Pagans

All major world religions sprung from roots stretching to antiquity in tribal units which were polytheistic in nature. Egypt, Sumer, Persia, Greece, Rome, China and India, every single ancient civilization which was the cradle for future development of humankind and society was originally polytheistic. Most of the civilised world has since turned monotheistic – between Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Judaism, pretty much the entire human population now believes in their own One God. Except India!

Polytheistic means belief in multiple gods and goddesses that take on multiple forms and mostly represent the incredible natural and physical world that surrounds us. From point of view of origins this makes sense. Early man would have been overwhelmed by his environment – and hence begun appeasing the elements. Appease to worship is an easy step, and idea to idol an equally easy one. Before you know it, you have a host of Gods (and goddesses) for every single natural and supernatural phenomenon. Early man, kudos to him, also figured the duality that is built into the very fabric of nature – male & female, day & night, hot & cold, big & small, hard & soft, close & far, dry & wet, the list is endless and everywhere – to realise the need for Devils to counterbalance their Gods. Gradually, added to the divine court were human leaders vested with supernatural powers, to first become semi-divine and then with sufficient passage of time and appropriate embellishments to the legend, Gods.

Read the history of any old civilization and this is pretty much the deal. From the elements to plants & animal life to these draped in semi-human form to Gods & Goddesses cast in the human mould. We easily explained our imagination of divinity as human in form by assuming that God created us in his own likeness…we just reverse engineered God 🙂

The great monotheistic religions of course preached against these myriad gods and idol worship, urging a more rational and evolved philosophical position of a Single God, preferably without the idolizing. This advancement of thought was stupendously successful – most of the world today practices monotheistic religious beliefs. Except India!

India remains, in the 21st century, proudly pagan. The word pagan (meaning rustic or country-dweller) originated from the usage to describe the rural folk in Italy who did not convert to Christianity which was initially an urban religion. Interestingly, all major monotheistic religions started as being urban – these being concentrated centres of population that allowed quick spread of ideas (and funnily enough, disease). The word pagan today broadly means belief in multiple gods, rituals, customs, supernatural stuff, idols, nature, talismans, spirits, reincarnations, etc. The only pagans left are remnants of the Aboriginals, Red Indians and few other obscure tribes…and Indians!

Hindu Indians continue to have a rich and diverse pantheon of divinity, numerous religious festivals, deep-rooted association with the natural order and very in-your-face idol worship. Starting with Buddhism and then later Islamic and Christian proselytizing, India has been subjected to over 2000 years of religious invasion by monotheistic religions. But all of this couldn’t change our belief system. We remain polytheistic in our belief, or if you will, pagan.

But while we do so, we have also progressed. For Indians, scientific progress does not create a mental disconnect with their pagan beliefs. We can build a rocket to go to the moon, but before blast-off, break a coconut and tie a lemon + chilly combo on it, for good luck. Senior scientists will do this. It doesn’t bother us.

Today, all the great monotheistic religions are having great difficulty in explaining the new world to their followers. Scientific advance causes many to lose faith in the One God, especially the ones with creation myths. But for Indians, scientific progress is just another example of the duality that exists in the universe. For all the scientific ‘sense’, there exists right next to it, the miraculous ‘nonsense’…the fact that nature doesn’t recognize good or evil, only balance and imbalance – so why should we? Life is driven in equal part by choice and chance, by action and reaction, by you and the world around you, so it is best to keep both ends covered, always. And if that requires you to worship idols of the Elephant Headed God or tie sacred threads around trees, even as you study or work hard, go for it!

The earliest philosophers, everywhere, figured that duality is the essence of our existence. This has now been proved by the quantum scientists. But even as the rest of the world ‘progressed’, this duality is something India never forgot, still hasn’t and probably never will! The One God system only created a layer of belief over millennia of pagan beliefs. If you scratch the surface of the monotheistic religions, you find lurking everywhere, the symbolism, rituals and wisdom of the ancients.