Poorly Written Guide
To
(Human) God’s Own Country
For Dummies
Kerala, the tiny populous state of south India, where I was
born and brought up has changed a lot in the last 50 years of my existence.
However people have not changed.
In the early nineties possibly, it started promoting the
label: The Gods Own country. I could be wrong to assume this, but I first
noticed this in some tourism websites promoting the green picturesque
landscapes. I was comfortable with that, as the God , possibly was seemingly secular,
the all-pervasive supreme spirit of the universe, the unseen abstract force,
which possibly like a dream weaver made this tiny land, so much different from
the rest of the surrounding states in its abundance of natural beauty.
Before going to the interesting Religious and Political
divide now affecting this tiny piece on earth, one has to ponder little on the
geopolitical journey Kerala took before the Independence of India. I do not
intend to be an expert in Indian or Kerala History, but looking it from what I know
or have learned in school.
The way people in Kerala treat their state is somewhat dichotomous.
When Keralites (”malayalees”) talk to “out siders”, they are proud of their
heritage, literacy and their willingness to promote the friendliness to
foreigners. Inside Kerala, they are not a cohesive group. They have divisions in society based on religion,caste, politics, locality and even accent of speech.
This has probably
routes in their stately origin. The old Rajas of small “Kingdoms” which made up
the strip of land west of Western Ghats to the beaches of Arabian Sea always
welcomed the foreigners. This included Portuguese
(Vasco da Gama) who first found the spicy coastal towns. Later Dutch, French
and English came. Chinese and Arabs all visited this place sometime or other.
When British established the East India Company for spice trade, they realized
that having a stronghold in the politics was the best way to exploit the
natural treasures of the land. Soon they helped the then Rajas to wage proxy
wars and in turn made many kingdoms to become the protectorate of the Great
British Empire. The hundreds of years followed this regime cultivated the habit
of dividing people based on their loyalty to the local Kings and British
Empire.
In the village I was born, a canal separated the Cochin
Kingdom to Malabar, ruled by the British. We were in Malabar and my father studied in “Victoria College”. My elementary school was called “George Durbar Memorial LP School or
GDMLP”; I was pleasantly surprised to see the new board hanging on its wall as ‘”
Guru Deva Memorial LP school”, by cleverly salvaging the alphabets to make it
Indian. My father used to tell me that
before the bridge was made over the canal, people used to smuggle sacks of rice
carried on their head, swimming across the shallow canal as there was great
price difference in the grains in these small pieces of land. There were
economic disparities between the lands directly ruled by British and the ones
ruled by the Kerala Kings with the British protection. It was a matter of survival for these small
Kingdoms as they feared invasion from both from India and abroad.
British kept the traditions of the caste system the same.
They encouraged the development of Christianity. However, even before the
British established their trading posts, there were Syrian Christians, who were
converted from the elite higher caste Hindus when St Thomas came and baptized
the willing communities. Similarly invasion of Muslim Rulers also helped to spread the
Islam and a notable Hindu King of Kodungallur (Cheraman Perumal) actually
converted to Islam and spread that Religion.
The castes were hierarchically arranged based on their “family
job”. The people who were doing the palace and temple work were considered more
elite than those did farming or cleaning jobs. Because of the white collar jobs
being closer to the Kings, priests and in turn to the Gods, while people with blue collar
jobs were considered as lower castes and “untouchables”. As this was not seen
in Europe, some right minded British had tried to abolish this practice of
untouchability, with lot of resistance from the upper caste Hindus.
Interestingly even after changes in Christianity, there have been refusals to
intermarry people from different churches based upon the “elite-ness”.
People who were closer to the government had the power and
they filled the supervisory posts, as well as judiciary and legislature. This
trend had not changed even after Independence and establishing affirmative
actions to promote the lower most strata of society, the “Scheduled Castes and
Tribes”.
There had been movements in many castes to organize and
promote the educational and social wellbeing, which got a boost during the
national struggle for Independence. They established Schools, colleges and
other centers of learning as well as hospitals and associated infrastructures.
After the seventies, there occurred a boost of Keralite
wealth due to the influx of foreign exchange earnings by people working in
Middle East. Even in the past, malayalees due to their educational endeavors,
traveled to many countries. Christians went to Europe, many went with their British
bosses to Malaysia, Singapore, Ceylon (Sree Lanka), but the impact was very
little and was not felt as great as the “Gulf Effect”. The Muslims in north Kerala,
surged in their ability of purchase-power as the majority, regardless of their
educational background, had improved in their social set up. The gulf effect
was not isolated to Malabar region. This was seen in every village in Kerala
and helped to improve the overall societal wellbeing regardless of Caste and religion.
Later when Indian informational
technology resources improved, there came a newer export from India in the
nineties and beginning of this millennium.
Even the literacy rates increased tremendously in Kerala,
new sets of ideologies and idol worships started to emerge. Money was flowing
from corrupt businesses including illicit alcohol imports as well as the land
mafias to Kerala politics. The new caste system based on further stratification
of economic wealth slowly came into existence.
The religious groups were also got the boost in strength.
Previously thought taboos of religious fundamentalism was no longer was
present. The definite politicization of Religion had all the blessings from malayalees.
This was seen in Hindu, Muslim and Christian religious groups. There was money
flowing to build new temples, churches and mosques. It became the Identity of
each person. Then came the local gods. The superstitions were always there regardless
of the religious upbringing or educational levels. The charlatans were always
willing to jump in. They had new methods and support of politics and media. The
people who defected or criticized were dealt with harshly. Either they were called
anti-social or anti-religious. Hindu religion was thought to be weakening as
the other religious groups flourished and secularism spread among literates.
Then came the neo-patriotism, linking the Hinduism to patriotism, by depicting
India as non-secular state and either the Muslims are trying to promote Pakistani
interests or Christians are trying to bring in American interests etc. For
political parties devoid of absolute majority, having help from religious
groups was inevitable for the survival. The once biggest Indian National
Congress had to incorporate corrupt and self-serving religious party leaders in
their cabinet.
This was the supper with the Devil.
The Emergence of Human-Gods: The Road to Wealth and Salvation
During this time, there were other interesting developments
happening. Miracles always fascinated people around the world. The attainment of
priesthood was a very long troublesome path. However, people who were more
talented invented short cuts. That was how the human gods emerged. The
politicians as well as the religious groups would bow to them. The first and
major hurdle is to convince the dubious populous that one has the divine power.
This takes very clever and calculated steps. Many attempt it, but rare ones
flourish. It is a dog-eating –dog contest. It was interesting that most rose from the non-priestly castes and positions. Even though the Kings, Temples, Churches and Mosques heaped up enormous wealth, they were not financially audited. They also did little in terms of charity. The human-gods were established in a different way. This is not a side path from the already established religious infrastructure. This is a story of one person's success in the business of spirituality. Being a business empire, your position is envious.
This is the process if one has to get to the human-god
status. Once you have established that you can help, heal and enlighten a group
of public, you have to entrust group of disciples to do the public relations.
This cannot be done overnight. You have to realize that you should appear in
the lime light, while showing disinterest in fame. As the Indians always had trusted the “foreign
stamp”, you should bring in unsuspecting foreign souls who are fed up with the
western type “materialistic society” with the eastern religious charm. This is
not difficult to obtain. Then the membership in the cults increases tremendously.
This will give an opportunity to spread the word across the continents. Money
comes in easily. The next step needs lot of self-control. You enlist smart
people to utilize the money in money making projects. Start Kindergarten or
nursery schools, start small clinics to provide free health checkups. Education
in Kerala is an industry. It is easier to make money as Public education system
is a loser in the game. Once you
establish a school, what you see will be a lineup of potential employees,
teachers and students. You take money from everyone for posting and admissions;
that is called “donation”. Sky and imagination can be the limit. To flourish in
the society stratified with economic levels, people would be willing to shed
their hard earned money for the status. The schools will be built with no
expenditure from the cult, as all will be self-sustaining.
The next enterprise is hospital business. Nursing schools
and medical schools will follow, all self-sustained. This would be a great
avenue to increase the public relations and to survive in rapidly changing
political climate. As every government in Kerala would be consisting of
representatives from every religion and possibly the major castes, it would be
a walk in the park if you have insiders helping you out.
For this, you have to help the political parties first.
Political parties are looking at vote banks. The more followers you have, the
more interested are the politicians in your cult.
However there should always be ground rules. You do not criticize
any politicians. If you do, it may buy you some support initially, but will
ruin your prospects with the opposing groups. As the worldly truth, you should
not burn bridges, as you would need to retreat by the same bridge another time.
So what about miracles? Oh yes; miracles are needed in the
beginning. Once the money is coming steadily and your educational, cultural and
medical establishments start flourishing, you do not need miracles. You should
entrust well settled disciples to do the public relations. Make sure you keep
the enterprise fiscally frugal. Keep the leash on money always. Show charity as
much as possible. Keep business on the backside as usual. Try not to brush with
other religions. You do not want enemies working against you.
The next step, buy media or establish newspapers and TV
channels of your own. This would reduce the expenditure for PR as well as
establish your word over others. You do not have to beg for air time anymore.
This is the best investment after buying the politicians. Invite politicians to
your meetings to inaugurate the charity work or prayer meetings. For
politicians, they can’t say “No”. They like limelight. They want every
opportunity in front of the microphone. You get free advertisement for your
identity as a formidable force. This will reap lot of dividends. People oblige
based upon the membership, friendship or connections. Make them place garlands
on you, or wash your feet with milk. They will do it for publicity. Tap every
resource. Keep the administration in tight hierarchical fashion. Never bring
democracy, as it spoils the game. You do not allow dissidents to have any
voice. Deal with them harshly. One thing to understand that the people came on
free will to follow you shows that they are fragile and vulnerable. Do not show
any regard to their loyalty. Make strong examples of how escapees are dealt
with. This will show to rest of the people, your courage and strength. Here you
are to lead; you do not cultivate any leaders. It is your temple. You are the
god, rest are just your worshipers.
Worship involves love and fear and feeling of devotion. It
is not easy to juggle these roles. As Indians always find the excuse of fate to
every calamity, it is easy to forgive and forget. Your huge buildings and
infrastructure of religious campuses, hospital complexes will all be there as
testimony of your strength, charity and service symbols. Words cannot place
them into oblivion. Healthcare and education, two commodities people in Kerala can’t
live without. You are the provider.
You are going to be known for the minute charitable sugar
coating activities. You just hide your enormous wealth and power underneath. No
one wants to know the bad faltering truths as a human in you. They want to have
you as a powerful God who can affect their destiny, their lives. They like
salvation. You are their Human God.
The paradox of cultivating the superstition in a land faced
with freedom struggles, popular uprisings, and high literacy is challenging.
This takes a very calculated and serpentine modus operandi.
The so called Gods Own Country, Kerala is interestingly the
first state in the world where communism came to power by ballot, not by bloodshed
or revolution. It is just amazing.
So the trick is get the media on your side, get the people
to support you from every strata of society, and then politicians will follow
you. It is the ballot that counts.
When the money is deposited in the urns of your temples, it
is the ballot for politicians.
The Gods Own Country, spirituality is your new export. You
bring in Vasco da Gamas and East India companies; you are in a new game.
