Tag Archives: immersion

The power of faith and a polluted river

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HAPPY NEW YEAR!

ON CHRISTMAS MORNING (2024), we walked leisurely beside the Hooghly River (a stretch of the Ganges) between Prinsep Ghat and Eden Gardens, a distance of about 1.3 miles. With a good paved footpath,  this is a pleasant, picturesque, tree lined place to stroll.

 

Near Eden Park railway station,  there is a popular bathing ghat (a flight of steps leading into the water). From a  bridge that overlooks this, we watched people bathing in the river. Many of them immersed themselves fully several times. Others washed themselves. We saw people applying shampoo to wash their hair. I noticed a few men wading out into the water, carrying small trays containing flowers for puja. They threw these floral offerings into the fast flowing stream.

 The Ganges, of which the Hooghly is a part, is considered to be a place of great holiness by Hindus. They believe that bathing in this river conveys several benefits including: cleansing the soul; connecting with divine cosmic forces; washing away bad karma from the present or previous births; health giving and healing; and removing negativity. So, if you are a believer, bathing in the Hooghly/Ganges must be a good thing. But, must it?

 

Signs along the path on which we strolled exhort people not to dump rubbish in the river. But it is clearly obvious that these signs are not obeyed.  It is not only strollers’ rubbish that enters the sacred river. The river is being continuously polluted by sewage, industrial effluent, and decomposing corpses. This has resulted in high levels of toxic chemicals including heavy metals, and frighteningly large amounts  of bacterial and other microbial pathogens.

 

According to several official bodies, the Hooghly  has been deemed totally unsuitable for bathing. Yet despite this, there is no shortage of people entering the river to bathe, putting  their entire heads underwater, and washing themselves with this water that carries a real risk of causing ill-health. Such is the power of faith that the well-publicized risks of bathing in the river are outweighed by the belief that the water can only benefit the bather.

From the Ganges to the shore and then back into the river

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THE CERAMIC ARTIST, our friend Falguni Bhatt, works in Calcutta. While visiting her studio, she suggested that we visit Kumartuli in north Calcutta. Close to the Hooghly River – part of the Ganges – this district of the city is a warren of narrow lanes lined with the workshops of craftsmen who make Hindu idols out of the grey clay collected from the shores of the Ganges. We went there and were amazed by the huge amount of creative activity that confronted us.

Mounds of damp dark grey clay are carried on the heads of porters to the workshops. Others carry bundles of straw to the artisans. The straw is used to make armatures – these are shaped roughly like the finished idols. A completed armature, which can sometimes include supporting metal rods, looks sufficiently like the idol being created.

Clay is applied to the straw armatures. Gradually, the straw is hidden by the clay. The surface of the clay is either smoothed to resemble fine skin and/or inscribed to create bodily details – for example finger nails and the creases on the palms of hands or facial details or clothing and footwear. Creatures and objects associated with the depicted deity – for example, veenas and snakes – are created in the same way, starting with straw armatures.

The completed idols, which are frequently very detailed and of complex shapes, are left to dry and harden. The clay idols are not fired in a kiln.

Detailing on a clay idol

Later, the idols are painted according to tradition, and then decorated with elaborate costumes and jewellery. The jewellery is made from hand cut cardboard often with sequins and mirrors applied. A small section of Kumartuli is dedicated to workshops creating these intricate, attractive ornaments.

Each of the clay idols is an exquisite work of art. Each of them displays evidence of the highly skilled workmanship that created them. They rival the superb ancient Hindu stone carvings that can be found carefully displayed and conserved in museums. Yet, each of these clay masterpieces is destined to have but a very short life.

The idols are created in Kumartuli for use in important Hindu festivals such as Durga Puja, Kali Puja, and Saraswati Puja. We saw idols being prepared for the last mentioned. Most of the idols being created include the stringed musical instrument played by Saraswati – the veena. Her puja is to be held next in February 2024.

During these ceremonies, the carefully crafted idols – fully painted and decorated with elaborate hand made ornaments – are dropped into the Ganges. When I expressed my surprise at hearing about this, Falguni said something like:
“Life is transient.”

Archimedes and Eureka!

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As a young child I was fascinated by the following story, which may be apocryphal. Archimedes (c287-c212 BC), the great Greek physicist, mathematician, engineer, and general genius, is reputed to have made an important discovery whilst taking a bath. He noticed that the level of water in his bath rose as he immersed himself in it. This led to his famous Principle. When he realised the significance of the change in water level, he is said to have leapt out of his bath yelling “Eureka”, which is the Greek for “I have found it.”

ARCHIMEDES

In 1960, my father had to attend a conference at Kyrenia (Girne in Turkish), which is now in Turkish Northern Cyprus. It was then part of one unified country. We, the rest of my family, accompanied him. On our way, we had to change ‘planes in Athens. I remember walking down the steps that led out of the aircraft from London and feeling my face hit by a wave of burning hot air. I thought for a moment that I was feeling the exhaust from the ‘plane’s engines, but soon realised that the air at the airport had a very high ambient temperature.

On our return from Cyprus, we spent a few days in Athens. Our visit happened shortly after I had learnt about Archimedes and his Principle at school. In Athens, we visited numerous ancient Greek and Roman sites, and this put the idea into my head that somewhere amongst these ancient ruins we should be able to locate the famous bath out of which Archimedes leapt. Rather sportingly, my parents hired a taxi and explained to the driver the nature of our quest. He was happy to spend hours driving us around Athens, stopping regularly to enquire about the location of the bath. It was a fruitless quest. During the hours that we spent with our driver, he told us that he was Jewish. When he realised that we were his co-religionists, albeit completely non-practicing, he took us to see a synagogue, which was unmemorable architecturally.

Sadly, after spending time in the taxi, we were not able to exclaim “Eureka.”

Some months after we returned to London, I discovered that Archimedes had lived in Syracuse (Sicily) rather than Athens. If his bath had ever existed and still happened to be in existence, which was highly unlikely after so many centuries had elapsed since his death, it was there that one needed to search for it, rather than in Athens.

 

To read about more of Adam Yamey’s childhood travels, CLICK HERE