Gowrenahalli
is a village largely dominated by Muslims and with handful of Hindu, Dalit families
(380-55).Initially 4 Hindu families and 8 Muslim families landed here around 50
years ago. It was largely a forest area for long. Anekal in general is a hindu dominated area.
Gowrenahalli is a rare exception.
Generally we see a kind of
communal atmosphere whenever there are Hindus and Muslims together.
Gowrenahalli is an exception, though there are deep rooted and not visibly
expressed caste issues. Village has shown for long the tolerance and
understanding between two communities and there is one basic factor that unites
both the communities.
A stem of a tree; off late which
also has a shoot. Here Hindus and Muslims, both worship the tree and also the
unseen serpent. The tree is situated at the outskirts of the village where
there are largely Muslim Houses and a few Hindu houses. It is believed that
around 20-25 years ago there was a large mango tree. The owners of the place,
Muslims wanted to cut the tree and uproot it so that they can use the place for
some constructive purpose. The tree was cut and when they were about to uproot
the stem, they found a group of snakes circling them, entering their houses,
occupying their equipments and not allowing them to work. Even the cut wooden
log which was supplied the Mill, too had a snake in it. Thus the stem of the
tree remained.( No one , at present seems to accept that they have seen the
snakes)
Soon people found the family
members ( owners) untold , unending misery. It is said, miraculoussely whole
family perished within the span of a year after the incident. One of them
started to suffer from Mental illness; other had an heart attack and so other
two. And finally remained one more. It is said, that one night, he had a dream
and in the dream the snake spoke to him saying his family was cursed because
they tried to destroy gods(Snakes). As repentance, now on both the communities,
Hindus as well as Muslims must worship the place of gods-tree. Thus the worship began Hindus on
Friday and Muslims on Thursday.
There is no set temple priest.
People themselves offer pooja(Hindus) and Muslims offer milk and eggs and they
believe the serpent is around and that receives their offering, though no one
has ever seen it.
There was also a Beedi mill
there, and all its dirt was thrown below the tree earlier. No the place is kept
clean. Around the vicinity cutting the trees is prohibited. And the stem and
the shoot receives royal treatment as it stands as a religious symbol for both
the communities. No doubt, this practice has brought unity in the village,
liberating them from deep rooted anxieties of each other.
Psychological background: Freudian Thinking
When
we look at Gowrenahalli, around 20 years ago, the Hindus and Muslims were
slowly getting settled. The communal clashes at the other parts of the country
may have caused kind of anxiety. On the other hand there were also caste
issues, where Dalits were looked down upon. Thus fear and question of identity
may have led to look for a common platform to come together. Or it would have
looked must for them.
Freud
calls religion a universal obsessive neurosis of Humanity. The emergence of new
belief system or religious practice seems to be a kind of obsessive neurosis.
Now,
the prevalent insecurity may have caused, which were forcefully repressed may
have hidden in the unconscious. It’s a fact that something unusual has
happened, which was fearsome. Thus we cannot deny the rays of truth when they
say one of them had dreams where the
God’s asked him to venerate the sacred tree.
As
Freud says our unconscious is an accumulation of repressed feelings and
experiences, which are thrown back in strange ways in dreams. Thus the dream
has given rise to a practice of worship of the tree.
As
Freud says there were neurotic behaviors
such as pointless movements, unfounded fears, irrational attachments which
slowly gave rise to obsessive personal rituals.
Freud
also speaks about 3 commonalities between Religion and Neurosis:
1. Both
emphasize on compulsive patterned behavior.
2. Feel
guilty unless details are performed.
This we can clearly
see, as visiting the place and worshipping has almost become compulsory. And
the details are looked into.
His
book: totem and Taboo
Here Totem is –the tree
(Snake)
As we know,
Gowrenahalli was vastly a forest area. As years passed and people started
settling, there was more and more deforestation.
On the other hand, this
place was mostly haunted by snakes. And given the Muslim crowd, they may have
killed many of them, which is in fact of a religious symbol for Hindus.
Taboo- not to cut the
trees because God’s are present there.
Freud also says, ‘Human
life comes from nature and nature threatens to end human life’.
“God is a projection of
man in order to cope with death anxiety or ultimate helplessness.”
Given the rising
anxiety between Hindus- Muslims, it looks as though they needed a mechanism to
cope with, having a common platform for both the religions.
It was also true; that
Hindus and Muslims were worshipping different God’s and as Freudian thinking of
Moses and Monotheism- We find an attempt here of the people to come together as a commonly
believing community which will also ease the anxiety and tensions within.
Mean time we can also
see that Muslims and Hindus together worshipping the snake slowly shows Hindu
upper hand ,in the territory.
Structural
functional theory:
Religion is a distinct
social system having specific functions for the social life of the group.
Functions:
1.
Societies unity through shared rituals
and beliefs.
2. Social control namely legitimating of social
system.
3.
Provides meaning and purpose by answering existential questions.
Conclusion:
Surprising to see even
after 20-25 years proper institutionalization has not taken place... and it may very well remain
so...
At the same time, Like Deen
Elahi, it may provide an alternative- having the best of both religions and
Gowrenahaali may give rise to a new belief system to the world.
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