Prominence is the state of being important or famous.
Julia Roberts, born to a Baptist and Catholic couple in the Bible Belt of the US, secretly converted to Hinduism during the late fall of 2009. She was in India during the shoot of ‘Eat Pray Love’, a biopic based on Elizabeth Gilbert’s best-selling memoir of one woman’s quest to find lasting peace.
Elizabeth and Julia were attracted to the values of Hinduism, those that formed the cornerstone of my Hindu upbringing. Was it a PR gimmick to promote her movie? Maybe at the time it served both needs, but since then, it has been reported that the ‘Pretty Woman’ actor continues to be a devout and practicing Hindu.
Living in The Middle East under autocratic restrictions, my expatriate parents would frequently quote the teachings from the Bhagavad Gita and the tales from the Mahabharata as a way of instilling goodness in us. The lessons always centered around living in peace and harmony in a land that was stranger and stricter than where we hailed from.
Most recently, Cillian Murphy said he read the Gita in preparation for his role as Robert J. Oppenheimer. The inventor of the atomic bomb is also said to have found consolation in the teachings of a 700-verse Hindu scripture. From Sly Stallone to Will Smith, from Madonna to Miley Cyrus, many A-list celebrities are known to have an attraction to Hindu practices.
Julia Roberts’ intrigue with Hinduism seems to be have sustained for over a decade, and her attempt to learn and practice its teaching seems genuine. But many others choose parts of Hinduism that they identify with and try to create their own interpretation of it. Some seek refuge in it for personal profit, while others use it to seek public prominence.
Recently, I started watching the HBO series called “The White Lotus”, a social satire that highlights the dysfunctions of the privileged American on vacation mode. Set against the beautiful backdrop of Hawaii, it haphazardly takes us through random events that occur between its discontented characters who are either influenced by greed, sex, or drugs. In short, just another show to binge-watch instead of actually planning a vacation to Hawaii.
What annoyed my Hindu self was a character named Belinda chanting the first few lines of one of the most beloved and sacred Hindu mantras — the Gayatri Mantra — in her attempt to calm the depressed (and possibly psychotic) mind of a resort guest. To top it all, it was scripted in the setting of a massage therapy session. How rude!
While Gayatri Mantra can be chanted during any time of the day, there are certain recommendations following it. Traditionally, it was passed down from a father to the son during the thread ceremony. It was not supposed to be repeated when it was heard from someone else. 1
That scene showed the utter lack of respect and an obvious ignorance in the part of the creators of the show to use this chant out of context. Had they done their research, they would have learned of its spiritual significance, and how this thousand-year-old powerful prayer should be practiced, by whom, and when.
But Hinduism teaches its pupils to accept and move on. As Hindus, while we may judge and stew over such misuses and misinterprets of something sacred, we must also let it go. Like we did when we saw goats practicing yoga on humans. Take a deep breath… now EXHALE!
Hinduism is not a religion but a way of life, and at its core is acceptance even when prominence starts to fade.
Prominence is the fact or condition of standing out from something by physically projecting or being particularly noticeable.
My birthplace is a small village town in the South Indian state of Kerala, commonly referred to by the locals as God’s Own Country for its cultural diversity. Unlike the rest of India, Kerala is a land where new people of varying beliefs and faiths were always welcomes and accepted. Kerala’s coastal access to the world, that made this tropical land an integral route for trade and commerce from the early centuries.
In the olden days, Hindu elites prevailed over this land before its modernization, presiding over its people slotted based on social and economic positions into a 4-tier caste system — Namboodiris (the temple priests), Nairs (the warriors and the clerks), Ezhavas (upper-class laborers), and Pulayas (lower-class laborers and servants).
Fast-forward to the 19th and 20th centuries, the caste system started to break down in Kerala, mainly due to wide-spread educational reforms and socio-economic policies that helped the lower-caste rise up in wealth and value. This led to Kerala’s becoming the most socially progressive and one of the most literate states in India.
As Islam spread from Arabia in the 7th and 8th Centuries CE, it reached northern Kerala through Arab merchants and fishermen. Called Mappilas, they settled down, married local women, and lived peaceably among their Hindu and Christian neighbors.2
The Muslim population in Kerala were more concentrated in the coastal regions of Kerala. They were also some of the early migrants to leave Kerala and find jobs in the Gulf that paved the way for the Muslim communities to secure their future for generations to come.
In 1957, Kerala became the first state in the world to democratically elect a communist government, The Communist Party of India (Marxist) or the CPI-M. Many large Hindu elite joint families started losing their abundant agricultural lands to the rising minority class.
Then came the Kerala Gulf Boom from 1972 to 1983, a mass migration of the people of Kerala to the GCC states of The Middle East, including Christians and Hindus. Many, including my father, went overseas to work under Arab employers to accumulate tax-free savings and personal wealth. Remittances became a key source of income for Kerala's economy. In 2010, it was reported that more than 3.5 million people of Kerala living in the Gulf sent back close to $6.81 billion (USD) to feed Kerala’s economy.
CPI-M rules Kerala to this day.
Kerala’s population, according to the 2011 census data, is predominantly Hindu (55%), followed by Muslim (27%), and then Christian (18%). Between 2001 and 2011, Muslims in Kerala have grown by 12.8 percent, while Hindus have grown by 2.2 and Christians by 1.4 percent. While the 2021 census is yet to be published after being delayed due to the COVID-10 pandemic, the trend is expected to be the same.
So, all signs point to the fact that the Hindu majority in Kerala is slowly chipping away, a fact that worries even the most accepting of Hindu minds during this election season. On the other hand, the rising Muslim communities are worried about the nationalist agendas creeping into Kerala politics.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Kerala five times in the past four months. He supported his local candidates and joined political rallies and roadshows, wearing the local attire and attempting to speak the local dialect. That’s how important this election is for his ruling party to make history by winning their first house seat from Kerala.
The outcome seems inevitable. The CPI-M can only hold on for so long against the power and might of the BJP. The Modi government, about to enter a third term, will continue to feed their political agenda to spread their control from North to South.
But unlike the North, there have never been communal tensions grave enough to sever the bond between the Hindu, Muslim, or Christian communities of the South, especially in Kerala. This political uprising might just test the strength of that bond.
When the fight for prominence turns ugly, will our families and friends struggle to find common ground?