A humbling experience for foreigners
Sukant Deepak

A rare painting showing Lord Krishna on the banks of the Sannehit Sarovar on solar eclipse day

Something stupefying like the fumes of opium seized her as she witnessed lakhs of people taking a dip at the Brahma Sarovar while the moon partially shadowed the sun during the first solar eclipse of the millennium. Her Nikon clicked continuously, capturing the mortals holding colourful thalis decorated elaborately, standing waist deep in the sarovar with some superb religious scenery in attendance at Kurukshetra.

What freezed her attention was the celebration of life. The vision of this keen observer saw much that was hidden from the eyes of even the natives for whom belief manifests itself in an uninterrupted succession of ritual festivities.

Diana Mark was among the lakhs who arrived in Kurukshetra to attend the Ardh-Kumbh festivities. What was special was not that she was a foreigner but the fact she was a keen observer of one of the oldest civilisations and tried to ‘decipher’ the real essence of India by watching its people take part in the many festivals and honouring things which for the western civilisation would be meaningless. She believed that the West, in its materialistic pursuits, had become an emotional wasteland, whereas the East continued to fascinate with its numerous myths and legends.

The hundreds who had specially arrived from distant lands to witness the grandeur offered by the Ardh Kumbh were neither hippies nor characters from VS Naipaul’s creations out in search of their roots but keen travellers from places as diverse as Brazil, America, the Netherlands and Hungary. They were out to explore the vividness and originality of ritualistic festivities.

Meeting these foreigners, some of whom had been regular visitors to India and some who had come here for the first time, was not just an introduction to the perceptions of aliens about India but it was also an enduring journey through the eyes of those free of pre-conceived notions and any bindings of ritualistic conduct.

Not merely observing but also actively participating in almost all rituals associated with the Ardh-Kumbh, Nick Freeman, a Danish psychiatrist who has been visiting India for more than 10 years now, stressed that unlike the monotonous standardisation of the western lifestyle, this country offered the feel of a civilisation where the actions and ritualistic conduct of the people were pregnant with meanings and expressive powers. "I may not fully understand the deep meanings associated with the conduct of people here but watching youngsters wearing imported clothes and enjoying these rituals, sadhus metamorphosing to a distant reality as they chant the shlokas, leaves me in total awe. This country is unique. Nowhere in the world have I witnessed such an intensity where tradition is imbedded deep even in the lifestyle of the so-called modern people."

For the Canadian couple that wanted to travel the length and breadth of the country on a vintage 1960 Enfield motor cycle, the plan was to write a narrative embodying past events and contemporary reactions to existent rituals and religious festivals of India. Waking up during the Ardh Kumbh in an atmosphere of rural peace and vibrations of the dawning light, and witnessing the ‘silence’ of frenetic festivity has been an original experience for us,"said Matthew Brian, a professor in a Canadian University. "Here life is stronger than any misfortune. The abstract luminous smile on the pilgrims’ faces, many of them who belong to the lower economic strata, hides their suffering," said his female companion.

Walking past staring eyes and brushing aside hawkers selling imitations of precious stones, many foreigners said what they enjoyed most about Indian festivals was the sense of exhilaration, which comes naturally. "I feel more humbled, more human when I participate in such festivals. The best part of them is that person from any religion is free to participate and does not invite frowns from even the hardliners," confessed Derek Gilman, an engineering student from Italy who has also learnt Sanskrit from Banaras.

Cramayon Dossey from Germany who wanted to leave for Karnataka after the conclusion of the Ardh Kumbh, stressed: "This country comes alive during such festivals, so many colours, so many people. I come here to seek answers to my unasked questions."

The sun was now showing itself as the true ruler of the land. The magic show of nature was over, and the pilgrims prepared to return home. Those with white skins and heavy backpacks were also preparing to leave not for their own lands but to go and absorb the magic of other places in India and to utter the Indian greeting ‘Ram-Ram’ not to a Hindu but to someone within themselves.