God Almighty first created light. Then this planet. Mountains and seas. Sun and moon. Plants and animals. And then he fashioned his masterpiece. The Anthropomorph. Man - the highest creation. And then he took a weekly off. He would not have rested so peacefully if he had known that a role-reversal was soon to happen. That Creation would no longer remain a divine prerogative. It would no more be a godly secret. That the created will turn upon the creator. That God alone will not create Man. But Man will start creating Gods.
A procession of devotees snakes its way up through the winding hills. It is an awe-inspiring sight. The pace is slow but determined. The mountain air throbs with cries of 'Har Har Mahadev' The young clamber up while the old trudge on bent over sticks. They are tired and worn out and yet walk on with wings of faith. As the miles are put behind the heart rejoices. As the destination inches closer, the pace increases. Finally the devotee stands in front of the Lord. The worshipper meets the worshipped. The dim cavern lights up with a wondrous white blaze of ecstasy. The mortal stands transfixed in an apocalyptic stupor. It is a moment of pure epiphany when the white towering mass of ice reaches out to fulfill the devotee.
So no wonder many were devastated to learn that the surreal experience was possibly man-made. That the Amarnath shiv-ling - that wondrous phallus shaped out magically from white ice every year through a divine conspiracy between the elements of Nature - was perhaps an artificial creation this year. That the spectacle was a synthetic artifact fashioned by mortal fingers. What devotees beheld this year was not the culmination of a supernatural miracle but the product of human engineering. What unfolded before them after the arduous journey was not a natural phenomena but a stage-managed prop. Man had created God.
The incident is indeed shocking. However this is not the first time Man has created God. Interestingly he has been doing this for long. And deception is definitely not always the purpose.
Many thinkers have said that God is simply an idea engendered by Man to create order in society. Famous French sociologist Emile Durkheim believed that God was nothing more than a concept created by Man to instill fear in the hearts of men and thereby maintain social harmony. Faith in a higher power bound people to a moral community. What is God was nothing but Society itself. Men have actually been worshipping society under the garb of God. Hence God is a social reality and Religion is society divinised to reinforce solidarity. God is simply a man-made entity to carry out a social function. God may or may not have created Adam but Adam indeed created God.
Another man who created not just one god but virtually the entire Hindu pantheon of gods and goddesses was painter Raja Ravi Verma. He took the gods out of obscure scriptures and crystallised them into tangible shapes. He provided them with body, clothes and accessories. The gods started acquiring form in his fecund imagination. His canvas started giving birth to one god after another. Suddenly we knew how white Goddess Saraswati was or how blue Lord Krishna looked. He turned gods into poster-boys and famous calendar figures that began adorning the walls of almost every Hindu household and are replicated till date. No one complained if he was using European models with peaches and cream complexions. Never mind if Goddess Lakshmi stood on a Chinese lotus flower with a Swiss mountain behind her. Nobody bothered if his portraits were spectacles of blatant cultural hybridity. Not many noted the criticism he faced for his 'divine' creations. Instead Verma's paintings played a significant role in fuelling the social 'Hindutva' consciousness. He gave us idealised pictures of our gods. He had created our gods.
Then again there was a man whose cinematic vision created a goddess overnight. The man was Vijay Sharma. And the film was 'Jai Santoshi Maa.' It was a small budget mythological film, made essentially to cater to a specific target audience. This genre of movies was considered downmarket and typically B-grade. The unprecedented success of this movie shook the entire trade. Until this film's release, Goddess Santoshi was a relatively unknown figure. The movie's spectacular success made her a household name all over India. In a trice a god had been created. Housewives across the country began observing Fridays as the day of worship and fast. The film had such a phenomenal effect on people's minds that in theatres where the film was being screened, audiences would remove their footwear outside the cinema halls, as a mark of respect to the Goddess. Once again god had been created by man.
These are simply 3 solitary examples out of numerous others. Of course like the Amarnath case these were not executed to deceive people. But the point is that Amarnath is not a one of. It is certainly not a first-of-its-kind event that should make news because Man had the audacity to create God. He has been doing so for a while. The intentions may differ. The hands may differ. But the end product is the same - God. Created by Man.
first published:July 16, 2006, 06:23 ISTlast updated:July 16, 2006, 06:23 IST
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God Almighty first created light. Then this planet. Mountains and seas. Sun and moon. Plants and animals. And then he fashioned his masterpiece. The Anthropomorph. Man - the highest creation. And then he took a weekly off. He would not have rested so peacefully if he had known that a role-reversal was soon to happen. That Creation would no longer remain a divine prerogative. It would no more be a godly secret. That the created will turn upon the creator. That God alone will not create Man. But Man will start creating Gods.
A procession of devotees snakes its way up through the winding hills. It is an awe-inspiring sight. The pace is slow but determined. The mountain air throbs with cries of 'Har Har Mahadev' The young clamber up while the old trudge on bent over sticks. They are tired and worn out and yet walk on with wings of faith. As the miles are put behind the heart rejoices. As the destination inches closer, the pace increases. Finally the devotee stands in front of the Lord. The worshipper meets the worshipped. The dim cavern lights up with a wondrous white blaze of ecstasy. The mortal stands transfixed in an apocalyptic stupor. It is a moment of pure epiphany when the white towering mass of ice reaches out to fulfill the devotee.
So no wonder many were devastated to learn that the surreal experience was possibly man-made. That the Amarnath shiv-ling - that wondrous phallus shaped out magically from white ice every year through a divine conspiracy between the elements of Nature - was perhaps an artificial creation this year. That the spectacle was a synthetic artifact fashioned by mortal fingers. What devotees beheld this year was not the culmination of a supernatural miracle but the product of human engineering. What unfolded before them after the arduous journey was not a natural phenomena but a stage-managed prop. Man had created God.
The incident is indeed shocking. However this is not the first time Man has created God. Interestingly he has been doing this for long. And deception is definitely not always the purpose.
Many thinkers have said that God is simply an idea engendered by Man to create order in society. Famous French sociologist Emile Durkheim believed that God was nothing more than a concept created by Man to instill fear in the hearts of men and thereby maintain social harmony. Faith in a higher power bound people to a moral community. What is God was nothing but Society itself. Men have actually been worshipping society under the garb of God. Hence God is a social reality and Religion is society divinised to reinforce solidarity. God is simply a man-made entity to carry out a social function. God may or may not have created Adam but Adam indeed created God.
Another man who created not just one god but virtually the entire Hindu pantheon of gods and goddesses was painter Raja Ravi Verma. He took the gods out of obscure scriptures and crystallised them into tangible shapes. He provided them with body, clothes and accessories. The gods started acquiring form in his fecund imagination. His canvas started giving birth to one god after another. Suddenly we knew how white Goddess Saraswati was or how blue Lord Krishna looked. He turned gods into poster-boys and famous calendar figures that began adorning the walls of almost every Hindu household and are replicated till date. No one complained if he was using European models with peaches and cream complexions. Never mind if Goddess Lakshmi stood on a Chinese lotus flower with a Swiss mountain behind her. Nobody bothered if his portraits were spectacles of blatant cultural hybridity. Not many noted the criticism he faced for his 'divine' creations. Instead Verma's paintings played a significant role in fuelling the social 'Hindutva' consciousness. He gave us idealised pictures of our gods. He had created our gods.
Then again there was a man whose cinematic vision created a goddess overnight. The man was Vijay Sharma. And the film was 'Jai Santoshi Maa.' It was a small budget mythological film, made essentially to cater to a specific target audience. This genre of movies was considered downmarket and typically B-grade. The unprecedented success of this movie shook the entire trade. Until this film's release, Goddess Santoshi was a relatively unknown figure. The movie's spectacular success made her a household name all over India. In a trice a god had been created. Housewives across the country began observing Fridays as the day of worship and fast. The film had such a phenomenal effect on people's minds that in theatres where the film was being screened, audiences would remove their footwear outside the cinema halls, as a mark of respect to the Goddess. Once again god had been created by man.
These are simply 3 solitary examples out of numerous others. Of course like the Amarnath case these were not executed to deceive people. But the point is that Amarnath is not a one of. It is certainly not a first-of-its-kind event that should make news because Man had the audacity to create God. He has been doing so for a while. The intentions may differ. The hands may differ. But the end product is the same - God. Created by Man.
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