I have been in Bangalore now for five days. As I expected, many of my initial hesitations and anxieties were dispelled the moment I set foot on the road again. I found my traveling feet again, and fell back into a rhythm that came to define my life in Africa, of arriving in a new place, becoming familiar with the local resources to meet my spiritual, mental, physical and research needs, branch out into community following one lead to another, visit the local sites, make new friends, and plan for the onward journey. I do find comfort in this liminal state, always betwixt and between destinations. The traveler is a species set apart from the tourist and the ex-pat, with a completely different set of mentalities that frame his or her trip. Enough with the vacuous meanderings!
I came to Bangalore with only two specific goals: Meeting Mr. Jyoti, who runs and art ashram and to participate in an interreligious prayer service, which is to take place on Sunday Having found the city significantly easier to maneuver about than Chennai, and hearing of other scholars worth meeting, and sites worth seeing, my days have been filled with planning, contacting folks, and conversing on interreligious dialogue. I was particularly struck by one priest who called pluralism providential, saying that God wants to love me through these other religions. It was perhaps the most spiritually inspiring account of pluralism that I had yet encountered.
Seeing Jyoti's work and hearing of his experiences here, confronted me with the distinct challenges of inculturation and interreligious dialogue and made me aware of an inherent competition both between these two disciplines and with Dalit Liberation theology. Not only have I heard that inculturation theology is often seen as a foil to interreligious dialogue, since it raises suspicions among the interlocutors, who think that it is an effort to evangelize: the church as wolves in sheep's clothing, but also that Dalit theology serves as a counter to both these efforts. Apparently, many of the Christians in India are of the lower castes, and one of the prominent local theologies that has sprung up is Dalit theology. This theology according to my interlocutors, takes on a rather negative view of Hinduism, reducing it down to the caste system. Adopting Christianity becomes a form of protest, just as adopting western culture at least on the superficial level of clothes also becomes a form of protest. Part of the challenges facing the church as it approaches the question of inculturation is that there is such a plurality of cultures that one cannot simply choose one among the many. De Nobili, one of the first practitioners of inculturation here in India in the 1500's acquiesced to the sensibilities of the higher castes, setting up in effect a segregated church system, one for the high castes and one for the lower castes. Nobili's problem seems similar to that of St. Paul. Even though there was no jew nor greek, slave nor not slave, he wasn't able to demand that Philemon released Onesimus as a slave. (imagine that, Michael Le Chevallier referencing the bible!) The critique has been raised that thus far practitioners of inculturation in Ashrams and elsewhere are only adapting to the elite theologies of the higher castes.
(See my prior post- Jyoti's art ashram for more details about him and his ashram)
There is, of course, more to tell, but that would take more pages than I have time to write.
My trip here hasn't all been located inside churches and offices. Yesterday, I took a tour bus to Mysore and Srirangapatna. I was very happy to see that I was only 1 of four non-Indian foreigners on this tour. It often disappointed me in Africa, to see that much of the tourism that I partook in was either only accessible or of interest to foreigners. Local tourism itself seems to be thriving, as there were two buses heading off to Mysore from this govt tour agency. Our first stop was Daria Dalut, the summer palace of Tipu Sultan, whose father, a common soldier, had usurped the royal throne with the aid of the french (always depicted in the paintings there as mustached.) Tipu Sultan himself was defeated by the British, who annexed the kingdom, placing it back under the rule of the Wodeyars. We also visited the Sri Ranganatha Swamy temple, for which the town Srirangapatna is still named. Following our visit there, we drove to St. Philemon's church. Built in 1932, this is one of the largest catholic churches in India, and reflects a soaring Gothic style similar to many European churches. There was a battalion of police stationed in front of the church, as Mysore was a site of violence between Muslims and Hindus the day before. There is a crypt with a statue of St. Philemon and a relic, though I'm not sure if this is a site of great devotion among Catholics
As it was a special Friday during a particular month, the masses had come up to Chamundi hill to make pilgrimage to to the Sri Chamundeswari temple. There were people lined up all round to enter the temple. As I approached the temple, I saw an interesting sight. There were two cows sitting on the ground, and many Hindus who passed would touch them as if to rub off some of their own sacredness onto them. Dangling on the temples were monkeys, many of whom picked at the flowers adorning the temple for the occasion. One monkey actually leaped onto a boy from our group. While Hindus treat these as sacred animals, the father of this boy was certainly protective, and looked willing to bat the monkey away should he jump on him again. Our group paid Rs100 each for the right to walk pass the pilgrims on the fast track into the temple. There, at the front of the line, we joined pilgrims shuffling there way up the stairs through the temple gates before the statue of Chamundi, a warrior goddess who is the patron deity of this region. There were so many offerings, that many from our group found their offerings of coconuts turned away. Much of Hinduism remains a mystery to me, and I don't know where to draw the line between the notion that all shrines and statues are merely forms of the ultimately formless, and the popular devotions I am seeing. Driving down the mountain, we saw from the window of our bus, Nandi, Shiva's bull vehicle, carved out of solid rock in 1659 (according to the lonely planet India). It too was adorned with flowers and surrounded by pilgrims.
Our final visit of note was to the Maharaja's palace. There, I felt transported back to a time of king's riding on elephants, of opulent architecture designed by Europeans that fused together Hindu and Muslim styles. I was in the center of the mystical vision of the orientalists. As we were unable to photograph inside, I only have memories to document my journey. I found most impressive the wedding chamber, whose ceiling seemed to scale a hundred feet tall, and was supported by colorfully painted, cast iron columns shaped to appear as if they were marble. Most of the palace is made of non-combustible materials, as the previous palace burned down, and no expense seemed to be spared. Finished in 1912, this palace had from the onset electricity and a working elevator. A private reception room had a colorful stained glass ceiling that set a golden hue to the interior. Standing where the Raj would sit, looking down to a silver door, I could imagine him holding court here.
On the bus ride back, I was able to watch a Bollywood film with English subtitles. It was my first exposure to Bollywood, and I found it to be rather endearing, though simplistic, unrealistic and silly as most romantic comedies are. Hopefully by time I finish here, I will have the chance to see a few more.
Well, I always find it hard to go through describing such a journey without it becoming a laundry list of activities. I hope whoever you are out there that you enjoy following along my passage to India through this blog, and I welcome any and all comments. Otherwise, I hardly would believe that anyone read this!
Until next time,
Michael
PS
A side note:
I know that many of my friends find it difficult to stay up to date with the various different blogs they may look at. I recommend checking out Google reader. There, you can have all the blogs you follow feed into one page, so you can always check there to see if something new has been updated. You are also welcome to subscribe to my blog, and have my posts arrive direct in your email inbox.
Michael Le Chevallier
MDiv candidate 2011
University of Chicago
email/skype: mike.lechevallier@gmail.com
Cell: +949003176932
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