PRESERVATION
Nepalese Fight for Their Beloved Trees
Kathmandu’s Ring Road improvement and
inner city street-widening projects run into a roadblock as protesters turn
every tree into a sacred shrine
BY
SALLY ACHARYA,
KATHMANDU
THE TREES FALLING TO CHAINSAWS along Kathmandu’s
roads are old and stately, but the protesters’ tools are thousands of years
older: sacred thread, vermillion powder and flowers.
Residents
and others are alarmed because thousands of huge old trees are being cut down
in two major and simultaneous road improvement projects and—despite
promises—none is being replanted. The expansion of the Ring Road is planned and
funded by China, while roads inside the city are being widened in a separate
project of the Nepali government based on a plan from the 1970s.
The
Ring Road itself was built in the 1970s, and in an example of successful
environmental abatement the Chinese planted many roadside shade trees which
grew tall and magnificent in their maturity. These days, though, the Ring Road
is clogged with traffic. China is granting Nepal roughly $6.7 million (547
million Nepali rupees) to expand it, on condition that a Chinese contractor be
used. The planning was done by a Chinese team. Alarmingly, sketches in the Road
Department office indicate no trees or greenbelt.
Adding
to residents’ alarm is the ongoing digging, tree-cutting and wall-breaking that
has filled the city with debris as part of another road improvement plan, the
Urban Development Implementation Act of 1977. This ambitious, massive plan to
broaden the roads and reduce traffic bottlenecks, long delayed due to the
reluctance of previous governments, was finally set into motion by the
Maoist-led administration of Baburam Bhattarai, who left office in March. The
work is continuing under the interim government.
But
over the intervening decades, many residents unknowingly built shops and homes
on lands the Act had earmarked for road work. The ditches and mounds that
Kathmandu residents have been stepping around for months are filled with rubble
from these shops and homes. In many cases homeowners have demolished and
rebuilt their own walls rather than waiting for the road crews. Whole lines of
shops and homes have pulled back from the streets, their exterior walls
destroyed and rebuilt. Temples have been moved after suitable pujas. Trees
can’t shrink back from the expanding asphalt, so they’ve simply been chopped
down.
Plea for Eco-Sensitive Development
Few
question the need for better roads in congested Kathmandu, with its narrow
lanes and helter-skelter development. But many are skeptical of the planning
for the projects, fearing there will soon be little greenery left in this city,
where smog hides the Himalayas and people have taken to wearing face masks
because of rampant pollution.
So
the Nepalese are trying to stop the bulldozers with sacred thread. Many of
Kathmandu’s trees are now blessed with sindoor, circled with thread and painted
with messages as activists urge respect for what they see as two aligned
ideals: the traditional sense of sacred nature and contemporary eco-sensitive
development.
“Save
Me,” says a message scrawled on a massive tree whose branches shade a chautari,
or seating place, between a vegetable market and an area known as Tibetan Camp.
Bulldozers have carved up the road around it, turning the local hangout into an
island in the mud but leaving the thread-encircled giant alone for now.
“Save
Me,” plead the words scrawled on trees along the Ring Road, some of the 1,239
trees marked for destruction along the southern arc of the city’s 17-mile
beltway. Protesters are asking for a halt until they see a plan that makes an
effort to save those trees that can be saved, ensures walkways and bicycle
lanes, and follows legal and traditional precepts for planting more trees than
are cut.
“It’s
always been said it’s a sin to cut trees,” said Sampurna Basnet, a college
student at a recent protest where environmentalists arrived with powder-filled
tapari (bowls made of leaves) and Buddhist prayer flags.
“Birds
are messengers of the Gods. Why would we take away their homes?” asked artist
Milan Rai, who has been placing paper butterflies on endangered trees in a message
of hope for positive transformation. “When people cut trees, they always used
to plant more. We’ve always been nature worshipers. Now everybody is forgetting
the connection. In the name of development, we’re becoming self-destructive.”
Over
the past few months hundreds of young people have marched repeatedly to the
Road Department bearing saplings, pledging to nurture them and asking the
government to do the same for Kathmandu’s existing trees. They’ve also built a
model bicycle path, using gravel and their own labor, to demonstrate their
vision of positive development. It’s an intentionally peaceful and nonpartisan
gesture in this often strike-crippled and politicized city, where the movement
to save the trees has been unusual in many ways, not the least of which has
been chants such as, “Are we part of an organization? No!”
Urging Respect for Nepal’s Heritage
One
common thread in this informal, often Facebook-driven effort has been a vision
of development that doesn’t repeat the mistakes of other countries but
modernizes in a way that respects the environment and Nepal’s heritage.
In
Nepali culture, planting trees and creating chautari where people can rest
under the shade has long been a way to earn merit. The Vedas are full of
invocations to the earth (bhu), atmosphere (bhuvah), sky (sva) and the
primordial forces of nature. Sacred trees and plants are numerous; and while
certain trees are particularly sacred, such as the spreading banyan and peepal
trees, all trees are recognized as valuable and connected with Vishnu, the
Preserver. Watering trees is seen as a spiritual duty, and those who cut down
trees must plant more.
In
some villages trees are worshiped in the month of Baisakh (April-May) with the
creation of temporary temples under a tree to ask for rain. The people say that
if trees are cut, the rains won’t come. In recent decades chautari have been
leveled for roads all across the country, with little effort to save the old
trees that once formed the heart of village life. This, while, Nepal’s news and
even its school textbooks are packed with information on global warming and the
importance of saving the environment. Protesters cite the irony of so many
trees being cut in a capital city that is full of donor agencies, embassies and
policy makers who urge Nepalis to become environmentally aware.
“What
do we study in school?” twelfth grader Bijeta Bhandari asked a crowd at a
recent rally. “The environment! Does the government have us study it because
it’s important? Yes! Then what kind of example is this?”
The
effort to save the trees began quietly last year as a beloved line of old trees
near the zoo fell to chainsaws and roadwork approached a nearby khari tree that
serves as a neighborhood landmark. Many Kathmandu neighborhoods, though
tight-packed and urbanized, have their own giant trees where elders chat in the
shade and youth clubs gather for sports. Some are sacred pipal and banyan
trees; some are not. But they’re part of the urban landscape of Greater
Kathmandu, along with the jacaranda that bloom purple in the spring and the
tall trees that soften the dust-and-concrete grimness of the Ring Road.
“What
I really love about those trees is that they have so many functions,” says
Lucia deVries, a 21-year Nepal resident who lives near the Ring Road and helped
organize the earliest protests. “They’re community parks. Shops are based under
the trees—the tailors, the fruit sellers—and there are always boys playing
football and table tennis. If you go to a place with no trees, people aren’t
hanging out. Stretches with no trees are like barren places. They’re ugly.”
Questions about Health and Livability
Controversies
rage. The government has been accused of ignoring private property rights,
questions have been raised about who benefits financially from wood sold after
chopping trees, and the dust in the air from demolition is linked to an
increase in asthma and respiratory ailments. But many also admire the
government’s ability to muster the political will after so many decades of
inaction on the roads. And there’s little criticism of the ultimate goal:
clearer, wider, less dusty streets. The protesters agree with that, too. The
question is how to go about it and what a livable city would look like in the
long run.
“We
don’t want development that’s all about concrete and overpasses. That’s not our
definition of development. We need ways for small children and grandmothers to
walk and ride bicycles,” said protester Sail Shrestha. “All around the world,
people are saying, ‘Oh no, we made a mistake here.’ They’re trying to come back
to be like Nepal was. We shouldn’t follow their mistakes.”
Government Promises to Plant
Ashok
Tiwari, who heads up both projects in the Lalitpur area, says his Road
Department will replant four trees for each tree cut. It’s a Hindu tradition
long enshrined by law in Nepal, although Tiwari says the law only applies these
days to forest land and the Road Department isn’t legally required to replant.
After
a day in which he got so many messages on his cell phone that “I couldn’t even
breathe,” Tiwari said he spoke to the Chinese contractors and they agreed to
mark the route publicly so citizens would know which trees are to be cut. That
would also theoretically prevent illegal cutting of other trees in the name of
roadwork. But as of this writing that has not happened, even though its
commencement has been announced.
Inside
the city, too, Tiwari promises that trees will be replaced eventually, although
the pavement has already been laid. “We can tear up the pavement stones. It’s
just sand under there. It’s not hard,” he says.
Planting New Trees Just Makes Sense
But
after a year in which many neighborhoods have seen trees cut and no replanting,
and in the general atmosphere of skepticism about government pledges and dismay
about the charmless concrete that is spreading in the historic city, the
protesters want more than words. They recently marched to the Chinese Embassy
to ask its support in ensuring that the Shanghai contractors deliver a more
walkable, contemporary, eco-friendly city design. After all, noted DeVries, it
was China who initially funded the planting of many of the popular Ring Road
trees. “They did such a great job then,” she says. “That’s the approach we need
to see now.”
Many
feel this approach would preserve cultural and spiritual values as well as the
environment. “We need so many things from trees throughout our lives,” says
11th-grader Lirona Joshi. “With our first breath, we take their oxygen. We need
their leaves for ceremonies, and when we die, we need their wood to be burned.
Our elders planted trees, but now, instead of planting trees, we are cutting
them. That is senseless.”
Older
people sympathize with the protesters. Govinda Bahadur Karki, who spent 12
years in the Middle East, said the protesters have a better sense of real
“development” and “modernization” than the tree cutters. “It doesn’t save money
to cut trees,” he said. “If we go to the hospital because we’re breathing
polluted air, don’t we have to pay money?”
Trees
are good for business, added Gehendra Raj Koirala. Shops do more business when
people come to enjoy the nearby shade. “We need development, and if a tree is
really in the way of the road, it must be cut. But we need to save as many as
we can. And we need to replant as we did in the past—big trees, not saplings.
It takes many years for trees to get this big. If our generation cuts the
trees, what will they think of us in the future?”
E D U
C A T I O N A L I N S I G H T
Hospitality
BY LAVINA MELWANI, NEW YORK
BE
ONE TO WHOM THE mother is a God. Be one to whom the father is a God. Be one to
whom the teacher is a God. Be one to whom the guest is a God.” So advises the
Taittiriya Upanishad of the Yajur Veda, affirming the remarkable Hindu
reverence for a guest. The Sanskrit word for guest is athithi, “without time,”
i.e., “one who has no fixed day for coming.” It remains today the accepted
custom of Hindus to visit friends, relatives and even strangers without notice.
Hosting guests is one of the five central religious duties or “sacrifices” of
the Hindu householder: paying homage to seers, to Gods and elementals, to
ancestors, to living beings and, manushya yajna, “homage to men,” which
includes gracious hosting of guests. The ancient Tamil scripture, Tirukural,
says, “The whole purpose of earning wealth and maintaining a home is to provide
hospitality to guests.” In this article we explore the many facets of Hindu
hospitality, from how to receive a guest to how to behave in the home, to the
impact of modernization, urbanization and the advent of the nuclear family upon
this most ancient and revered obligation of our faith.
DO
YOU THINK YOU ARE THE PERFECT HINDU HOST? Well, here’s a story that will make
you reevaluate your hospitality skills, for the host in this tale is none other
than Lord Krishna. When his boyhood friend, Sudama—hungry, impoverished and in
rags—arrived at the palace, the guards refused to allow him in. But Lord
Krishna, overjoyed to see his old friend, received him with open arms and
joyfully led him to his throne. He personally washed Sudama’s feet and fed him
with his own hands. Sudama had brought a humble gift, a handful of parched rice
tied in the corner of his shawl and was too ashamed to give it to Lord Krishna
in front of all the fine courtiers, but Lord Krishna opened it with delight and
ate the grains with pleasure and appreciation. To him, the true value of this
meager gift lay in the affection with which it had been offered. Similar
stories abound in our scriptures and histories.
Although
I did not grow up in a particularly religious household, the concept of
hospitality was still very traditionally Hindu, both in giving and receiving. I
remember we stopped at a friend’s home in Mathura after a pilgrimage to
Haridwar. The hosts received us like VIPs, with open hearts and minds. We ate a
wonderful vegetarian meal in the cool evening air in their garden, and then, as
the stars came out, the string beds were brought out into the open, for family
and guests, each covered with a mosquito net to ward off insects.
Another
time, I was with my older brother, who had to stop at an acquaintance’s home in
Old Delhi to pick up some paperwork. The family knew we were coming and had prepared
a feast. In this very Hindu home, we removed our shoes, washed our hands and
feet and sat on the immaculate kitchen floor with the hosts while a brahmin
cook served us one of the most memorable meals I have ever eaten.
Indeed,
you can never leave an Indian household without gaining a few ounces, for you
will certainly be plied with some snacks, some tea at the very least, or a
glass of cold rose sherbet in the heat of summer. In our home in New Delhi,
family and friends came to us from everywhere, and they certainly got more than
a glass of water: delicious meals, a comfortable bed, domestics hanging over
their every need and, yes, even a guided tour of Delhi, and sometimes even
Agra. Nor was the hospitality reserved just for visiting guests. Daily food was
never eaten without my mother’s consecrating a small portion to God, and a
portion being given to a passing needy person or a cow.
Relatives
came and were joyously received, especially on days of shraddha when the
priest, uncles, aunts and cousins would descend on the house to honor the
memory of ancestors. The house would take on an almost festive air, as scores
of children erupted out of the arriving cars. After prayers and feeding the
priest, the aroma of sizzling puris and pakodas wafted from the kitchen while
elders embarked on a massive talkathon.
Sundari
Katir of California told Hinduism Today, “When I was growing up in Sri Lanka,
guests would always be visiting us from different parts of the country and
India. The whole household would jump into action. My mother would assemble the
meal, and we children would get our rooms all ready, because we would give them
up and sleep on mats on the floor. It was such a natural thing to do, and we
were always delighted to have guests. Today my brother Ranjan is one of the few
relatives left in Colombo, and he carries on the tradition. He treats everyone
as God, with good food, comfortable beds and heartfelt hospitality. I have
become a better hostess after observing him.”
Tips for Being a Good Guest
GUEST MAY BE ANYONE FROM A CLOSE RELATIVE TO A TOTAL
stranger, and rules naturally vary accordingly. This summary is for a visitor
somewhere between the two extremes.
Arrival:
It
is traditional that a guest need not inform a host of his impending arrival.
However, in today’s busy world, more and more often guests do give advance
notice. The host may insist that no advance notice is necessary, and close
friends or relatives may even take advance notice as an affront, a disturbing
sign that all may not be well with the relationship.
Duration: It is very
impolite of the host to ask how long the guest is staying. But, as a guest, you
should convey this information in an casual manner. In a gesture of
hospitality, the host will naturally retort that you should really stay much
longer.
Gifts: Gifts are always
given to hosts by guests when staying overnight in a home. The value of the
gift varies greatly, of course, depending on the guest’s circumstances and
resources. It is proper to give a separate gift for the wife and the husband.
The wife receives the nicest item. Small items should also be given for the
children. In Sri Lanka, giving goes the other way as well. It is common for the
host to give a gift to the guest, especially those poorer.
Helping: In a home without
servants, considerate guests can help with housework and chores, as well as
care for their quarters, even if the host insists it is not necessary. You can
also help with cooking, as well as invite your hosts out for a meal.
Graciousness: It is an insult to
refuse any offered drink or food. Blend into the family’s rhythms. Be a genuine
friend, taking real interest in the family’s life and treating the children
lovingly, as you would your own. Conversely, one should not meddle in family
affairs, nor later make unflattering observations to others about one’s hosts.
Thanks: After returning
home, remember to send a warm and sincere thank-you letter, hand-written,
mentioning some specific detail of your visit that you most appreciated.
God as Guest: The most common
Hindu form of worship, puja, is, in fact, an act of hosting. Rare is the Hindu
home without a shrine for the Deities. From huge family temples of marble in
the homes of the wealthy to modest shrines, Hindus revere their Gods. Daily,
images of the family Gods are bathed, clothed and offered fruit, flowers and
incense, accompanied by chanting and the tinkle of the bell, all in the format
of hosting a guest. The full 16-step puja begins with an invitation for God to
come to the home, continues through offering of a seat, washing the feet with
water, offerings of drink and food, garments and incense, flowers, etc., until
finally the God is thanked and bid adieu. While the standard human guest would
receive less adulation, a holy man visiting a family’s home may well be
welcomed and worshiped in this complete manner.
Festivals
bring a more intense program to host God. At Dipavali, the Festival of Lights,
when Goddess Lakshmi visits the homes of devotees, there is a frenzy of
cleaning, sweeping and painting as homes are beautified and decorated with
hundreds of earthen lamps to greet Her.
Guest as God: At the very heart
of Hinduism is the belief that the Almighty permeates everything. Indeed, the
Hindu belief in the presence of the Paramatma in every living thing transforms
each one of us into God. The ancient Hindu texts say the guest has to be shown
honor by the host’s going out to meet him, offering him water to wash his feet,
by giving him a seat, lighting a lamp before him, providing food and lodging
and accompanying him some distance when he departs. Thousands of years have
passed, but this code of etiquette remains little changed from the ancient scriptures.
In
the Manu Dharma Shastras, for example, the host is directed thus: “All the food
shall be very hot, and the guests shall eat in silence. Having addressed them
with the question: ‘Have you dined well?’ let him give them water to sip, and
bid farewell to them with the words: ‘Now rest.’” K.T. Achaya in Indian Food: A
Historical Companion points out that guests had an honored rank in Vedic
society and, after being ceremoniously received, were offered the ambrosial
beverage, madhuparka, consisting of ghee, curd, milk, honey and sugar.
According
to the Dharma Shastras, hosting guests is one of the five obligatory sacrifices
or duties of the householder. Anusasana states, “The host should give his eye,
mind and agreeable speech to the guest, he should personally attend on him and
should accompany him when he (the guest) departs; this sacrifice (yajna)
demands these five fees.”
The
visit of a holy person is given extra special attention, and for good reason.
Vriddha Harita Dharma Shastra says that if a brahmachari ascetic stays as a
guest in a householder’s home for a single night, the latter’s accumulated sins
are destroyed, and when such an ascetic takes food at a man’s house, it is
Vishnu Himself who is fed.
Common Sense: It should be
clearly stated that Hindu hospitality does not extend to being careless with
the safety of one’s family and home. Even Krishna’s guards kept Sudama—a
brahmin at that—outside the gates. When HINDUISM TODAY’S founder, Satguru
Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (Gurudeva), was in Sri Lanka as a young man, he
experienced wonderful hospitality across the island from all the communities.
Part of the time he stayed in the traditional Tamil village of Alaveddy at the
home of Kandiah Chettiar, one of his teachers, receiving instructions on, among
other things, the hosting of guests. One day, Chettiar had given food to a
suspicious-looking man at the gate, rather than inviting him to the porch of
the house. When the young Gurudeva asked why he didn’t invite the man in,
Chettiar replied, with characteristic frankness, “Because he would steal
everything in the house.” The Dharma Shastras discuss at some length the issue
of unworthy or even dangerous guests, yet advising that, no matter what the
circumstances, the visitor should at least receive food.
Village Traditions: Sheela
Venkatakrishnan of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, told HINDUISM TODAY, “You offer your
guest the same love and respect that you would offer to God. Simple! A striking
example of hospitality is when the whole town of Kumbakonam, where my father
hails from, turns host during the week of the Mahamaham.” Thousands upon
thousands of people come for the holy bath in the tank of the Kumbareswaran
temple, and every home opens its doors to accommodate and feed all who reach
its doorstep. No one is turned away.
Honing the Art of Hosting
HOSTING
IS MORE AN ATTITUDE than a set of practices. The perfect host is truly open to
guests and honestly delighted with their presence. That said, here are some
specifics to keep your hosting up to par.
Welcome: Greet the guest
with namaskara, invite him cheerfully into the house. Invite him to sit
comfortably in the best surroundings. Speak pleasantly to him, inquiring about
his welfare.
Refreshments: Always offer the
guest something to eat and drink. Usually tea or juice is served, along with
snacks. At least a glass of water is offered (with a smile and apology).
Hosting: Guests who are
members of the extended family will just fit in to the family routine. When a
bit more formality is called for, the father, if present, will speak with the
guest. If not present, the mother and a son will fulfill this role, and if no
son is present, the mother may act as hostess, but only with the accompaniment
of someone close to the family. The children may go off to play among
themselves, stay with the adults or come and go.
Wife Home Alone: If the lady of the
house is home alone and a male visitor comes to see her husband, it is not
proper for her to invite him in, or for him to expect to enter. Rather, he will
leave a message and depart.
Punctuality: Life is generally
more relaxed in the East than in the West. A good guideline is to not be
surprised or offended if your guest arrives late or early. However, be punctual
in your own engagements, as this is appreciated.
Duration of Stay: It is quite
impolite to ask a guest how long he intends to stay, but it is good protocol
for guests to make their plans and itinerary known from the outset.
Goodbyes: Always see your
guest to his transport, and wave and watch until they are out of sight.
Sheela
explained, “Houses in the villages and towns of Tamil Nadu usually have a
fairly large platform just outside their front door, called a thinnai. This
serves two purposes. One is temporary storage of grain during the harvest and
also an airy place to sleep during the hot and humid summers. It is not unusual
for a traveler to use this as a resting place. You could open your front door
in the morning and find someone sleeping on your thinnai. This is where you
would find the strangers during Mahamaham. Of course, family and friends would
be accommodated inside the house. But everyone is fed, irrespective of caste.
It is possible that in the morning there is one set of people, in the afternoon
another and a totally different group at night. The meals served would be
according to whatever time of day it is. Also, the bath area often has a
separate access from outside the house.”
In
her grandfather’s day, Sheela noted, it was the practice for the head of the
household to stand at his doorstep at mealtime and ask loudly, not once but
thrice, “Is there someone who needs to be fed?” Sometimes a traveler or a poor
man would come in for food. It was only after the guest had been fed that
family would eat—one of the explicit instructions in the Dharma Shastras. The
Apastamba says, “He who eats before his guest eats destroys food, prosperity,
progeny, cattle and the merit of his own house.”
Hospitality
permeates Indian culture, both on a personal and institutional level. In Tamil
Nadu, many of the bigger and older temples have the annadanam scheme—a daily
free feeding. Recently, with the active patronage of the government, many more
temples have revived this practice, where they feed a minimum of 100 people
each day at noon. Muslim darghas have adopted this practice, while the Sikh
gurudwaras have always followed it. Mention also has to be made of the
Hyderabadi brand of hospitality that has few parallels. Made famous by the
Muslim nawabs of Lucknow, those on the receiving end enjoyed courtesy, food,
drink and congeniality—all served with an elegant world-class flourish. Every
ethnic and religious subculture of India puts a premium on hospitality.
Little
wonder, then, that in multicultural India these varied streams of hospitality
have coalesced to produce a generous and warm people. Visitors to India come
away with awed stories of the way they were embraced and included in every
family celebration—in fact, made part of a larger, extended family. Often these
relationships last over the years.
You
cannot go to even the humblest home without being honored with food and Indian
drink, as Janet Chawla found out some years back. Chawla, an American who
married a Sikh and now lives in New Delhi, believes the charm of India is in
the graciousness of its people, although it is getting less so in the big
cities. She feels there is a grace, a way of sitting together, singing together
at weddings. People in small villages, she says, really are very giving,
sharing the little they have.
“In
America, if we were sitting and working together, and I had a sandwich—I would
open it and eat it alone. An Indian would never do that,” she says. “There is
this kind of culturally prescribed sharing which I find very gracious.” Janet
didn’t mention it, but some Westerners visiting India can find the level of
hospitality discomfiting, especially the tradition of never leaving a guest
alone. That impinges upon the Westerner’s desire for privacy and personal
space—concepts absent from the Indian milieu.
Hospitality at Home: Hindu tradition lays
great stress on the respect due to guests. The greatest hurt for a guest is the
thought that the host or hostess does not enjoy one’s presence. Therefore,
Hindus go out of their way to make each guest feel welcome. It is proper
protocol to drop whatever one is doing, no matter how important, to entertain a
visitor. One of the privileges of friendship in the East is being able to drop
by any time without advance notice.
Mitesh
Patel, whose family hails from Kathiawad region of Gujarat, says that in his hometown
hospitality is extended to everyone: “When a guest comes to our house, we
rarely let them go without offering a good meal. We don’t feel that guests are
a burden, whether they are staying for few hours or few days, and offer them
full assistance.”
He
gives the example of his uncle who left the ancestral village 30 years ago to
settle in the city of Rajkot. Three decades later, if anyone from the village
comes for a medical checkup to the big hospital in the city, his uncle makes
sure healthy, home-made meals go out to the patient every single day.
The
level of hospitality depends upon several factors, the most obvious being
family ties. Traditionally, any known or unknown member of one’s extended
family—and the Hindu extended family includes not only blood relatives to
several degrees removed, but also all the in-laws by marriage—is basically
treated just like a member of the immediate family. It would not be uncommon,
for example, for a student at the university to stay with distant relatives
throughout his entire schooling.
Then
there are friends, business acquaintances, people from the same village or
state and so on, all of whom have some connection to the host. They, too, may
be treated just like a member of the extended family, as Janet Chawla experienced,
though commonly a bit more formally. We can see from Sheela’s description of
her childhood village that the homes were designed to accommodate even total
strangers in a convenient fashion.
The
concept of hospitality extends to welcoming customers to business settings,
where it certainly makes good sense. Go into a sari shop in crowded
marketplaces and the owner will automatically offer you a soft drink in the
heat. If you’re shopping for an expensive wedding trousseau, they are even more
solicitous—offering coconut water, a snack and drinks from the market. I recall
my father in his jewelry store not only offering soft drinks, paan in silver
containers and candy, but also giving the kids who came to the shop small items
as gifts.
Untouchables: Yet, one does have
to admit that Hinduism’s glowing hospitality report card does have one very big
black mark on it, something which the Gods probably did not ordain but which
wily man has reinterpreted for his own gain—the treatment of the so-called lower
castes. It is really quite inconceivable that a loving religion, which
proclaims that God is in every living thing, would denigrate a whole class of
human beings as untouchables.
The
story of everyday village India is full of the low castes being turned away
from village wells, being castigated for worshiping at the temple or merely for
passing by the home of a brahmin. While things are improving in the big cities
where caste and creed lose their importance in the great economic bazaar and
where politicians see the lower castes as potential votes, the village scene
remains woefully medieval. Buried in the back pages of newspapers are frequent
stories of atrocities, which should shock us all from our complacency and our
conceit of just how “hospitable” we may really be.
Loss of Tradition: In the larger
hospitality picture, things seem to be changing for the worse as the
time-honored extended family does battle with modernity. Dr. T. H. Chow dary of
Hyderabad writes, “As people leave their villages and joint families break up
and the educated move to flats in the cities, the old idea of hospitality is
fast dying. In the villages and small towns in the past, in the evening when
beggars came for food, whatever was left in the house would be given away. In
those days of no refrigeration, food could not be kept. Now in the towns and
cities, surplus is stored in refrigerators, which have thus come to be known as
garibmar, the killers of the poor.
“Even when brothers
and sisters and such near ones come, one silently wishes that they will stay in
a hotel and, at best, they might come for a dinner or a breakfast,” he goes on.
“What to speak of caring for the parents or relatives when the wife and husband
have no time even to talk to one another! Or when the one-year-old child, the
only child, is put in a day-care center so that both the wife and husband can
earn enough to satisfy their ideas of modern comforts, including that
refrigerator or new TV.
“What
to speak of hospitality for friends and unknowns,” says Chowdary, “when the
nuclear family of wife and husband are saying that the old father must stay
with one son and the old mother with another son? They want to separate the old
parents, considering them burdens to be shared by the sons.”
As
Chowdary observes, with women joining the work force in large numbers, and
time, effort and budgets stretched by modern life, the old-time hospitality is
often compromised. Earlier, visitors could just drop in, but now hosts get
agitated to find unexpected guests on the doorstep—a far cry from the
hospitality of the village home’s thinnai.
Sheela
Venkatakrishnan agrees: “In recent years, the trend has become, as Gurudeva
said, ‘The women going out of their homes to work.’ Living in nuclear families,
who is there to take care of the home, leave alone a guest? You tend to think
twice about visiting a friend or relative, not wanting to impose or
inconvenience them in any way.” Still, she points out that they have many
relatives in joint families who welcome them with open arms. She herself lives
in a joint family in Chennai where someone is always home: “The doors of our
home and our hearts are open to God and all whom He chooses to send our way.”
The Diaspora Adjusts: The picture,
however, is bleaker in the diaspora, where immigrants struggle with the beliefs
they grew up with and the pressures of their new environment. Most manage to
keep the hospitality intact for family and close friends. Some go to
extraordinary lengths, sponsoring relatives and even opening up their homes to
them till they get settled.
The
Gujarati community is particularly strong in this respect, and many continue to
live in large, extended families abroad. This sense of caring is extended to
the entire community and, in fact, many Patels have managed to do so well in
the motel business because of their unity and financial support of friends and
relatives. No wonder the Gujaratis command a whopping portion of the motel
industry. They are well-trained in the ways of hospitality, for as one of the
successful hoteliers, H.P. Rama, affirms, “We Indians believe the guest is
God.”
Mitesh
Patel, who lives in Edison, New Jersey, came to the US when he was 15, so he
has seen life on both continents. Now 24, he believes that Hindu hospitality
has lessened in the US, Canada and the UK, but not in India: “I believe the
reason is quite simple. NRIs are busy making big bucks in these countries.
Sometimes even family members don’t see each other for a few days because they
are busy working, so they feel that it’s hard to accommodate a guest.”
Indeed,
living abroad, notions of hospitality do undergo a change. Also, abroad, one
would never dream of dropping in on acquaintances without calling ahead. This
is a culture where even children do not just play but have organized “play dates”
scheduled out weeks in advance.
Indians
living abroad do have to contend with housework, their jobs and the daily
commute, all without the support of extended family or domestic helpers. So
their standards of hospitality have diminished. Some compromise, putting guests
in hotels or taking shortcuts in their care. Truly generous hospitality in any
society or home depends on the strength, integrity and security of the family
unit.
Changing Attitudes: Summer, especially,
means an endless barrage of guests from India and points in the diaspora. Homes
become as crowded as the Grand Central Terminal, and hosts are faced with a
multitude of tasks. As one exhausted woman, whose house was full of summer
guests, told me, “Houseguests are like fish: after three days, they stink.”
She
didn’t know it, but this adage appeared in the 1736 edition of Poor Richard’s
Almanac by Benjamin Franklin, one of America’s founding fathers. He said,
precisely, “Fish and houseguests stink after three days.” The statement, and
the attitude behind it, stand in stark contrast to the Hindu view of the guest
as God. And it’s not just an American trait. Shakespeare wrote with a similar
attitude in King Henry VI, Part I, “Unbidden guests are often welcomest when
they are gone.” In all fairness, there are many hospitable Americans and
Britishers, but offering hospitality is not the religious obligation it is for
Hindus. It is also relevant that, in the Hindu village, true strangers were
served on the porch, or even at the compound gate, in order to preserve the
sanctity and safety of the home.
While
the pressures of life in the West are there for the hosts, to some extent their
attitudes have also changed. The rhythms of the place where you live impact
you. Leading frenetic lives in the West, people tend to become more brusque,
more cynical. Like Franklin, they begin to regard the guest as an unwelcome
nuisance. Standards of hospitality are indeed changing, and one wonders how far
we should embrace modernization at the expense of true hospitality?
What to Do? Gurudeva once
observed, “The guest is God, not an intruder. All Hindus have a heart to
receive the guest as God. This is very important for us to remember, because
guests come and guests go. Often, guests come and never come back, because of
subtle inflections in the voice, because it was forgotten to serve even a glass
of water, which is traditional in Hindu culture. The guest is God, not an
intruder. When someone steps up to you, drop your work. People are more
important than paper. People are more important than giving oneself to the
computer. People are more important than anything else. People are the working
out of your karma.”
Yes,
it may help to remember an old Indian saying: Dane dane pe likha hai khane wale
ka naam—“On each grain is written the name of the eater.” The people who turn
up on your doorstep are meant to be there, part of your karma, part of the big
cosmic play. Of course, it’s hard to see it quite that way when you are under
stress at work and still have to produce dinner for your guests by 7:00 pm!
For
Hindus caught in the modern world of hurry and scurry, it would be good to
reaffirm their duty toward guests and to refresh their memories on how to be
perfect hosts—and perfect guests. There is etiquette for both roles, and if
each plays his part well, the whole experience can be rewarding.
Hosts
should give of themselves with a generous and open heart, exerting every effort
to make their visitors’ stay a memorable one, where the kindnesses and warmth
are vast, even if the budget is tight. They should do all they can to entertain
and help visitors in a new and bewildering place.
Guests
should attempt to be considerate, informing their hosts of their length of stay
in advance. They should pick up after themselves and not add to the harried
hostess’ tasks. Bringing small gifts for the family members, entertaining the
children or perhaps offering to take the family out to dinner are practical and
appreciated gestures.
Hospitality
is a virtue that has many benefits for the receiver and the giver, as these
small kindnesses smooth social connections and build relations. It also shows
the next generation the way to continue the beliefs of our ancestors. And of
course, often the shoe is on the other foot—and the host himself becomes a
guest. So he should treat his guests as he himself would like to be treated.
There
are so many stories of God Vishnu himself donning beggar’s raiment and coming
to the door for alms. So, the next time the doorbell rings, welcome your guests
with an open heart. Look beyond the facial features, the clothing and the
physical bodies into the eternal soul which glows within each of us like the
purest of gold. This is the Self that scripture says is immortal, the one that
water cannot wet, sword cannot cut nor fire burn. And so, bending low, with
folded hands, welcome the divine Paramatma, the God who is within each of us.
Scripture Speaks About Hospitality
THE
SOUTH INDIAN Ethical Masterpiece, Tirukural, composed in Tamil couplets by
Saint Tiruvalluvar (ca 200 bce), devotes an entire chapter to hospitality. This
sagely compendium of practical advice, called “a bible on virtue for the human
race,” is so pithy, so profound and so sacred that it is sworn upon today in
South Indian courts. Here now are verses 81 to 90.
The whole purpose of earning wealth and maintaining a
home is to provide hospitality to guests.
When a guest is in the home, it is improper to hoard
one’s meal, even if it happens to be the nectar of immortality.
If a man cares daily for those who come to him, his
life will never suffer the grievous ruin of poverty.
Wealth’s Goddess dwells in the hospitable home of those
who host guests with a smiling face.
If a man eats only after attending to guests’ needs,
what further sowing will his fertile fields require?
The host who, caring for guests, watches hopefully for
more, will himself be a welcomed guest of those whose home is Heaven.
Charity’s merit cannot be measured by gifts given. It
is measured by measuring the receiver’s merits.
Those who never sacrifice to care for guests will later
lament: “We hoarded wealth, estranged ourselves, now none will care for us.”
The poverty of poverties is having plenty yet shunning
guests. Such senselessness is only found in senseless fools.
The delicate anicham flower withers when merely
smelled, but an unwelcome look is enough to wither a guest’s heart.
(The author, Lavina
Melwani, a popular free-lance correspondent, was born in Sindh, grew up in New
Delhi and has lived in Hong Kong and Africa. She currently resides in New York
with her husband and two children. T. H. Chowdary, Information Technology
Advisor: Government of Andhra Pradesh, contributed to this article.)
HISTORY
Kedar Nath Das Gupta, Dharma’s Early Pioneer
An
unsung hero of the Hindu renaissance, Kedar Nath Das Gupta raised the status of
India and Hinduism in the eyes of the West
BY
KUSUM PANT JOSHI, LONDON
ON DECEMBER 7, 1942, THE NEW YORK Times reported the
death of Kedar Nath Das Gupta (1878-1942), a New Yorker whose cultural and
interfaith activities were known on both sides of the Atlantic. An early force
in the Hindu renaissance, he was directly linked to Indian leaders such as
Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore. Today, in the space of less than 75 years, his
name has vanished from public memory.
Beginnings in Bengal and London
Kedar
Nath Das Gupta—or KNDG, as he was wont to abbreviate his name—hailed from
Chittagong in East Bengal (now Bangladesh). As a youth he was deeply involved
in the activism of Indian nationalism. To promote swaraj (national or self-rule)
and swadeshi (indigenous goods made in India), he managed a swadeshi store in
Calcutta, the Lakshmir Bhandar, that also sold goods made by impoverished
Bengali widows. Through connections with Rabindranath Tagore, he became
Secretary of Industrial Exhibits in Calcutta, where each year he showcased
goods made in India. He also ran the powerful Bengali nationalist newspaper
Bharati. Both enterprises were linked with progressive women from the Tagore
family.
Emboldened
by his stint as a political and social activist, he sailed to London in 1907 to
further the sale of Indian goods and, following Gandhi’s example, to study
English law. He enrolled as a law student in Lincoln’s Inn.
Cultural Ambassador
Before
long, KNDG entered London’s theatrical world and set up a new organization, the
Indian Art and Dramatic Society, which in 1912 he renamed as the Union of East
and West. This shift into Britain’s cultural arena might seem puzzling; even
today, ethnic arts in the UK struggle to find a place in the mainstream. But it
was a wise move. British authorities were cracking down on Indian nationalist
activism in the UK, especially after the 1909 murder of a high-ranking British
official by an Indian militant. Yet, in the cultural sphere Britain’s
perception of India was improving.
In
early 1909 a band of eminent English writers and artists from diverse fields
established the India Society, led by English artist William Rothenstein (a
friend and admirer of Tagore) and his friend and copyist Lady Christiana Herringham.
Its aim was to correct the negative Western projection and perception of India.
As explained in a letter to the London Times of June 11, 1910, “The society
desires to promote the study and appreciation of Indian culture, architecture
and painting, as well as Indian literature and music. There is a vast
unexplored field, the investigation of which will bring about better
understanding of Indian ideals and aspirations.”
The
time was ripe for KNDG to make a move. In a later interview he explained, “First
of all I joined my countrymen in the fight for svaraj, or self-rule. We saw we
couldn’t get rid of British rule until we got rid of our economic slavery. So,
in 1902 we strove for svadeshi, or home industry. I even sailed to London to
establish a market for our goods. But I was young and inexperienced. The big
British capitalists soon killed my little business. I began to give lectures on
India and present our classic dramas. Here was a chance for me to help India.
So I founded my Indian Art and Drama Society. I laid down the rule that all
controversy, whether political or religious, must be avoided.”
Sanskrit Plays
KNDG
was the top impressario for Indian drama in the UK from 1912 to 1920. His
English adaptations of classical Sanskrit plays opened Britain’s eyes to
India’s ancient dramatic treasures and the profundity of its culture. In 1913
William Rothenstein wrote to Tagore in India, “The irrepressible Das Gupta is
putting on Sakuntala at the Royal Albert Hall!” That play, written by Kalidasa,
India’s foremost Sanskrit dramatist and poet, ran five times that year. During
this eight-year period, KNDG put on 12 major productions, including pieces by
Tagore, thus helping move his friend’s work into the limelight.
His
most ambitious project, one that demonstrated his uncanny ability to build
multicultural collaboration, was his 1919 production of Sakuntala at London’s
Winter Garden Theatre. Its cast comprised a galaxy of artists whose names read
like a Who’s Who of the early 1900s. The producer was British actor and theatre
director Lewis (later Sir Lewis) Casson. The title role was played by Casson’s
talented wife, Sybil (later Dame Sybil) Thorndike. The male protagonist, Raja
Dushyanta, was played by Arthur (later Sir Arthur) Wontner, who would later immortalize
himself by his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in English films of the 1930s. KNDG
himself wrote the English adaptation of Shakuntala, then had it checked and
finalized by Laurence Binyon, an Oxford-educated poet and oriental art expert
and scholar.
Even
today it would be a prodigious challenge and achievement to bring together and
work successfully with such a powerful and diverse team. It is all the more
amazing, then, that KNDG accomplished this feat in the early 1900s, in the
heart of the proud and mighty British Empire, as an immigrant from a mere
colony!
On to America
KNDG’s
heart and mind remained fixed on higher goals than theatrical arts. On the last
page of his adaptation of Sakuntala, he wrote, “The main object of the Union of
East and West is to establish a meeting for the East and West in the field of
Art, Philosophy, Literature, Music and the Drama.” He exhorted Britons to join
non-Westerners in peacetime pursuits, just as India had joined England to fight
the First World War: “The East has met the West on the field of Battle; will
you meet us on the field of art, literature, philosophy, and drama, by joining
the Society?”
After
eight remarkable years of success in London, KNDG suddenly left the UK. He
later recounted, “In 1920, I met Tagore in London. He told me America was
wonderful and urged me to go there with him. I scraped up all my money and
went.”
The
America of the “Roaring 20s” was characterized by affluence, rampant
consumerism, urban transformation, social ferment and the vigorous questioning
of values. This provided an ideal atmosphere for KNDG’s creative activities.
Wasting no time, he rented New York’s Garrick Theatre. By December 1920, within
one year of his arrival, the New York Times reported that he had staged two
Tagore plays at the Garrick: Sacrifice, considered Tagore’s finest play, and
The Post Office.
From Stage to Interfaith
In
1924 KNDG met American social worker Charles Frederick Weller, of New Jersey’s
League of Neighborhood, in 1924. Having witnessed the ravages of the World War
I, both men were determined to build consciousness of the unity of all human
beings irrespective of their race, ethnicity, nationality, background, faith,
color or any other differences that seemed to divide them. The two men
developed a fruitful partnership, and KNDG metamorphosed once again, becoming
an advocate of theater as a tool to spread ancient India’s message of
universalism and the brotherhood of man. KNDG wrote, “Weller and I decided to
join our two movements and also create a third—the Fellowship of Faiths—based
on a principle too seldom put into practice, the principle of appreciation.
Brotherhood is more than mere peace or tolerance, and in my opinion it can be
encouraged best by art, by sacred songs, dancers and the drama.”
They
named their new initiative the Threefold Movement. It amalgamated KNDG’s Union
of East and West, Weller’s League of Neighborhood and their newly founded
Fellowship of Faiths. Organized systematically on a democratic basis, its
membership encompassed people from all the major faiths and from diverse
backgrounds. Well-known members included Theosophist Annie Besant, Spiritualist
and writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, philosopher and psychologist Professor John
Dewey and royals like the Maharajas of Baroda and Burdwan.
Headquartered
in New York under KNDG and Mr. and Mrs. Weller, the Movement had
representatives or “Committees of One Hundred” in fourteen cities of nine
countries, spread over three continents. According to a contemporary
description, “In four years, meetings have been held on an average of about one
a day, with a total of about 100,000 participants. These include select
dinners, mass meetings, festivals, lectures…”
The
Movement published newspaper articles, magazines like Appreciation and Calamus
and books like The Fellowship of Faiths. They read and staged Oriental plays,
held exhibitions of Eastern arts, crafts and music, organized an annual “Peace
Week” and did practical social work. They held events where people came
together to learn of each other’s faith, pray and worship in various ways and
realize the commonalities that united them. In his book Hinduism Invades
America (1930), Dr. Wendell Thomas writes, “Perhaps the most impressive form of
cultural Hinduism in America at present is the Threefold Movement.”
World Congress of Faiths
In
1933, KNDG and Weller organized a World Congress of Faiths (WCF) in Chicago and
New York, coinciding with Chicago’s World Fair and echoing the First World
Parliament of Religions held in Chicago in 1893, when Swami Vivekananda had
electrified Western audiences with his powerful addresses on Hinduism.
KNDG
described the aim of the WCF: “Building bridges of understanding across the
chasms of prejudice; enabling mankind to realize a united and fraternal world
life; seeking a new spiritual consciousness competent to master and reform the
world; cultivating appreciation between people of all creeds, classes, colors
and convictions; uniting the inspiration of all faiths for the solution of such
world problems as war, persecution, prejudice, super-nationalism, economic
conditions, ignorance, intolerance, hatred, fear; helping men and women to
develop their own character by broader and inner culture.”
The
WCF was a huge success. Over 80 meetings were attended by 44,000 people; and a
National Committee of 300 members was established. Bishop McConnell, one of the
top officers, claimed that the 1933 event was “an advance” on the 1893
Parliament. “The first difference is that instead of a comparative parade of
rival religions, all faiths are challenged to manifest or apply their religion
by helping to solve the urgent problems which impede man’s progress. The second
difference is that the word faiths is understood to include, not only all
religions, but all types of spiritual consciousness or convictions which are
determining the actual lives of significant groups of people. Educational,
philanthropic, social, economic, national and political ‘faiths’ are thus
included.”
The London WCF, 1936
A
second WCF was held in 1936 at University College, London. Organized by Colonel
Francis Younghusband, who had attended the 1933 WCF and was encouraged by KNDG.
It drew eminent religious scholars from all over the world, including Dr S.
Radhakrishnan, Professor Mahendranath Sircar and Professor S. N. Das Gupta on
Hinduism, Sir Abdul Qadir and Salim Yusuf Ali on Islam, Professor Malasekara
from Sri Lanka on Buddhism, Professor Nicolas Berdiaeff on Christianity and Dr.
Suzuki on Zen Buddhism, The London Congress saw limited success, as few actual
religious leaders chose to attend. Undaunted, however, the organizers held
several more conferences—at Oxford (1937), Cambridge (1938) and Paris (1939).
A Trail-Blazer to Emulate
The interfaith initiative sparked by
Kedar Nath Das Gupta has yet to gather force and blaze forth in its potential
glory as a powerful international movement, but the story of KNDG’s remarkable
life and achievements must be resuscitated. This indefatigable soul, on fire
with the Hindu ideal of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the universe is one big
family), provided an example that has the power to inspire generations to come.
(Kusum Pant Joshi,
60, is a social historian, writer and editor. She is chief researcher for the
South Asian Cinema Foundation, London.)
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
(Continued...)
(My humble salutations to Sadguru Sri Sivaya Subramuniyaswami
ji, Satguru Bodhianatha Velayanswami ji, Hinduism
Today for the collection)
(The Blog is reverently for all the seekers of truth,
lovers of wisdom and to share the Hindu Dharma with others on the
spiritual path and also this is purely a non-commercial blog)
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