Gods and Costumes

Disc. 0: This post is not entirely about concepts of God or Spirituality
Disc. 1: The song "Seval Kodi" (from the Tamil movie "Billa") is one of the inspirations for this post
Disc. 2: No intention of denigrating any God or the sentiments of the people. Just read it for fun.

There are countless concepts, theories, beliefs, realizations and assumptions about God; "Idol Worship" is predominant among them. As changes happen in every aspect, from layman's life style to rocket scientist's research methodology, they are bound to happen in the way people seek God & Spirituality. The concepts of Deepam & Aarathi[1],[2] have transformed a lot in the past – people started off with burning woods, then used oil, then camphor, then electric lamps/lights and who knows, may be in future, using some digital projectors. Similarly the way temples are built – Rajaraja Cholan[3] built the Tanjavur Brihadeeswarar temple using majestic stones; my elementary school teachers told he used elephants to carry those gigantic masses. (The biggest of all the stones at the top of the tower still amazes me a lot – without any machines or electricity, how did they manage to take them to such a height. As a kid, I used to think that they built it lengthwise on the ground and rotated it by 90 degrees, like I did in building set games). Today, the temples are built using ultra polished marbles & granite-stones, have intelligent security systems, advanced and hassle-free Q systems, with built-in entertainment, recreation, restaurants & shopping (gives you a feel of visiting a fun fair – children no longer say “no” to temples, it’s a good weekend dhamaka for them!). And the outlook of the Poojaris[4] – from a-poor-man-who-ate-nothing-but-what-was-served-to-God to today’s ultra modern man who manages all his appointments using a Blackberry and travels using different cars to different temples.

I am not at all saying the above changes are bad – I welcome the changes, esp. if it’s positive and hence this post! Yes, almost everything has changed, except may be the dressing style and costumes of Gods.

People envisaged Gods[5] as human beings and each God represented few noble qualities. I believe there are multiple reasons why this was done – (a) people have different tastes in life, as in some people like dosa[6] over rice and some others like rotis[7]. So, it’s like giving more options to people – the path doesn’t matter, end goal is what matters (b) Associating all good qualities to one God may be too much for people, which might hinder focused prayer – So, if you want to start a new business, pray to Ganapathy; if you want to study well, think of Saraswathi etc (c) More temples, more spirituality, more travel, more rituals and yeah, more holidays.

If we observe closely, the costumes of most of these Gods haven’t changed over centuries. (May be except Ganapathy, who gets interesting costumes during Vinayagar Churthi day) Some of the things that remain the same with Gods

• Many of Gods still not wearing shirts (Yes, many centuries back, people weren’t wearing shirts, but today things have changed)
• Same old Sarees, dhothis/veshtis
• Some of them still using natural dresses like tiger / deer skin, which are obsolete and illegal in today’s context
• Primitive traveling modes like using animals such as rats, peacocks, tigers etc
• Archaic weapons like rustic Vel (Spear), Thandayutham (A heavy sphere at the end of the rod – a blow using this tool would be lethal), Chakras (Wheel with sharp teeth, which is capable of traveling at Akthar’s bowling speed and cut off opponent’s intended organ)
• Using antiquated fragrance and body sprays such as natural flowers & sandal

One of the reasons of reduced levels of interests in Gods/Spirituality with the new generation youth / kids is because they find it difficult to associate themselves with Gods ;) – they don’t understand the old customs and dressing style. So, here comes some interesting ideas for changing the outlook of the Gods

• Vinayaga: He’s the god of Knowledge. The IT & gadgets geek. Always seen with the latest laptops, mobile phones, iPod and Kindle. He believes that life can be simplified by IT and technology. (There is an interesting story to tell to kids: When his dad Shiva asked him and his bro Muruga to explore the world, his bro was using a private jet and Harley Davidson to travel around the world… our intelligent Ganesha used Internet Explorer, Google and Wikipedia to explore the entire world!). He has put on some extra weight because of a typical software guy’s lifestyle, not much of exercise and spending most of the time in front of laptop. He blogs quite a bit. He’s up to to date on everything happening around the world.
• Muruga: God of Righteousness, Courage, Beauty and Romance. Wears Rayban glasses with full black dress and has a machine gun (as in Matrix movie) with 2 babes by his side in a Harley Davidson bike. His beauty, charm, cleanliness, style and personality make every gal fall for him.
• Ayyappa: God of bachelorhood. Believes that desire, lust, jealousy, greed and anger are the reasons of worry in this world. Lives in secluded places – spends most of the time in introspection, meditation and thinking about how to make the world a better place. Doesn’t mean he’s meek & feeble, his alter ego is fierce and ruthless when it comes to fighting baddies of the world.
• Shiva: God of all gods. But simple in outlook – just white pajama. Likes pet animals a lot, ranging from snakes to bulls. He’s the international arbitrator and his panchayathu always happens in the abodes of Kailaayam. People respect him a lot for everything he does.
• Vishnu: Wealthy god. Wears long gold chains with precious stones and lots of bracelets, rings etc. Silk cloth when not in office. When he goes to job, he wears fine fabric Raymond suits with Golden silky tie. It can’t be perfect than him. He’s all powerful and can be present in multiple places at the same time under different identities.
• Brahma: He’s an interesting contradiction – on one hand, he’s the most creative person, on the other hand he does the most repetitive job. He sets an example to people by saying that even if you have to do the same job again and again in life, make it interesting by being creative and different in every time you do it. He likes casual dressing – Denim jeans with half sleeve shirts, tucked in properly. Always seen wearing the cool Reebok slippers.
• Shakthi: Goddesses of Bravery, Power and a portrayal of equality of men and women. A very charming face and looking at it, everyone would get a feel of seeing their mom. She too has 2 kinds of dresses – very traditional & ultra-modern.
• Saraswathi: Goddesses of intelligence, wisdom, education and knowledge. Very professional in outlook – be it suits, or salwar kameez or sarees, she looks very sophisticated. Solves The Hindu crossword in minutes and just takes fraction of seconds to solve the “Hard” level sudoku.
• Lakshmi: Goddesses of wealth. Uses very costly costumes – from Swiss watches to Lexus cars, there is luxury in everything. She works closely with Wall Street. She’s fair, honest and confident in everything she deals with.
• Anjaneya: Great gym body with countless folds. Carries 100 Kg dumbbells in either hand. Always wears tight T-shirts showing his muscles and track pants.

Hopefully these new outlooks and dressing styles create more interest among the youth for God and spirituality. Of course, it’s just for the initial attraction – once they dwell into it more, they might just realize that spirituality & God are not external, everything is internal – May be the search begins inside.

And may be couple of centuries from now, an MMS might write a blog to change the dressing style of the Gods from what we discussed above to the style then.

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[1] These are the ways of worshipping, the most important ritual of waving lights or fragrant smoke to Gods

[2] Coincidental – both these names are my good friend's names

[3] Means King of all kings, the greatest King of Chola empire, who ruled South India long back (I’m poor in remembering dates!)

[4] The worshipper of God, who does all the rituals to God on behalf of the people

[5] Because of my limited knowledge about other religions, I am limiting to Hindu Gods/Goddesses

[6] Can be thought of as flat bread or pizza made out of rice flour

[7] Indian bread