The billion little gods
I’ve spent six months in India. Before that, I was always somewhat eclectic in my religious beliefs, following the workings of Santeria and Yoruba while at the same time receiving Buddhist empowerments. So I’m more than a little accustomed to the practice of polytheism.
Kathmandu, however, takes the concept to a whole new level. Walk anywhere outside, even if it’s just the fifty meters to the local general needs stall, and you’ll pass a small shrine here, or a mini-temple there, where one can stop in and say hello to the deity of the minute. A small niche set in a wall, a small rock daubed with vermilion and precious oils; look anywhere, and you’ll see a deity in residence. Like people, each one is different from its neighbor in appearance, outlook and temperament.
In the old African religions, the categorization is a little more systematic. It’s understood for example that you don’t just have a deity in charge of things like death, or wisdom, or wealth. That deity in turn has dozens of avatars, some wrathful, some benevolent, some younger, some more ancient. And each one is described in detail, down to the colors of the last eleke bead.
A couple days in Kathmandu is all it takes to see the same thing at work. Each little shrine feels different as I walk by, a product of the neighborhood and the people tending it. The other day I passed a shrine covered in Nepali rupees that had been nailed into the wall, the deity’s iconic representation so covered up I could no longer tell what it was. Other shrines and temples seemed to house imposing residents, whose worshippers would have to come as supplicants on bended knee. One temple seemed set up for the busy commuter, it’s god-greeting bell set out in the sidewalk for people to touch in the middle of that run for the bus.
A billion deities, little, big and inbetween, all equally respected…
