recently, had a highly enriching experience with the complex web of faiths that India is. Was looking for the path through the jungle to a bat-habitat called robbers cave somewhere in the jungles of mahabaleshwar. The path leads through a village called Malusar. The village, nestled inside the forest, has mainly Muslim inhabitants. We were trying to extract water to drink from a dysfunctional handpump. A middle aged man called us to his house and gave us water. He told us that the cave was inhabited by saati aasara, who were very powerful deities , he said. The entire village, including his family, abstain from meat on tuesdays and fridays, he told us. His family, like others in the village, leave offerings of fruits at the mouth of the cave, and prey to the saati aaasra. I asked him his name. Shakeel, he said. What is really Shakeels failth? Clearly, neither classical Islam nor Vedic Hinduism. It is a true intermingling of faiths. I so hope no body ever does anything that would polarise this humane mixture of faiths and force people like Shakeel to choose between other peoples interpretations of his and others faiths.
Posted on: Mon, 09 Jun 2014 03:52:54 +0000
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