Festival of Lights

There are three members of CariCom that have substantial numbers of adherents of Hinduism: Guyana, Trinidad and Suriname. In each of them the festival of Divali is a National Holiday and is celebrated on such a grand scale, and for all intents and purposes, it is a national festival. This is as it should be if we are to be true to our stated official commitment to maintaining ‘multi-religious’ societies.
However, while we have come a long way, there is still a residue of bias against the practices of Hinduism as a whole. This harks back to our colonial past. Such bias arose from the slanted picture that was painted about the culture of the peoples of India. It was not much different from the prejudices that manifested themselves when Africans were enslaved in earlier centuries. It all had to do with justifying the barbaric exploitations of peoples purporting to ‘civilize’ them.
Such bias and prejudices can only be eradicated through education. We are able to hold and perpetuate stereotypes when knowledge of the maligned ‘other’ is kept away from us. Since independence there have been some attempts to introduce such information into the textbooks that are used in our school system but this needs to be deepened. CXC, for instance, offers the subject “Religious Education” which “seeks to foster understanding, appreciation and respect for the religious, ethnic, cultural, political and other aspects of plurality in the Caribbean”. But it was only this year that Hinduism (or Islam for that matter), was offered for Paper 2, “the Structured Essay paper”.
Hinduism is very symbolic in its presentation, and public festivals, such as Divali, offer an opportunity for the wider public to be informed about its practitioners. It is hoped, however, that the media will play its role in delving behind the glitz and lights of the “Divali Parades” – useful as they are – to explain the belief system that lies behind the surface. Most non-Hindus, for instance are quite intrigued by the success of Hindus in the economic sphere: Divali explains why.
The major deity worshipped on Divali is Maha Lakshmi, who is represented with four hands – symbolising the four aims of human life. Wealth, status and power are summarised as the goal of “Artha”, and is represented by the lower right hand out of which falls an unending stream of gold coins. The gold coins do not only represent money; they also symbolize prosperity at all levels. The point is that the Hindu is told that unless one has a certain modicum of wealth, he cannot fulfil the other aims of living a moral life that would lead to liberation.
Poverty is excoriated as the worse possible ‘agony’ because in truth one stuck in such a condition is forced to make all sorts of compromises. The wealth – whether social or material, however, must be earned in a proper, ‘dharmic’ manner – represented by the upper right hand.
The owl sitting on the right side of Lakshmi, where gold coins are falling, represents darkness. An owl, generally speaking, is a night bird. It is very clever. It can’t see clearly in the daytime. It represents perversion of attitudes in material prosperity. Undue attachment to wealth shows ignorance (darkness) and disturbs the economic balance in society. If man does not keep his balance when he gets an abundance of material resources, he is bound to become a nuisance to himself and to others around him.
This association of Divali with wealth is the reason why orthodox Hindu businessmen close their yearly accounts on this day, and seeking the blessings of Mother Lakshmi, open new books for the coming year. They have to promise, of course, to obey the strictures of ‘dharma’ or the ethical rules of Hinduism.
A Happy Divali to all Caribbean peoples, here and in the diaspora!!