indicgal

TW: graphic images

While we, on this side of the border, spent a joyous Dusshera and Durga Pujo, our brothers and sisters in Bangladesh spent days filled with terror.

What happened during Durga Pujo, 2021?

The trouble started from late-September when several Durga Protima (vigraha or image of Ma Durga) were vandalised by extremists in Chittagong, Dhaka and other places.

Then, the Durga pratima was prevented from being worshipped in the historic Shankhnidhi Puja Mantap. The Devi had to be worshipped on the streets and only after protests was a temporary space granted.

While further attacks on the pandals continued, Bangladeshi Hindus faced a far more vicious attack. At Comilla, a nasty rumour was spread that the Quran was desecrated in one of the pandals. Exploiting the rumour and using it as an excuse, the puja mantap at Comilla was savagely attacked with the images of the Gods being vandalised brutally. The Bangladeshi Hindu community had to guard their pandals and mantaps against such attack. The attacks were pre-planned and in some mandapas, bombs were recovered, indicating that the safety of the community was now endangered.

The worse was yet to come. The Bengali Hindus, like in 1947, were once again attacked in Naokhali. Reports indicate that at least 4 Hindus have been killed in the attack on them. One person's body was recovered from a pond in Naokhali. Several more have been injured.

The attacks are still continuing. Only yesterday, an ISKCON temple in Naokhali was attacked and the sculpture of Shri Prabhupada was disfigured.

It is worth mentioning that attacks and vandalism of Durga Mandapas are almost routine in Bangladesh during Pujo. It has been said that the Islamist extremist group, Jamaat-e-Islami are behind this violence. The Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami was a political party (has since been banned from contesting elections) which has the express goal of creating an Islamic state with Sharia law is implemented. The organization was responsible for the 2013 violence when more than 50 Hindu Temples were set on fire and more than a thousand Hindu businesses were torched. The leader of the organization has even asked for the expulsion of Hindus and other minorities of Bangladesh.

The worst part? The attacks on Hindus have not garnered the necessary international attention and condemnation that it should. It is unacceptable that the community is exposed to such grave danger for merely exercising their right to celebrate their festival.

While Sheikh Hasina has assured protection, the attacks continue and the PM has blamed the situation in India for the violence faced by Bangladeshi Hindus. This is an unacceptable answer and is tantamount to shirking from acknowledging the fanatic problem that Bangladesh suffers from. India's Ministry of External Affairs has expressed concerns about the violence but the appropriate action should be to notify the CAA rules and provide asylum to the community.

My heart goes out to the Bengali Hindu community has routinely suffered from religiously motivated hatred. The community has borne severe intergenerational trauma and yet, they remain firm in the worship of our Gods and Goddesses. The only fitting way in which the rest of us can help them is to acknowledge and pay attention to this burning issue.

Spread the word!

In solidarity!

May Durga protect all!

Read more at:

https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/mob-durga-puja-pandals-vandalised-bangladesh-dhaka-1864698-2021-10-14

https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/bangladesh-on-edge-after-durga-puja-violence-security-tightened-101634276449027.html

https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/news/body-recovered-pond-noakhalis-begumganj-2199616

ISKCON Bangladesh's Twitter handle: https://twitter.com/IskconBDH

(because its that time of the year when my Mysuru heritage is on steroids)

Long, long ago, the buffalo Asura Mahisha, intoxicated with power and arrogance, waged war with the Gods themselves. Indra, the King of the Devas charged into battle but was pushed into the mountains after being defeated by Mahisha.

As the Gods all sat huddled, they regretted the boon that Mahisha had obtained- the boon was that no man could ever kill Mahisha.

Once upon a time, in a land not so far away, lived a community who worshipped the same Gods and celebrated the same festivals as you and I do. They built holy temples and massive forts, forged dynasties that ruled vast masses of land. They maintained their bond with their original homeland- India, even whilst staying true to their Afghan soil.

The Hindus of Afghanistan, however, slowly lost power. They were expelled from their homes in the charming Gandhara. They were looted, enslaved, converted and slaughtered- but they still persisted.

More recently, the Taliban's rule from 1996-2001 was especially dark. They were once again evicted from their lands, their women were harassed to the extent that they would not venture outside their homes. Hindu institutions were shut down and children were surreptitiously taught the Bhagvad Gita at their homes. Sometimes, they were even killed. In a horrible throwback to Nazi Germany, Hindus and Sikhs were mandated to wear yellow clothing for easy identification.

Even through all this and so much more, the Hindus of Afghanistan kept alive their faith. The Asamai Temple, at the foot of the hills Koh-i-Asamai in Kabul, is a shrine dedicated to Devi Asha, literally meaning the Goddess of Hope. At the temple burns the 'Akhand Jyoti' or the Eternal Flame of Asamai which is said to be aflame since 4,000 years. The Hindu community, along with their Sikh brothers and sisters (together called Hindki) came together regularly to offer their prayers to the Goddess for centuries together. This worship- to keep aflame the Fire of Asamai- persisted even as the two communities began to flee Afghanistan- some to India, some to other countries- as they saw Islamists take over the country they once very much belonged to.

Today, there is just one Hindu in Afghanistan.

Raja Ram, the priest of the Hindu Temple at Ghazni remains, clinging on to this faith, having lost everything but his devotion to the Gods. In a land that has now been divided between the "believers" and the "non-believers", the quiet courage and firm devotion of that priest is an act of valiant resistance.

But this resistance is an ancient one, displayed by our own ancestors as they resolutely built Somnath every time Ghazni raided it. It is a resistance that after the Delhi and the Madurai Sultanate, the Vijayanagara Kings liberated Madurai and rebuilt the glorious Meenakshi Amman Kovil. It is the resistance that the Goan Hindus showed as they faced the wrath of the Goan Inquisition. It is that resistance that Kashmiri Pandits show, even after being ethnically cleansed. This has happened before, this will happen again.

But the resistance takes its toll. A lot of our heritage has been lost, civilizational memory has been forgotten, too much blood has been spilt. And today, the Hindu character of Afghanistan, along with the Sikhi and the Buddhist elements, is on the verge of a complete wipeout. One lone priest stands between the Taliban and their goal.

The fire of Asamai may now die out.

At this sombre junction of our history, it is our duty as Indian Hindus to preserve their memory, educate ourselves about our Hindu brethren in other lands, pray for the safety of Raja Ram and others like him and to help out refugees in India or elsewhere in any way possible. And importantly, it is time we learn to check our effing privilege.

Every time we shit on our festivals and Gods, we must remind ourselves to be modest; people have died for the right to religious worship that we take for granted.

And someday, somehow, even if the physical fire of Asamai is extinguished, and her temple is reduced to rubble, may we gather the strength to rekindle the Fire. Until then, we must let it burn in our hearts.

Read more: https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/ghazni-residents-mourn-the-loss-of-hindu-sikh-neighbors-/30854326.html

https://rajatmitra.co.in/the-last-hindu-of-afghanistan/

Imagine wearing these jewels.

The pearl and ruby earrings that enhances the redness of your Benarasi saree.

As your graceful, bangled hands gather jasmine flowers from your garden to offer it your kula devta, the butterflies abandon the flowers, mistaking your flower-patterned ring to be some exquisite flower.

And when you smile quietly at this, the diamonds in your nath nosering slightly shines in the sun- reflecting your inner radiance to the wide world.

Imagine wearing these jewels.

Bakhtiyar and his men play buzkashi in my alleys today monks are being burnt alive; and those who try to escape are beheaded.

Dharmagunj — the nine-storied library has burst into flames smoke and ash from burning books  have turned the day into night.

The sun has disappeared from the sky today and even my bricks bleed sacred chants that once purified Magadha  have turned into shrieks of a falling humanity.

The light of the world is fading today to face ravages of time alone abandoned, scorned, forgotten or perhaps to be reborn into many Nalandas.

~Abhay K.