Sun-Worshippers (Soldyrkare)
There are sun worshippers.... and then there are sun worshippers. And as we all know - everything is relative. Be it two-legged sun worshippers on the Sandy beaches.... the four-legged kind. in the pastures..... Or indeed,
yes.....the third kind..........
On my recent visit to India, I saw this young man almost every morning, early as the sun rose, in the same posture....
One late evening when I was talking on the mobile in my balcony he came out too and we.... waved. Hesitantly. But with a smile. When I had finished on the phone, we got talking..."Hello!" he said, "Better reception from the balcony isn't it?" I said "Yeah...right!" (What I did not say was I also enjoyed watching the bats in the gourd tree below. I haven't seen bats since I was a little girl...) And so we got friendly across the space that divided our 3rd floor balconies. He is 22 and studying law. His father is an advocate and he is going to be the same and join his father's firm.
And so my curiosity got the better of me - I asked him about his morning ritual....and yes, it is true...they are sun worshippers....amazing ...I didn't realise there were still "proper" sun worshippers - as a religion so to speak.
And so this boy, Chandra, woke up every morning, had his bath and as soon as he had finished, he would come out and say his prayers facing the sun and ask for his blessings....chanting verses from the Rig Veda in Sanskrit. (Imagine that...) He told me a lot about it and what he prayed for, why, and that their family had been sun worshippers since time immemorial...
While on a visit to Benaras many years ago I saw the Sadhus, yogis, sages with ash on their foreheads and beards and flowers in their hands, stand naked in the holy Ganges facing the sun...(fortunately that is not the case everywhere...!)
Then....Chandra goes in. His Mum calls for his breakfast of hot toast and butter and jam. He dons on Wranglers jeans and Nike t shirt and Adidas shoes. He takes the plastic Microwave-safe box with sandwiches that his Mum has made for his lunch. He kick-starts his motorbike (an Indian 123 cc Bajaj Pulsar) shattering the subdued early morning sounds of a neighbourhood awakening and roars off into the chaos of Hyderabadi traffic....leaving me smiling on my balcony.
And so, in a flash he becomes a part of the modern world and continues his life... The past meets the present. East meets West. Spirituality meets materialism. There is no conflict in this meeting of different worlds. There is, in fact, a soothing sense of continuity and co-existence. A lesson learned indeed. One does not have to give up one for the other. Sun worship and Adidas jogging shoes - they can coexist.- as India seems to prove constantly.
I found this simply enchanting. It was just so primeval, so ancient, so "core" - it is the kind of things that one has read in our old religious Hindu mythologies, in Greek mythology the sun god Ra, and yes even the Vikings...as one has seen in the film about the shields in Skara Museum. Even though we all more or less believe in the powers of the sun we are not using the sun as our deity .... It was lovely.
I told him I had seen him every morning and liked the aura of peace and faith he exuded and asked him if I may photograph him one day....without his knowing which day. He said it was fine and ?no problems'. So I did....No, I do not take photos paparazzi - style... specially when performing such a personal ritual. Without permission to do so, it is indecent... And since we were so far away he neither heard nor was he distracted by the whirring sound of my Olympus zoom as it captured and preserved these moments of peace as he prayed. His father says his prayers too but he sits on the floor just by the door opening.
Is it a coincidence, I wonder, that his name is Chandra...?
(It is the masculine form of Moon in Hindi.)
When the sun disappears for days in the cold Scandinavian winter I can believe the Vikings worshipped the sun...
Signing off for now!
CS
