Just as Hinduism believes that there are several ways to reach God, it also believes that all human beings belong to one family (‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’) and we are all the children of God, no matter what our ethnicity or colour.
India has been multicultural from time immemorial with people speaking several different languages, dressing in many different ways, following any one of a number of religions that are practised and cooking and serving food in a variety of ways.
But this Navaratri multiculturalism reached another height with the Chinese settlers in Kolkata doing the Lion Dance to farewell Goddess Durga.
The Chinese community of Kolkata came forward to present their traditional lion dance to farewell Her as She returns to Her heavenly abode. Hindu Press International reports that dressed in colourful traditional lion costumes, a 20-member team of the city's vibrant Chinese community performed the dance during the Goddess' immersion procession by the Singhi Park Durgotsav Committee in Kolkata marking the end of the navarathri celebrations. Hundreds of people took part in the ritual and bade farewell to the lion-seated Durga by taking part in the colorful lion dance.
In Hindu tradition the Goddess Durga rides on a tiger, which was given to her by Himavan who is regarded as her father. But according to a Chinese mythological story, the lion descended from heaven to protect the people and fight evil forces.
The leader of the Lion Dance group said their reason for taking part was to show their solidarity with the people of Bengal, a state they had made their home. It is an India-China venture to show respect to the divine goddess who rides a lion," said James Leao, leader of the lion dance group. Abhijit Majumdar, secretary of the Singhi Park Durgostav committee, welcomed the move as showing the true neighbourly spirit. He believed that this was perhaps the first time in West Bengal that the Chinese community has directly participated in any Indian festival.
If it is Durga Pooja that is considered most important in Bengal, in Kerala it is the Saraswati Pooja (the last three days of Navarathri) culminating in Vidyarambham on the tenth morning (Vijaya Dasami) that is given importance. What is more, according to reports, even the Malayali Christian community is following the tradition of initiating the children into the world of letters on Vijaya Dasami day.
The children are made to write on a plate of rice or on sand "Hari Sree Ganapathaye Namaha" in praise of Lord Ganesha, Lord of Beginnings. Then on the child’s tongue is written with a gold ring, ‘Saraswati’. Finally they are made to write the Malayalam alphabet.
Children are often taken to the temples for this ceremony. Among the shrines, which see big crowds is the Saraswati temple, situated at Panachikkadu in Kottayam district. This temple is also known as the 'Dakshina' Mookambika Temple and every year the numbers have been going up. Kaladi, the birth place of Adi Sankara, is also considered an auspicious venue for Vidyarambham. The Christians meanwhile take the children to the churches and make them write the Malayalam letters.
Fiji has been multicultural for the last several decades. After independence Diwali was declared a national holiday and everyone irrespective of ethnicity or religion started joining in the celebrations. ‘The island air has an eastern accent tonight’ wrote the poet, Sam Simpson, describing the sights on Diwali night in the 1970s.
New Zealand became bicultural in the 1800s with the arrival of the European settlers. But last century it slowly but steadily became multicultural with more and more immigrants arriving here from many different countries, which included Fiji and India. In the last two decades there has been a sudden increase in the Indian population here which is reflected in the number of Indian shops, restaurants, temples, Indian weekend papers and the many Indian festivals that are being celebrated here.
When I first moved here in 1992 there were not many Indians in the country and even the few who were here were mostly from Fiji or descendants of the early settlers. But soon there was a sudden influx of migrants from all parts of India. I am told that the reason was the few Indian movies that had been shot here. Suddenly Indians became aware of the pristine beauty of New Zealand and they wanted to come and live in such an unspoilt country.
With the Indian population increasing steadily here, today Diwali is being celebrated in New Zealand from Parliament to the libraries and banks with a two day (weekend) Diwali Mela in Auckland at Aotea Square.
Adi Sankara had declared many centuries ago that his relatives were the devotees of God and the world was his country (‘Bandhava Sivabhaktascha Swadeso Bhuvanathrayam’).
Let us all join in the celebration and pray that this Deepavali:
where there is falsehood, there will be truth;
where there is darkness, there will be light;
and where there is death there will be immortality.
Happy Deepavali to all.