Facing the Gods

After becoming local celebrities, at least for the evening, by our American Bandstand escapade we were walked about by the festival organizers and showed the main attraction….the assembled gods of Bangalore.

Arranged in a long row, festooned in ornate and colorful floral arrangements, were 6 to 8 religious icons attended with great care by women. A rope barrier created a “space” for the gods separating the icons from the crowd. To enter the space, one removed their footwear and approached with reverence. Barefoot we entered.

It was explained (video) that the icons had been gathered from various temples in Bangalore and were assembled here so people could perform pooja (worship). Present among the gods, was Lakshmi, the goddess of light, beauty, good fortune and wealth. Among the great gods Brahma (Creator), Vishnu (Renewer) and Shiva (Destoryer), Lakshmi was initially claimed by Shiva as his wife. However, Shiva had already taken the Moon as a consort. Lakshmi’s hand was therefore given to Vishnu. Each time Vishnu took on incarnate form, Lakshmi followed as his wife being Sita to Rama and Rukmini to Krishna. Talk about a woman who will follower her man.

Lakshmi also signifies grace and love. Her devotion to Vishnu is often depicted by her massaging Vishnu’s feet as he lies on the coils of the snake Shesha.

As we toured the assembly of gods, Helen was adorned with bracelets…gifts from the gods as explained by our hosts. It was explained that married women wear colorful bracelets and that her bear wrist should be adorned appropriately. With red and green bracelets tinkling from Helen’s wrists, we continued to mill about the icons of the god and walked around the assembled crowd.

Everywhere we walked people came up to us and shook our hands. They were obviously touched that we would come and join their celebration. We were also touched that a simple gesture of allowing ourselves to be consumed by a festival glee would invite upon us such sincere welcome by our neighbors. A few days later, our US based neighbor who lives down the hallway also perched high on the 9^th flood, remarked, “So that was you two I saw from my balcony dancing on stage.” Celebrity knows no international boundaries.

As we walked about our small section of Bangalore that festive weekend, we found that other communities had gathered religious icons and were engaged in religious celebration as well.

On the final day of the celebration, the gods were mounted upon chariots and paraded about the streets. Drummers drummed. Dancers danced. We watched. Another day in Incredible India.