Char dham Disaster : Deluge of faith or market mantra?

Hardly four months have passed for forgetting the death of about 40 people in a stampede at Allahabad in February 2013; the char dham disaster took place last week. The horrible experiences narrated to the media by survivors indicate the element of discrimination against Telugu-speaking people in the relief measures and the avarice of tourist operators. Though it is a sensitive issue, a dispassionate academic discussion on the commercialisation of faiths is essential to avoid future mishaps.

Leaving the evolution of chota char dham as part of the transformation process of conversion of Shiva sampradaya to a militant Vaishnavism, the role of Adi Shankaracharya needs to be recognised. Even today, the rawals (traditional Hindu holy men) of Kedarnath are drawn from Karnataka and Nambodiris of Kerala for Badrinath (built on a Buddhist temple). Interestingly, not many pilgrims from these two States are found in the present tragedy and the Telugu folk are in large numbers.

There are several paradoxes in the Char dham episode.The Himalayas are known after lord Shiva and the entire river systems, including the Ganga, are devoted to him. But, a perceptible observer can find out the defilement of traditional norms of calling Haridwar, the gateway of Lord Shiva, as Hardwar seems to be a bit strange in the context of Natha tradition of North India. It is related to Shaivism and Tantra where majority of followers were drawn from the so-called lower castes (See D.P Chattopadhyay) in the past. Even today tantric rituals are a part of Kedarnath, Badrinath, etc. We do not know who the multitude of Nagsadhus descended on the Kumbha are?

The popular belief systems of the people of South were influenced by saints, Nayanars (Shivaite) and Alvars (Vaisnavite). Some of them seem to have migrated from Kashi during the 7-8th century after Sri Sankaracharya cleared the way for their arrival. This is a turning point in our history and the Dakshinapath lost its identity and was linked with the pan-Indian ethos. They have influenced our local languages and brought uniformity with their use of Sanskrit to converse with local people and converted them to Hindu sects before the Abrahamic beliefs descended.

Thus, the South Indians, particularly the Telugu-speaking people, are found to be fond of pilgrimages to the North due to the proselytization. Every Hindu in the South believes that once in lifetime one should visit the Ganga and the dhams so as to attain Jeevanmukti or physical deliverance (Bonditokailasam). There are instances where old people are thrown into the Ganga or corpses are burnt on its banks to attain salvation. But, we hardly find someone from the North revering our pious Godavari, Krishna, etc, indicating the disregard or bias in our credence of faith.

While anxiously watching the TV for clues about some of our kith and kin in the devastation, I had an occasion to witness an advertisement on a Hindi channel about trips to char dham. It was a very interesting show, where a baba was sitting on an altar sermonising on the mundane and spiritual benefits of a pilgrimage to Badrinath, Kedarnath, etc. The hostess in her beautiful attire gives a commentary on how to get reservation, and other arrangements along with the phone numbers.

Now, the traditional temples are also using the ICT facilities like e-darshan, e-prasad and other e-related services to reach out to the customer rather than the devotee. Telugu devotees have more advanced information and access through regular and special devotional channels with special Babas, Gurus, Brothers and Priests. Thus, faith and devotion related services are packaged and sold in the market better than many other items of goods. The growth of a faith in terms of quantity is widespread while the depth of spiritual commitment is shrinking. Does it any way help a traditional country?

Uttarakhand is a small State of one crore people boasting of several natural resources. But all of them are subjected to the vagaries of weather and climatic changes. The State has 13 districts and 15761 inhabited villages. Though it is part of the Himalayas, it does not come under either the Fifth Schedule or the Sixth Schedule since there are only 2.6 per cent adivasis and 16 per cent Dalits. Yet, the Hindu population of the State is around 72 per cent.

The per capita SDP of Rs 48114 is above the national average where 47 per cent of the population live below poverty. What happened to them in the disaster? A disaster is considered as an accident or natural catastrophe that causes damage and loss of life as it far exceeds resources. Earth scientists say that the Himalayas are the youngest and highest mountain ranges in the world formed when Indo-Australia plate collided into the Eurasia plate 70 million years ago (earth 4.54 billion years old).

Thus, it is geologically unstable and seismologically active. It has 15000 glaciers providing perennial source of water to the Indus, the Ganga, the Brahmaputra, the Yangtze and several others. The sedimentary and metamorphic rocks of the region seem to be responsible for fragile slopes and landslides. However, the forest cover which was 84.9 per cent in 1970 is reduced to around 50 per cent by now.

The inhabitants love the land, the forest and, therefore, when deforestation was initiated in the name of development, a counter movement, Chipko, was started to stall this. Environmentalists and IPCC have anticipated this catastrophe. An RTI question has revealed of a plan to construct 557 hydropower projects on the holy rivers, mostly by South Indian operators. The State government seems to have developed tourist destinations as the demand for trips to these dhams beyond Rishikesh increased several fold.

The total capacity to accommodate tourists comes to around 10000 beds in different categories of hotels, dharmasalas, etc. Three times the size of the population, i.e., 3.11 crores, visited the State during 2010. So far a lakh people have been rescued by our brave jawans.Given the hydrogeological formation of the region and the river systems, the State had an average of 1606 mm rainfall and on the fateful day alone had 380 mm with cloud bursts.

Thus, the present disaster is a consequence of a vicious circle of leisure time activity promoted by market strategies, capitalist expansion for cheap power, unworldly religious jingoism together with surplus cash invested in mindless construction in an ecologically sensitive area. It is corroborated by the statement of Kedarnath priest Sri Vagesh Lingachar after the incident. This seems to be an emerging situation where faith is conditioned by market, and if it becomes a practice that is the end of the significance of religion in human society.