Hindu Rashtra

What, exactly, is a Hindu Rashtra?

Prafull Goradia

The outcome of the election in Gujarat is likely to evoke a question as to what could be a Hindu Rashtra. The Narendra Modi-led victory is the first assertion of Hindu nationalism. One of its aspirations would be the founding of a Rashtra, or state, after its heart. What could be its character?
Unlike in Islam, the state is not woven as a weft to the warp of religion in the cloth of Hindu life. There is no imam in Hinduism. The question, therefore, of whether he and the sultan should be one or different individuals does not arise. What then would be a Hindu Rashtra?
The only self-declared Hindu state in modern India was the principality of Travancore. A Japanese scholar, Koji Kawashima, in his book Missionaries and a Hindu State (OUP, 1998) has researched the experience of Travancore between 1858 and 1936. To quote from the book: 'In India, the kingly duties have been called rajadharma, which can be defined as the obligation of the ruler to protect dharma, or to secure peace, prosperity, justice and order in the kingdom. Of these duties, the protection of the gods and their temples was perhaps the most important. As a servant of Sri Padmanabha, the Maharaja of Travancore observed a number of rituals...Travancore was a state which had a large number of non-Hindus, particularly Syrian Christians. In 1875, Christians formed about 20 per cent of the total population, and Muslims six per cent. These different religions have co-existed in Travancore state. One of the principal reasons for this co-existence was a semi-official state policy of religious tolerance'. Evidently, then, the Hindu state of Travancore did not discriminate against those of other faiths. Today, 20 per cent of Keralites are Christian and a similar percentage is Muslim.
Nepal is a self-declared Hindu kingdom. It is in fact the world's only Hindu country. Part I of its constitution adopted in 1990, describes the kingdom as a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, democratic, independent, indivisible, sovereign Hindu and constitutional monarchical kingdom. Part III makes the right to equality for all its citizens a fundamental right.
To quote M. Mohsin, a professor based in Nepal: 'Religion has never been a barrier of effective communication between different ethnic groups in Nepal. All though her long history Nepalese society has displayed a remarkably high degree of religious harmony.' There is, however, no mention of a minority or a majority in the Nepalese constitution. Nor is any section of the citizenry given any special treatment. All were not only declared equal before the law but were also treated on the same plane.
The practice of the Indian constitution has, however, been discriminatory. There are any number of special provisions for those citizens who are termed 'minorities'. Apart from the discrimination they represent, they also keep aflame the bogey of minorityism which in turn must provoke resentment among Hindus. Articles 29 and 30 give so many special concessions to minority educational institutions. There is a separate personal law for the Muslims. The Muslim Women's Bill, 1987, was specially passed to overturn a judgement by the Supreme Court in the Shah Bano case for alimony. The Minorities Commissions are another example of discrimination, as also the existence of wakfs. Not all of the latter are charitable organisations. Many are called wakf-e-aulad, or those meant for the benefit of the donors' progeny. The Haj subsidy is yet another example of this.
A Hindu Rashtra is unlikely to accept such discrimination between one set of citizens and another. All would be equal and be treated as equal.
(The writer is a former editor of BJP Today) Courtesy The India Express - Friday, December 20, 2002

Impressionist painters

Claude Monet (1840 – 1926) is regarded as the most important of the Impressionist painters. His landscapes are the embodiment of what is commonly thought of as Impressionist painting. The theory of Impressionism states that we do not see an object as such, but rather the light in which it appears to us. Thus Monet for instance painted the portal of Rouen Cathedral at various times of the day and under different weather conditions, showing us how the changing light affects its appearance.

Sharia laws vary among world's Muslims and how

Paris: Sharia law is understood and applied in such varied ways across the Muslim world that it is difficult to say exactly what it is and how it could fit into a western legal context, according to experts on Islam.
Full Islamic criminal law, the harsh code most non-Muslims think of when they hear the word Sharia, is applied in very few countries, such as Saudi Arabia. Islamic 'personal law' for issues like marriage and inheritance is much more common.
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams sparked off a storm last week by suggesting Britain adopt some sharia law. British Muslims defending him stressed most of the Islamic world also rejected the ultra-orthodox model that he clearly ruled out.
"There are 57 Muslim countries in the world and only two or three of them impose full Sharia criminal law. Why on earth would we want to have that here?" asked Sheikh Suhaib Hasan, secretary of the Islamic Sharia Council in Britain.
There are also widely differing interpretations of Sharia, both within the four classical Sunni and one Shia schools of jurisprudence and between traditional and modern thinkers.
"In the Muslim world these days, 'Sharia' means a whole variety of different things," said John Voll, professor of Islamic history at Georgetown University in Washington.
Williams apparently had in mind a modern school of Muslim thinking that sees Sharia as a system of essential Islamic values rather than a fixed code of harsh punishments, he said.
LIMITED USE
Most Muslim states limit the use of Sharia to 'personal law' on issues such as marriage, divorce, inheritance and child custody. Western critics say most Muslim personal law limits women's rights and introduces inequality before the law.
Egypt says Sharia is the main source of its legislation, but has penal and civil codes based mostly on 19th century French law. Hudoud, the corporal and capital punishment outlined in the Quran, has not been applied there in modern times.
Muslims cannot convert to other faiths and non-Muslims who convert to Islam are not supposed to leave it, but a court allowed this for 12 people in a landmark case last week.
Pakistan has a similar split between civil and penal codes carried over from the British colonial period and Muslim personal law. It also has a Federal Sharia Court to decide if laws passed by parliament conform to Islam.
Apart from a few public lashings since Islamisation started in the 1980s, harsh physical punishments have not been imposed. Nobody has been executed under a law banning blasphemy against Islam, but some accused blasphemers have been killed by mobs.

How many Ramayanas?

Valmiki, according to historians lived anywhere between 800 BC and 400 BC, composed Ramayana based on the oral traditions that were a thousand years older. In India, apart from at least four more Ramayanas in Sanskrit, there are the Jain Paumachariyam in Prakrit, Ramcharit Manas by Tulsi Das in Hindi, Sundarananda Ramayana and Adarsha Raghava in Nepali, Katha Ramayana in Assamese, Krittivas Ramayan in Bengali, Jagamohan Ramayana in Oriya, Rama Balalika in Gujarati, Ramavatar in Punjabi, Ramavatara Charita in Kashmiri, besides the well known Kamba Ramayanam in Tamil, Ramacharitam in Malayalam, Ranganatha Ramayanam in Telugu and Torave Ramayana in Kannada.

The Yazidis

THE YAZIDIS



INTRODUCTION

The Yazidis are linked to the extreme Shi'a (Ghulat) sects and number worldwide some 300,000 people. The main group of 150,000 Yazidis live in the Jebel Sinjar mountain and the Shaikhan district of northwest Iraq. At least 50,000 Yazidis live in the former Soviet Union (Armenia and other Caucasus states). They were also to be found in South-East Turkey around Diyarbakir and Mardin (10,000) but most emigrated from there to Germany in the 80s. They also live in Syria in and around Aleppo (5,000), and in parts of Iran. An estimated 50,000 have emigrated to Western Europe, mainly to Germany, in search of asylum and employment.
The Yazidis call themselves Dawasi. They are called "Devil worshippers" by their Sunni neighbours, who considered them heretics and have cruelly persecuted them over the centuries. They are closely related to similar sects such as the Ahl-i-Haqq.
The Yazidi religion is a syncretistic combination of Zoroastrian, Manichaean, Jewish and Nestorian Christian with Islamic Shi'a and Sufi elements and has many variants. They believe that they were created separately from the rest of mankind and are descended from Adam only - not from Adam and Eve like the rest of humanity. They have therefore kept themselves strictly isolated from the other communities among whom they lived, and did not intermarry with them. They also call themselves "Children of Adam" and see themselves as a chosen people.
Although scattered, they have a well organised society. The Emir (Mirza Beg) who resides at Ba'dari (65 km north of Mosul), is the secular head who represents the Yazidis to the central authorities. He installs the chief Sheikh (Sheikh Nazir, Baba Sheikh) who resides in Beled-Sinjar and is the supreme religious head and the infallible authority on their holy scriptures.
Ethnically most Yazidis are Kurmanji speaking Kurds. Their religious practice is centered on the tomb of their founder figure, Sheikh 'Adi ibn Musafir at Lalesh, some 60 km north-east of Mosul, who was probably a Sufi (some think an Isma'ili) preacher of the 12th century.



BELIEFS

Yazidis believe that the supreme God created the world, but delegated its maintenance to a hierarchy of seven angels of whom Malak Ta'us (the Peacock Angel) was the first in rank. Malak Ta'us sinned in not worshipping Adam, and was punished by being cast down from heaven. After shedding tears for 7000 years, with which the fires of hell were quenched, he repented of his sin of pride, was pardoned and reinstated as chief of the angels.
In Yazidi belief, Malak Ta'us is also the devil (Shaitan), the ruler of this world, and they seek to appease him as they fear his power. They do not actually worship him, but seek to honour and placate him, believing that the Supreme Being has delegated to him dominion over the world. They will never pronounce his Arabic name "Shaitan" or use any word beginning with "SH". He is seen as a capricious Lord who determines man's fate as he wills and in whom the principles of good and of evil are combined. It is believed that he appeared in different form in various periods of history, the final incarnation being in Sheikh 'Adi ben Musafir (d. 1162).
Malak Ta'us rules the universe with the help of six other angels, and he guards the gates of Paradise. The seven angels are worshipped by the Yazidi in the form of seven bronze peacock figures called Sanjaq, the largest of which weighs 320 kg. Six of them are taken yearly on a round of the main Yazidi centres.
Of the other angels, Sultan Ezi is second in rank to Malak Ta'us and many legends are told about him. He is sometimes identified with the second Umayad Caliph Yazid ibn Mu'awiyah. Other important angels are Sherf-Edin (noble lord of religion) who is seen as the Mahdi (returning Messiah), and She-Shims (sun sheikh) who presents the prayers of the Yazidis to God's throne three times a day.
As hell was destroyed by Malak Ta'us, it does not exist anymore. There is no concept of the forgiveness of sins. A person's deeds receive due punishment or reward in his next reincarnation. Transmigration of souls is a process of gradual purification of the spirit through the successive rebirths until the final day of judgement.
Like all Shi'a groups, the Yazidis believe firmly in Taqiya, the dissimulation of their faith in the face of persecution for the sake of the survival of the community.



RITES AND CUSTOMS

Sheikh 'Adi, the Yazidi founder figure and saint, was a 12th century Sufi mystic whom the Yazidi believe was the final manifestation of Malak Ta'us. His tomb is their religious centre and focal point of their annual pilgrimage.
Once a year, early in October, all Yazidis are encouraged to assemble at Sheikh 'Adi. The festivities are supervised by the Emir and the Baba Sheikh. The pilgrims bathe ritually in the river and form a procession in which the various clergy castes carry the Sanjaqs, play the flutes and drums, sing and dance. Hundreds of sesame oil lamps are lighted at the saint's grave and special offerings are brought. White bulls are sacrificed and common meals partaken of. A black serpent, symbol of Malak Ta'us, is carved on the doorway to the shrine and is kissed by the pilgrims. Booths are set up and there is much rejoicing with singing and dancing. The clergy engage in secret rituals to which the laity (murids) have no access.
Yazidis pray ritually three times a day facing the sun after first washing their hands and face. The prayers are in Kurdish and express thankfulness and pleas for blessing and help. The weekly holy day is Wednesday, in which they gather at dawn in a Ziyaret (local pilgrimage centre). The day of rest is Saturday. Twice a year they fast for three days: at the sun festival (ida roja, 1st December) and at the Khidr Elias festival (The Prophet Elijah day, 18th February).
The new year festival (ida sersale, first Wednesday in April) is a time of much rejoicing. Sheep, goats or hens are sacrificed, and houses decorated with flowers. Bonfires are lit at night. Yazidis celebrate other festivals, including two days at the end of the Muslim Ramadan and a Jesus feast (ida Isa) around Easter time.
Yazidis revere their dead, offering gifts, especially the firstfruits, at their graves. Many Yazidi villages have a tomb of a holy man nearby which is used as a local pilgrimage centre. Pilgrims seek blessing, protection and healing at these tombs.
Yazidi taboos include not eating lettuce, as they believe that evil is found in it. Tradition has it that "the devil once hid in a lettuce patch". This belief, ridiculed by their neighbours, probably goes back to the Manichaeans who believed that Divine Light was contained in plants more than in any other substance. Yazidis must not wear clothes of a specific dark blue colour, or a shirt open down the front. Underwear must be white. Very religious Yazidis do not eat chicken or gazelle meat.
Birth to Yazidi parents is the only way into the community. From birth each Yazidi is automatically linked to his or her specific Sheikh or Pir. This relationship cannot be changed. Children are baptised in the first week after birth, whilst circumcision is optional. Between the 7th to the 11th month, boys are initiated into full membership of the community through a special ceremony in which the Sheikh cuts off three locks of the boy's hair which are hidden by the mother.
The Sheikhs perform at weddings and funerals with special prayers and liturgies.
The sacred scriptures of the Yazidis are two short books written in Arabic: Kitab al-Jilwah (book of revelation) supposed to have been written by Sheikh 'Adi himself, and Mishaf Rash (black writing) by Sheikh Hasan ibn-'Adi. An Arabic hymn in praise of Shaykh 'Adi is greatly respected as part of their liturgy.


SOCIETY

Yazidi society is divided into two classes, the laity and the clergy. Marriage is strictly restricted to one's own class, often to one's own clan and is preferably to a cousin.
The laity (murid) who constitute the majority of Yazidis were not supposed to learn to read or write (a privilege kept for an Imam claiming descent from the famous Sufi Hasan al-Basri). They are not initiated into the mysteries of their religion, their duty being to keep the religious rites and taboos and obey their spiritual leaders. Every Yazidi is linked as a disciple to a definite Sheikh or Pir, whose hand he kisses every day.
The clergy or priests (ruhan, kahana) enjoy great respect and must not cut their hair or beard. They are divided into six classes:
1. The Sheikhs who are descended from five families closely related to Sheikh 'Adi.
2. The Pirs, descended from some of Sheikh Adi's disciples.
The Sheikhs and Pirs are responsible for the spiritual welfare of the murid families under their care, and for teaching them the proper Yazidi rites and ceremonies. They also function at the religious festivals and at the rites of passage (birth, marriage, death, etc.).
3. The Fakirs or Karabash who wear black shirts next to their skins and black turbans round their felt caps. They are organised like a Sufi order and have their own ascetic rules.
4. The Kawwals, who sing and play music at the festivals. Their representatives carry the Sanjaqs around Yazidi villages, inviting them to the pilgrimage to Sheikh Adi and gathering their donations to the Emir and to the upkeep of the religious centre.
5. The Kocaks - the dancers who serve at the tomb of Sheikh 'Adi.
6. The Awhan or deacons who perform the menial service at the tomb.
Every Yazidi is designated a "Brother or Sister of the Other World" on reaching puberty. This is a spiritual relationship which persists until death and carries certain ceremonial responsibilities (similar to Godparents in Christianity).
Yazidi language, both in worship and in secular life, is the Kurmanji dialect of Kurdish. Yazidis are organised in tribes, with a chief (Agha) at the head of each. Every tribe is divided into clan groups. Marriage is monogamous and restricted to a person's caste and clan.
As heretics the Yazidis were considered fair prey to any rightly believing Sunni. Turkish rulers and Sunni Kurdish tribes repeatedly persecuted them and tried to forcibly convert them. More recently the Iraqi authorities forcibly deported 20,000 Yazidis from Jebel Sinjar in 1975. Since the Gulf War the Iraqi Government is claiming that the Yazidis are Arabs and their areas should be under its jurisdiction, whilst the Yazidis and Kurdish forces assert that they are Kurds and should be part of their safe haven. Iraqi government posts are only one mile away from the Yazidi sanctuary at Lalesh.
Many Yazidis were also forced to leave South-Eastern Turkey in the 70s and 80s as a result of general anti-Kurdish and specific Sunni-Islamic anti-Yazidi persecution. They have historically viewed their Syrian Orthodox and Nestorian Christian neighbours as friends and fellow sufferers at the hands of the dominant Sunni majority.

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Yezidism
Alternative Religion/ subjects/ Alternative religion Facts
The Yezidi religion is one of the most unusual religions one earth. It has survived despite its status as an unrecognized religion under Islamic rule, and through many onslaughts against it's Kurdish followers. The Kurds live in a largely autonomous region between northern Iraq and Turkey, where they are considered a threat to both the Turkish government and the Iraqi rule of Saddam Hussein.
The Yezidis are a very unusual sect, possibly named after their supposed founder Yezid, the Umayyad Caliph. The Yezidi revere the Prophet Mohammed and the Sufi mystic Adi Musafir, a descendent of the Umayyad Caliphs (Kalifs). Adi is credited with writing many of the Yezidi Holy texts and is most likely to be the originator of the faith in its current form. Islamic writings mention the religion as early as the fourteenth century, but some scholars link them to Mithraism, Zoroastrianism, and even ancient Iraqi Buzzard worshippers.
Yezidism is an enigma that has confounded scholars and incited debate for some time. The influence of Islam on the religion is heavy and obscures other aspects. Tantalizing clues point in every direction- rituals involving fire and prayers recited in the direction of the sun are distinctly Zoroastrian; taboos against eating lettuce and beans, baptisms, and the belief that Christ is a prophet hint at Manicheism. Other unusual aspects of Yezidi belief are the reverence of an immortal elemental spirit named Khidir; temple decorations is Lalish are distinctly Mithraic.
Yezidis are not reluctant to proselytize, and have converted many Christians and Muslims over the years. At the same time, they are a universalist religion, accepting other faiths as different manifestations of the same eternal truth. This belief might go a long way to explaining the numerous foreign elements of the faith, but it makes it difficult to pinpoint the exact origin of the faith.
Yezidi rulership is hereditary, and comes through the seven "priestly" lineages- hereditary Kurdish rulers. Yezidis number bout sixty-thousand in Iraq and Syria, 200,000 total worldwide. Yezidi clegy are patterned after the Islamic Hierarchy of Sheiks and Mullas. Pirs (priests) and Kawals (traveling preachers), kocheks, (ecstatics and soothsayers), and Murids (laymen who give financial support).
There is no specific Yezidi Holy text, but important information about Yezidi practices is contained in the Mes'haf i Resh, or "black book" attributed to Adi's son, and the Jelwa, or "book of revelation," a brief homily attributed to Adi. Neither book is considered sacred, however- Yezidi tradition is strictly oral, and consists of hymns and prayers. Literacy is not prized in the community, and was once taboo.
Yezidi feast days follow the Zoroastrian/Mithraic calendar. The most important Feast day is that of Jam, when the various Yezidi groups converge on Lalish, the burial place of Adi. During the Jam, the Peacock icon, representing Malek Taus, is presented to the worshippers during a seven day celebration. It coincides with an ancient Zoroastrian feast day, one of many coincidences that lead some scholars to make a connection between the two religions.
Yezidi beliefs are a complicated mixture of ancient Mesopotamian religion with elements of Zoroastrianism, Gnosticism, and Mithraism. Worship centers around Angels (Yezidi is derived from the Arabic word for 'angel'), the most important of which is named Melek Taus, or the "Peacock Angel," also known as Lucifer. Lucifer plays a different role in Yezidism than in other faiths, where he is considered the chief Archangel, and the creator of the material world. In Yezidi belief, Lucifer is not a fallen angel, or the enemy of God. In Yezidi cosmology, the universal Spirit (the Supreme deity) created a pearl, which became broken after forty thousand years. Melek, or Lucifer, used the remains of the pearl to create the material world. After this creation, the Spirit created the remaining Angels. Yezidi theology claims that Lucifer was forgiven for his transgressions, and those who revere him are the spiritual elect of humanity. They are forbidden from referring to him as Satan.
The Yezidi believe that all of time is divided into six Epochs, and each Epoch has an Avatar, or Archangel. During the first Epoch, the material world and humankind were created. The Yezidi story of the creation of man follows the Judeo-Christian Adam and Eve, except that Satan is portrayed as a wise teacher rather than a temptor. Yazdan, the supreme being, is distanced from creation and is not directly invoked.
The prevailing symbol of the religion is the Peacock, in particular the bronze icons central to Yezidi worship. Some theories about the origin of the religion promote the idea that the peacock is descended from an ancient Mesopotamian religion of the region, which created icons of buzzards and bird headed idols. Some Yezidi icons may be remnants from this ancient cult (For more information on this and dozens of other religious symbols, please visit our symbol glossary.)