A Tale of Two Shrines

 

What do you do on a Sunday afternoon, when you have some important stuff to do on the internet but you face (guess ? Yes it is) powercut and you dont have power backup? Sleep? Its out of question given the humidity and the possibility of stinking sweat. Visit a nearby Mall? Its oh-so-cliche. Visit a friend’s place who has power backup? Yes, but I decided otherwise. I wanted to test a few Art Galleries this time, after last fortnight’s visit to Crafts Museum at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. But circumstances, from my roomie’s sudden belly upset to the drizzle while I was leaving for the place, resulted in me ending up at Lotus Temple rather than an Art Gallery at South Delhi. Boarded a bus and decided to have a peek at two famous shrines which stand back-to-back Lotus Temple (LT) and Kalkaji Temple (KT).

I was so struck by the contrast of these two monuments that I started comparing them from the moment I visited the second monument.Folklore surrounding Kalkaji Temple is so extensive that one is unable to comprehend where legend ends and history starts. Kings from Yudhishthir, who performed Yagna here, to Maratha warriors screwing Ahmed Shah Rangeele’s (one of the last Mughal Emperors) troops have their share in the history of the place. The temple is said to be around 3000 years old, but the last visible remains is only from 1750s.

Lotus Temple, on the other end of the spectrum, is one of the 9 holy Bahai places of worship worldwide. Land brought in 1953 and structure completed in 1986. So, not much of history here. It, nevertheless, revolutionised the concept of worship in India. Several paces of worship in India are replete with instances when people from other religion were not allowed to enter the temple premises (this is hypocrisy given that India always claimed to maintain ‘Sarva Dharm Sambhaav‘ – Equal respect for all religions). Jagannath Temple of Puri, Orissa denying entry to then PM of India Indira Gandhi is a famous such example. Then there are thousands of instances when people of lower castes are not allowed inside temple premises in several parts of the country. Lotus Temple doesn’t look like a conventional place of worship where you go and sing prayers. Here, silence is the language of communion with God. You are transported to another world where the silence is only interrupted by chirping of birds, which lends an unique eloquence to the silence itself.

The popularity of LT among all the classes continues unabated. The secret, I feel, lies in its embodiment of being projected as an unifying link in the land of myriad of religions and culture. While people visit KT for religious reasons and by any guess non-Hindus would rarely visit it, the same people visit LT due to its mind boggling green open spaces, great lotus structure and eloquent silence.

While LT is grand in design (9 doors opening into a big hall, and has won numerous Architechtural Awards) and has a remarkable present, KT has an exemplary past but a regrettable present. LT is one of the 100 canonical works of this century (World Architecture 1900-2000: A Critical Mosaic, Volume 8, South Asia). On the contrary, KT is not grand by any means other than legend. Its possible ethereal experience, which most of the ancient places of worship provide, is terribly marred by the repulsive filth and stink surrounding it, to the point that you almost scream YUCK.

Staring at the filth surrounding the temple area I notice a peculiar fact(or practice, whatever you call it) about several places of worship that I have visited. Some powers-that-be control a religious centre, be it Temple(Kalkaji), Mosque(Jama Masjid in Delhi is one such example) or Gurudwara and the building keeps growing with passing years. It defies every norm of the civic society – be it hygiene or concerns of being too noisy in residential areas. Some shops are set up in the area selling Puja-related stuff, then some stores selling music items, or may be ice cream etc crop up. It becomes a money spinner with the commercial activity going on and on the top of it they don’t have to undergo tax audits- all in the name of religion. Several slum dwellers live in the area who also run the shops. Add to it the lack of sanitation and YUCK is complete.

Looking at the contrast of these two monuments, I wonder ‘Why have we let our religious Heritage being defiled and misued?‘ and ‘Can we sustain the implications of such an act of utter neglect?‘

Photos Courtesy : Kalyan Banerjee
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