The grain of sense in the chaff of superstition

Sense and Superstition

It all began with my accompanying my grand dad on a distant relative’s ‘terahwa’ (The 13th day of the Hindu death rites, when relatives and friends gather to dine together). My senses found this whole concept of partying 13 days after a beloved’s death rather revolting, you understand. Frank, as I am with my grandpa, I turned to him and asked, “Don’t you think some Hindu customs border on indecency? How sick it seems, celebrating someone’s death.”
Grandpa replied in his most placid tone – “Yes, most youngsters like you would say so, about not just this, but most Hindu customs. That’s because you restrict yourself from thinking deeply about anything. Look at that fifteen-year-old child over there that lost her dad. She will miss him all her life, but do you deny that her immediate grief is the severest? Do you deny that the presence of so many relatives and friends, the duty of catering to them, the responsibility of fulfilling all the rites correctly is doing something to mitigate the blow of tragedy a little? Do you deny that it is, in essence, diluting some if her sorrow?”
I was rendered speechless, and realized that but yes! As always, there was sense in what grandpa was saying.

And then began my tryst with trying to find sense in superstition.

I will acknowledge that a large chunk of what I am writing at the moment has been inspired by the many many discussions I’ve had with grandpa on the said topic. He has always believed implicitly in the hidden science, the latent logic behind our customs, our religious rites, our traditions, our festivals and even our superstitions. He has opined several times that these ancient practices were laid down as rules by the sagacious ones of yore – who knew that people would love to follow the right path if they were told a good story behind it or given a hint of good old fear – the best weapon if one knows how to wield it! Of course, I shall not deny it that most of the ancient beliefs have become grotesquely distorted with time and continued misconstruction – deliberately, or other wise.

And hence, the task of finding sense behind superstition is by no means an easy task! Lots of chaff to remove before I find some grain, it seems!

Ever felt irked that grand mom wants you to stay off non-veg and onions during ‘sawan’? Or when mom suddenly pushed you into a seating position as you were taking a swig of water while standing?
Must have seen an aunt or two getting up early to offer water to the Sun God? You’d be interested to know that rays of the rising sun are very healthy for the eyes. And haven’t you heard – “Early to bed, early to rise…” J
Have you tried arguing with great grand mom that you didn’t want to fast on Mondays? It is being postulated that fasting one day a week helps the digestive system to relax and recuperate and work better the other six days!
Or got intensely irked when you were forced out of the kitchen during the periods? All females would agree with me that those five days of the month are a period of intense discomfort, and if you are getting a break from work – even if you are looked down upon as an impure object meanwhile – does it hurt?! ;-)

Silly superstitions, you’d be inclined to say now wouldn’t you?

Okay forget them for the moment and discuss something more enjoyable – Deepawali, the festival of lights for instance, where one is traditionally supposed to light tiny diyas (not bulbs on strings, mind you). You wouldn’t fail to notice that a day after Deepawali, the population of irksome insects goes down drastically and you can yawn easily in bright lights!
Or Holi, a day before which one ignites mounds of ‘garbage’ in the name of Holika Dehen and in the process, manages to clear up the roads in the city and the remains of rabi crops from the agricultural farms in villages.

This journey of mine is still in its first stage – for you see, I have just delved superficially into some beliefs of my family only. Needless to say, I have miles and miles to travel. Hoping to find more views and counterviews on the same.