useful instrument in the anthropo-

cosmological study of space.

 

In the light of the preceding, the house would be a privileged entity

for a topographic study of the intimate values of inside space as

Hindus conceptualise it. A typical Hindu household would constitute a

body of images testifying to its occupants of their hopes, stability,

and in particular, their identity. To the Hindu 'home' would signify

the ideal place where members of that household can ritually pass

through the four stages (ashramas) and ends of life (purusharthas;

see below) in an organized manner so that they live and die as

Hindus. `Home' to a Hindu would then be a locale that enables them to

relate to life itself as sacred.

 

(II) Feminizing space the Hindu way

Hindu inscription of space (whether domestic or public) will require

a suitably altered gender based institutions of representation in the

multicultural context of North America. Feminists have long argued

that collective human identities generally tend to be male dominated

where women generally serve as markers and stakes for a collective

androcentric identity. For Arjun Appadorai, cultural communities are

generally 'communities of males' (1990: 19). Hindus in the diaspora

will have to move away from this state of affairs and push for a more

gender-balanced community leadership. Hindu women must be invited to

play a crucial role, whether formally in temple organization or

informally in the context of devotional assemblies.

 

Back in 1863 Georges Bizet set his opera Les pecheurs de perles

(Pearl Fishers) in exotic Sri Lanka and which revolves around a

temple priestess named Leila. In contemporary India, however, female

priests are becoming a well-established fact. Since 1991 for

instance, the Dynanaprabodhini Centre of Pune organizes a course for

training women as priests where they learn to officiate at principal

Hindu worships and rituals including the sixteen sacraments

(samskaras). According to Dr W.L. Manjul, chief librarian at the

Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute Pune, there are over six

thousand women priests in India today. It should not therefore be

difficult to recruit women priests for temples in the diaspora.

 

(III) Building temples to confirm Hindu presence

A heightened sense of religiosity is a characteristic element of most

immigrant and expatriate communities. The flurry of temple building

activity by Hindus in North America is one visible expression of this

overt and heightened display of religiosity. Until about two decades

ago, Hindu religious expression in North America was typically

confined to a small household altar in the corner of a room dedicated

to one's chosen deity/deities. Today, however, a number of

architecturally and ritually authentic temples are coming up across

North America. North American Hindus are eager to provide a touch of

authenticity to their temples in terms of architecture. Skilled

artisans (shilpins) are commissioned to make divine images, which are

duly consecrated, installed, and worshipped by trained traditional

priests. The visitors to these complexes have started to acknowledge

the feeling of a sense of belonging in terms of the temple's

landscape, soundscape, and aromascape.

 

Community leaders in the diaspora, on their part, must begin

inculcate among their newly arriving brethren the ethic and joy of

hard work and material prosperity and political clout generating from

it. The Hindu community in Texas, to take one example, has sought to

legitimate and understand its presence there by invoking the ancient

lawgiver Manu, by calling Texas their new homeland where just

and 'creative' action will definitely bear fruit and merit

(karmabhumi)(Narayanan 1992: 163-64).

 

Accordingly, there is a growing sense of security and pride that the

temples have now sanctified their adopted homelands and rendered them

fit for permanent residence and for the practice of the four stages

and ends of life: dharma (righteous behaviour), artha (material

prosperity), kama (emotional, social, and cultural satisfaction), and

moksha (spiritual fulfilment). Similarly, different milestones of

life can be celebrated in the temples, which have also begun to

sponsor cultural activities and community events. Youth wings

attached to them have begun to organize special programmes of

interest to school and college students. Temples are emerging as

places to meet one's life partner. The Raleigh, South Carolina

temple, for instance, routinely attracts hundreds of young people

(see India Today May 15, 1995: 5).

 

Today, major Hindu temples have been established at the four cardinal

points of North America, creating the nucleus for a North American

version of the sacred sites traditionally located at the four

cardinal points of India. A grid of horizontal and vertical axes

along which temples to male and female deities are situated is now

discernible. While the East-West axis broadly reflects a continuum of

temples built in honour of Vishnu and Shiva in their various forms,

the North-South axis is a continuum of temples honouring the Goddess

Devi in her manifestations as Kali and Durga.

 

In the East, the Sri Venkatesvara Temple located at Penn Hills, a

suburb of Pittsburgh, Pa, was consecrated in 1976. Since then, a

growing number of visitors from all over North America has started to

go there on pilgrimage. In the West is to be found an emerging sacred

complex led by the Shiva-Vishnu Temple of Livermore, California. It

is a symbol of the Hindu spirit of harmony and accommodation

(samanvaya) in that it has brought together the two principal deities

and culturally different architectural symbolisms of North and South

India. It is therefore aptly labelled as Hari-Hara Kshetra. The

sacred complex on the North-South axis is represented by a group of

temples to Devi (Goddess) that are located in Toronto and Montreal in

the North (Kali Bari, Durkai Amman) and in Houston, Texas in the

South (Minakshi Devasthanam).

 

Storefront temples

In the terminology of spatial architecture, the term storefront is

extended to apartments, suburban homes, or lofts when the latter are

transformed into markedly different spaces and new uses--in our case

to sacred space functioning as a Hindu temple. They may emulate the

numerous 'storefront' mosques (parallel to 'storefront' churches),

which constitute a specifically religious reuse and make over of the

quintessential urban venue in North America. Hindus need to learn to

make liberal use of the commercial storefront wherever it is

available: a first floor space facing the street where the entrance

is flanked by glass windows for merchandise display that is generally

owned or rented by a business for use as a shop. This will condition

North Americans to look for and expect built or altered space and

environments that seem unmistakably Hindu or Indian.

 

(IV) Animating space through word and sound (mantra)

In the Hindu scheme of things both time and space are epitomized in

sound. If there is a recurrent audible (and visual) clue to a Hindu

presence in the multiple settings, it has to be the mantra:

established sequence of formulaic sound vibrations. For a Hindu to

feel at home or for a non-Hindu to recognize a Hindu space, the

presence of certain chanted, spoken or written mantras in Sanskrit

(or other Indic languages) syllables is most telling. Even when they

arrive from or into unknown places, a familiar mantra greets Hindus

from the West Indies to Indonesia-- Aum. Other Hindu mantras must

become part of the North American public space as they leap out from

billboards or vehicle decorations. Similarly, illustrations or

photographs of stylised mantras in a Hindu home can effectively

depict use of sacred words and formulae, which is widespread among

Hindus everywhere.

 

In the arena of verbal and literary clues marking space our goal

should also be to promote the inclusion into English of a wider range

of words and expressions from Sanskrit and other Indian languages

that remain untranslatable and which would thereby enrich and enlarge

the English language. We need to create a list of such terms as an

initial pool of lexemes and words that would eventually become as

English by adoption. By drawing upon the old cosmopolitanism of

Sanskrit and Tamil we can thus contribute to a new cosmopolitanism of

English.

 

Useful visual clues identifying the Hindu presence would include

women distinguished by their colourful saris and head coverings, the

array of objects displayed and distributed through the ubiquitous

Indian boutiques, catalogues, posters, hangings, mugs, bumper

stickers, key chains, jewellery, and so forth.

 

(V) Pilgrimage and parades to proclaim Hindu presence

The institution of pilgrimage in Hinduism is so deep-rooted that it

should not be difficult to introduce it into North America.

Pilgrimage is conceived of as a journey of the embodied self (jiva)

to the abode of one's chosen deity, which on earth may be represented

by temples erected in its honour. Parikrama is a journey undertaken

to here on the earth to emulate the self's journey to the world of

one's chosen deity.

 

Quite naturally, the traditional pattern of Hindu pilgrimage

(caturdhama yatra) should be transferred and transposed onto the

North American landscape. Visiting temples located in different

areas, offering worship to and circumambulating the deities and

having their darshana should emerge as one popular way of spending

summer vacation for North American Hindus.

 

So, when the summer comes, follow the new trend and take to the North

American pilgrim circuit with your family and elderly parents. You

may start from any cardinal point, but remember to journey clockwise.

It is not necessary to undertake the parikrama Penn Hills--Houston--

Livermore--Toronto/Montreal in one go. You may plan to complete it in

sometime during the present lifetime. Make detours, if possible, to

visit other sacred complexes lying nearby.

 

It is heartening to note that Hindus have started participating in

larger numbers in the annual parades organized by the International

Society for Krishna Consciousness to celebrate the birth of Shri

Krishna across North America. But the time now has come for Hindus to

take the initiative and hold parades on other auspicious occasions.

When we focus on public expressions of Hindu life in the diaspora, we

must also think of the importance of the sacred word. Select

statements and tenets of dharma carried on placards should accompany

public processions.

 

These may include "The Veda guides the humankind,Upanishads are

the Himalayas of metaphysical thought,Knower of the self goes

beyond grief and suffering" etc. Aesthetically designed and stylized

banners and signs emblazoned in Devnagari and in other Indic scripts

and signs should become the parade's most noteworthy feature.

Needless to say, it will be minus the attractions of the usual

parade: scantily clad women or young girls on display on floats or

marching to the tune of pop music.

 

(VI) Symbolizing space through myth and narration

There can be no sense of sacred place without narrative. While place

lends structure and context to narratives, it is stories and legends

which endow a particular place with the sense of occupation,

continuity, belonging, and memory. Any given habitat can only be

approached through a specific habitus, a way of reading and telling

about it that has accumulated over time (Sheldrake 2001: 19).

Narrative would be a critical key to the consolidation of Hindu

identity; for we all need a story to live by in order to make sense

of otherwise unrelated events of life and to find a sense of dignity.

French philosopher Paul Ricoeur has cogently argued for the

importance of narrative to human identity and the restructuring of a

viable historical consciousness. They are vital to our individual and

collective identities--and implicitly, to our spiritual well being:

 

 

(T)ime becomes human time to the extent that it is organised after

the manner of a narrative; narrative, in turn, is meaningful to the

extent that it portrays the features of temporal existence (Ricoeur

1984 1: 3).

 

An important task and challenge for Hindus in North America therefore

will be to generate accounts of Hindu sacred places using such

traditional strategies as producing hagiographic accounts of local

deities, places, and saintly personages associated with them (Sthala

Puranas) that our ancestors had employed to transform India into a

sanctified land.

 

(VII) Sharing public space with other faiths

The LOTUS (Light Of Truth Universal Shine) Temple at Swami

Satchidananda's Ashram in Yogaville, Virginia deserves a special

mention here since it enshrines in its structure and service the

Hindu ecumenical belief that truth is to be found in all religions.

Its alcoves accordingly are dedicated to major world religions,

including some less well known. It even reserves space for religions

yet to come!

 

Vineeta Sinha provides another fascinating account of how the

foundational Hindu value of harmony (samanavaya) can be effectively

operationalized for sharing space with others. In a recent article

she describes how Indians and Chinese living in the island state of

Singapore (where space is at premium) have found ways of sharing

public space for social, cultural, and religious purposes. The Hock

Huat Keng/Veeramuthu Muneswaram Temple is a living testimony of inter-

religious and inter-ethnic harmony in multicultural Singapore.

 

While the larger structure houses the Daoist temple, the smaller

enclosure within it houses the images of Ganesha, Amman, and

Muniyandi (a Hindu folk deity) rendering it a clearly identifiable

Hindu temple. Yet, Chinese Daoists pray to Muneswaram and Hindus the

Dao deities. Both participate in each other's rituals and help in

fund-raising events. "There is no majority or minority in this

temple," say the devotees who frequent the temple complex, "We

worship the same gods and there is no difference between us"(Sinha

2003: 473).

 

New converts to Hinduism (their numbers will grow rapidly in the

foreseeable future) should be invited to play an important role in

shaping Hindu institutional expressions in the diaspora. These new

practitioners of dharma may be recruited as skilled political

intermediaries or power brokers in negotiations with state or other

public institutions.

 

(VIII) Transcending particularity of place

The powerful Vedic ideal of "Render this world Aryan" (…krinvanto

vishvam aryam Rigveda 9:63.5) is the Hindu equivalent of Christian

semper major: the always greater, the always more, the always beyond,

always exceeding the limit in search of oikumene. Remaining faithful

to the message of the Isha Upanishad, they should be ever ready to

transcend the physical sense of local place and commit themselves to

contribute to the preaching and spreading of dharma in the global

space. Reference to the Muslim strategy and model of transcending

space and time as visualized in the ideal of Tabligh Ja'amat would be

relevant here.

 

A quietist movement of spiritual renewal, Tabligh was founded in

Delhi in 1920 at the initiative of Maulana Mohammad Ilyas (1885-

1944). True to the Arabic meaning of the term (reaching out, to make

known or to publicize the message of Islam), advocates of Tabligh

seek to inspire all to engage in virtuous acts. For Tablighis, what

is at stake is not space alone but also time where the past and

future converge in the presence.

 

In Tabligh, participants seek to revive and relive the highest moment

of human history: the Prophet's society in Medina. Its understanding

of history is history without the nation-state. The ultimate goal is

to create 'topological' history of non-linear time informed by

patterns of moral significance. Equally important is transcending

particular space in favour of umma (see Metcalf 1996: 124). The

challenge before Hindus in North America today is to conceptualise

and provide a comparable equivalent to inspire Hindus to a similar

motivation.

 

 

 

(IX) Resistance to Hindu quest for space

Most fair-minded North Americans have no objection to the aspirations

of new immigrants to their share in the sun. Muslim Americans, more

than any other group of recent arrivals, have been very articulate in

staking a claim in the proverbial American pie. Muslim academics and

intellectuals (as well as Western scholars of Islam), on their part,

have been equally supportive of Muslim aspirations for their

legitimate claim on space in North America and Europe (see Metcalfe

1996). In the preface to Making Muslim Space in North America and

Europe edited by her, Barbara Daly Metcalfe observes:

 

Our hope is that this volume—even in the aftermath of the Rushdie

affair; beginning in 1988, and the bombing of the World Trade Center

in 1993—will provide some fresh, nonstereotypical ways of thinking

about Islam and, more specifically, of thinking about Muslims, who,

in an infinite variety of ways, enlarge the global space of which we

are all part (1996: xii).

 

One would expect a similar endorsement of efforts to make Hindu space

in North America. Unfortunately, such is not the case. Indian

academics and intellectuals (some based in India others settled in

North America) would like immigrant Hindus to restrict and confine

expression of their dharma to the domestic sphere alone. They

violently denounce any public aspiration, expression, or

demonstration of Hinduness or pride in Hinduism as `Hindutva.' A

special issue of Ethnic and Racial Studies guest edited by Parita

Mukta and Chetan Bhatt (2000) with the special theme "Hindutva

Movements in the West: Resurgent Hinduism and the Politics of

Diaspora" provides the burden of the argument against `Hindutva'

 

In its most elementary form, Hindu nationalist social and political

philosophy is predicated on an idea…that the Indian state, social

formation and civil society, be recognized in a holistic and organic

way along exclusively `Hindu' precepts. Muslim and Christian

minorities in India should be compelled to live in India under the

prescription that India is primarily to be a strong `Hindu' nation to

which they must practically demonstrate unconditional obeisance

(Preface by Bhatt and Mukta 2000: 408).

 

This line of interpretation is essentially based on a few lines from

a pamphlet that initially appeared over fifty years ago in the RSS

and the Hindu Mahasabha circles. Since most of the advocates of

Hindutva today have disavowed this line of thinking, much of the

argument summarized above is historically contentious. Yet, it is

presented as incontrovertible `fact' citing in support select Western

scholars who are paraded as authorities on India. It is a favorite

tactic of such scholars to refuse to accept that peoples, parties,

and their thinking can evolve over time and to imprison their

adversaries in the crucible of the past (See Kaiwar and Mazumdar

2003). Elsewhere it is distressing to read self-appointed saviors of

secularism inviting Hindus to shed all legitimate signs of their

Hindu identity (See Tilak 2001).

 

Concluding remarks

If Hindus successfully lay claim to space in North America they will

effectively succeed in projecting themselves as a community capable

of contributing to the spirit and fact of multiculturalism in North

America; not a constituency of problems. As immigrants to North

America they will then be recognized as a viable and rewarding source

of opportunity for North Americans just as North America is for them

an opportunity. In order for this to happen, Hindus in diaspora must

preserve and promote their unique religious identity.

 

Since Jews, Christians, and Muslims are encouraged to affirm and

insist that all religions are not equally valid in the sight of the

Creator, it would be suicidal for Hindus to uncritically swallow

tired Orientalist cliché that Hindus regard all religions as

fundamentally the same and ultimately of equal value. It would be an

open invitation for their assimilation in the `melting pot.' Such a

possible outcome must be resisted now by assertively proclaiming and

preserving Hindu presence in North America. The rationale for this

effort is already stated in the Rigveda 10:117.9

 

Both hands may look alike, but their functions are different.

Similarly, though they arise from the same source dharmas are

expressed differently.

 

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Shrinivas Tilak (PH D McGill) is an independent research scholar

based in Montreal, Canada. He is author of The Myth of Sarvodaya: A

Study in Vinoba's Concept (Delhi: Breakthrough Communications, 1985),

Religion and Aging in the Indian Tradition (State University of New

York Press, Albany, N.Y. 1989) and Understanding Karma in light of

Paul Ricorur's philosophical anthropology (forthcoming).

 

http://www.swaveda.com/articles.php?mnthyr=20056&action=show&id=107

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