Stones, Idols and Temples

Learning From Poor Dalits - 4

Stones, Idols and Temples

-Parattai

 
This happened in a Dalit Village near Trichi.  When I was walking towards that village, I saw boys and girls playing around a stone that I presumed to be the deity of the Dalits.  As they were playing they stepped upon the stone.  I thought that the children were non-Dalits.
There were few Dalit young men sitting without taking any step against the sacrilege.  One of the young men saw me and came to me and said, “May I know who you are Ayya?”  I said, “I am from Madurai studying Dalit Religion. I have come to learn about your religious practices.  Will you tell me where you worship your deity?” 
The young man pointed out the stone and then only chased them away.  I said, “Are they children of caste men?” he said, “No! They are our children.  They are bad children.  They don’t respect the deity”  I asked, “Is this stone your deity? He replied, “Yes this is our deity Mariyaththa (literally means Rain of Mother).  We don’t have money to make an idol or to build a temple.
At that time a wise-looking old woman was coming from her work.  She might have heard what the young Dalit was telling me.  As she was walking she said, “Hi Mariappa! Don’t talk about things that you don’t know.” 
I asked Marriappan, ‘Can I talk to that Paatti? She seems to have more knowledge about your deity” He said, “She is my own grandmother. She knows so many things about our deity.  I said, “Will you take me to her?”  He took me to his house and introduced me to his grandmother saying, “Paatti!  This is a professor Parattai from Madurai.  He wants to know about our Mariyaththa”
The old woman looked at me up and down and asked me, “Why do you want to know about our Mariyaththa?” I said, “Paatti! I am a Dalit doing a study to prove that our ancestor’s religion is better than Hinduism. Will you please help me?”
Paatti thought for an instant and said, “Ok, tell me what you want to know about Mariyaththa!”  I said, “First of all, I would like to know whether that stone is your deity.” She said, “No!  That stone is not our deity.  It is just a symbol of the place where we have to gather for worshipping the Deity.  If that stone were our deity do you think we would allow children to play on it?” 
Then I said, “When I got down from the bus, I saw a temple. The people said that it was Mariyaththa’s temple.  I found an idol of Mariyaththa inside the temple. Is that idol your deity Paatti?”   Paatti replied, “That is not our deity.  We don’t imprison our deity inside a building.  In fact, no one can imprison Mariyaththa.  She is a almighty deity.”
“What is wrong with building a temple Paatti? We Christians also have Cathedral and mini Cathedral Church building.  It keeps away animals, birds and thieves”
“You may not want animals, birds and thieves to worship god.  But when we worship we allow even the wind, the sun and stars to worship God. After building that temple, the caste men did not allow us to go near our Aththa.  They changed our Aththa into an Idol”
I said “But, Paatti! That idol was beautiful!”  Paatti said,  “Because it looks like a Brahmin woman?  Do you think that only Brahmins are beautiful?” I could not answer her.  Then she said, “Do you know who are behind every idol creation?  It is Brahmins.  They want us to think that all gods look like a Brahmins.  If we were to worship the Brahmin-like idols we will start obeying and worshiping the Brahmins also.”
“Oh! I realize the trick now Paatti.  White men who ruled us also did the trick.  They painted Jesus in their image. Even today when we think of Jesus only the white man’s image arises in our mind, not the real Jesus, the Jew.” 
“Our Aththa does not have a shape.  If she had a form and shape how could she come upon us? How could she possess us?  Whenever she tries to come upon us, our form and her form would conflict and she will not come and say her words.”  
“Do you mean that there will be no prophesy if god had form and shape Paatti?”
“Yes, that is why we Dalits do not have an idol.  We never build temples because we do not want to disturb the nature or to imprison the deity.  The caste men imprison the deities and posses them.  But our deities possess us. “
We talked for a long time till late in the night.  I left the place thinking about the eco concerns of our fore fathers.. Then I thought of the Dalits who claim that the temples that had destroyed the eco balance, were build by Dalits.   They must listen to people like that Pattai.  Then they will understand that Dalits would never build such destructive temples