Book conversations: Revenge of the Naked Princess

Based on his grandmother's tale related to him during his childhood, Pereira weaves a bizarre tale of religious intolerance and revenge.  It begins well with a vivid description of the raid of the tribal palace in Yehoor Hills, a remote jungle area in coastal Maharashtra.  The Portuguese, having made Goa their base of religious and political activities, are looking for fresh converts to their religion.  At the behest of their king, who wants to expand trade routes across the region, the military and religious leaders head off on a quest of finding, subduing and converting the heathen masses.  

Aiding them in this particular venture, is a recent native convert, who betrays the very kingdom and its people that had provided for his welfare in the past.  There are gory descriptions of torture - rape, body parts being dismembered, people being threatened, persecuted and killed - only to encourage them into accepting the 'religion of peace'.  While the military leader is direct in his approach of torture, the Father in charge of showing the tribal people the light, is more docile, but equally fanatical and bigoted in his mindset.  So much so, that when the dead princess of the kingdom comes back as a spirit to avenge her rape and death, he sides with the devil himself to annihilate her spirit! 

Up until the death of the princess and the brutal conversion of the tribal people, the story is engaging.  However, when the revenge bit starts, it meanders along, with the princess' spirit vacillating between seeking revenge and pardoning the perpetrators.  The revenge itself, one can't help feeling, is inadequate given the heinousness of the crime committed, and moreover, unsuccessful!  The princess is impaled on a huge spiky cactus by the Bishop and the spirit of her spirit (!) is condemned to a bottomless pit.  

The gods sitting on Cloud 1777333999 - no, its not a phone number - hug each other and vow that the princess would return to seek her revenge!  What was she doing until now?!?  Is this an attempt at keeping the options open for a sequel?  As though getting your head round things such as supplicating lions, human bodied 'spirits', sexual romps, a wheel-less flying chariot driven by lions, gods joining hands on clouds, and pagan exorcism rituals was not enough!  

If however, you are into fantasy, able to suspend disbelief, and willing to accept the workings of the writer's fervid imagination, you may well enjoy the tale.

The narrative is punctuated (or not!) by several grammatical and spelling errors.  There is generous use of the 'f-word', which makes one wonder if the sixteenth century Portuguese were aware of the word, or had an equivalent of it in their language.  There are also plenty of annoying compound phrases, such as 'subjects-of-conversion', 'one-day-humans' and 'fighting-colonel-turned-fighting-brigadier', which mar the narrative.

Having said that, the real winner in this work is the theme on which it is based.  It must have taken a lot of guts and gumption on the part of Pereira - himself a Christian - to write a story on the brutal nature of conversions in sixteenth century India.  In today's pseudo-secular environment, when every wrong doing of those not of the majority faith of the land - whether in the past or the present - is brushed under the carpet, here is a story that exposes the hypocrisy, bigotry, and fundamental nature of early Christian evangelism.  

As this issue has been overlooked for so long, it continues even today, though the means of achieving it has changed from brutal force and persecution to covert influence and temporal allurements.  Full credit to Pereira for bringing this issue out into the public domain, at the risk of inviting wrath from the upholders of proselytism and conversions. 

Image source: https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1356973638i/17193270._UY630_SR1200,630_.jpg

Saints' convention denounces conversions

It was heartening to note that, finally, a group of saints and heads of prominent religious institutions and matths met to discuss religious conversions.

In the premises of Siddaganga Matth, as reported by Deccan Herald, seers of matths such as Adichunchanagiri Matth, Sutturu Matth, Pejawar Matth, Siddaganga Matth, Sri Sri Ravishankar and Sri Veerendra Heggade convened to discuss the issue.

It is high time that the issue of covert evangelisation in the name of public service is brought out into the open, debated and steps are taken to root it out.

Evangelising religious institutions use various methods to carry out their activities; influencing children in the numerous schools and colleges set up by their organisations, influencing patients and relatives caught in stressful situations in hospitals set up ostensibly for providing cheap treatment.

There are several other methods, and I can  only refer the reader to the wonderful work done by Sri Arun Shourie, who has published many well researched books on the subject.  Most notable and revealing of his works is Harvesting our Souls: Missionaries, Their Designs, Their Claims.  This is a landmark book, an eye opener in many ways, that every Indian interested in exposing the claims made by proselytisers and help prevent gullible people from falling prey to their ideologies, should read and understand.

Haven't prominent philosophers and thinkers said that all paths lead to the one and the same God?  Haven't they said that the outward manifestations of religions may differ, but the core message is always the same  Why then, does the need for denouncing one religion and enticing people to join your fold arise?  Isn't it a fundamentalist notion to say, 'mine is the only true path; rest are demonic; therefore you should leave your path and join mine'?  

Further it is Hinduism which propagates Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the whole world is a family), and Sarve Janah Sukhinobhavantu (may all be happy), and in its core emphasises the importance of soul and spirituality - both of universal relevance.  Isn't this a mature, universal, and all-inclusive philosophy worth emulating and preserving?

But, ironically, this very large-hearted and egalitarian outlook of Hinduism has put it at risk of being targeted by proselytisers and opportunists, whose agenda, it seems, comprise nothing short of world domination and India as a fully converted nation.

One hopes that the outcome of the convention is taken seriously by the government and thorough checks and audits are carried out on evangelising institutions, including the substantial foreign funds that they receive to carry out their clandestine activities.  

One also hopes that the seers and pontiffs of matths all across India, take this issue seriously, denounce casteism, educate people in the community and help reduce socioeconomic factors contributing to conversions.  

News & image source: http://www.deccanherald.com/content/441015/seers-raise-concern-over-religious.html

Book condemnation: The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ

Ridiculous!  

That's the word that springs to mind as you read the back page blurb; it is off-putting to know that the author later confessed to having cooked up a story as important as this.  You are left wondering if what you are reading is fact or fiction.

The way the book progresses also does not help matters.  Instead of talking about Jesus in India, Notovitch elaborately describes his own travel details.  

Right at the beginning of the book, there are two chapters of his sojourn across northern Indian and the Himalayas, with his coterie of helpers (read slaves) who translate the local language for him and attend to his every need and whom he condescendingly describes as 'my Hindu', his horror at seeing shrines dedicated to 'horrible Hindu idols', and the trouble he took in getting to the monasteries where he encountered 'ugly' Tibetans spinning the prayer wheel, and the likes.

There are sweeping conclusions about Hinduism, its caste system, and religious rituals, typically based on a western man's limited and lackadaisical understanding of these issues, which of course take on a tinge of legitimacy over a period of time, because a white sahib has written it!  

There is a laughable conclusion about the original writer of Hindu scriptures.  According to Notovitch, Krishna wrote all of them and divided the Vedas - hence he is also called Vyasa!  I rest my case.

When we finally get to the bits regarding Jesus' life in India, we are not sure how much of it to believe.  Basically it is a re-telling of the events recorded in several versions of the Bible, with the addition of Jesus' Indian experiences - his encounter with Brahmins, whom he countered by uplifting Shudras, his dabble with 'Djainism' (Jainism for you and me), and his final asceticism in a Buddhist monastery in Ladakh.  

All this is supposed to have happened during his childhood, before he returned to Israel and went about sermonising and gaining disciples, prior to his ultimate crucifixion.  There is a typically short-sighted evangelistic comment about how good it would have been if the whole of India, with its large population, had taken to Issa, and followed the 'true path'.  

That all this was investigated and ridiculed by no less a personage as Max Muller means that one can safely overlook this fact/fiction.  

This is a pretentious, bigoted, patronising drivel by a discredited 'traveller'.  

Read it only for entertainment - and that if you have nothing better to do.