Life after death

Even the erudite Shambu Singh, the longest-serving peon at the tourism kiosk in Udaipur airport, is befuddled. Perhaps it8217;s Rudela, not Rundela as listed, but that is in the opposite direction. After turning and rolling both Rs on his tongue, pulling out STD and telegraph directories, Shambu and his consultants the STD booth operator and airport security agree it must be Rudela. But in the dusty town 35 km away, we8217;re directed back to the other side.

RUNDELA must be mystically enjoined with Rudela because it is the mirror image of the other. The temple is dedicated not to Sati Krishna Devi, but to her fianceacute;, the brave Kalaji Rathore, who was slain while battling the Mughals. The sati temple is next door, says Sudhar, and now it is our turn to be stunned.

The commonplace shrine got a roof just 10 years ago after a seth from Ahmedabad decided to upgrade the chaburtala platform. Sati Krishna Devi is a hub for visiting Gujaratis, while locals throng at the doors of Kalaji Rathore. The Sati just gets a nodding salutation.

Vanu Kanwar, a 20-year-old mother of two, says that though the village acknowledges Rani Sati, the women have never performed puja for the deity. 8216;8216;Kalaji is our family and village god, all our wishes are granted by him,8217;8217; says the desiccated woman.

It is Gendhu Kanwar, her older neighbour, who explains why. 8216;8216;The statue inside is of Amba Devi,8217;8217; she explains, 8216;8216;as the police had stopped the seth from resurrecting the sati temple.8217;8217;

So, are they afraid to admit they worship Sati Mata? Vanu8217;s mother, Hamir Bai, weathered by hardship and suffering, has a sardonic answer, 8216;8216;Sati Mata ka koi tikana nahin hain, abhi Amba Mata ka muhurat lagi hain.8217;8217;

The feisty Vimlaben Bhandari, local historian of Salumber town, explains that most local families have their own sati matas once a family member, and they are worshipped on special occasions8212;the birth of a son, a new daughter-in-law8212;or their memories are revered through family symbols of denial.

8216;8216;My daughter is married into a house which never wears plain green,8217;8217; explains Vimlaben, 8216;8216;because the sati mata wore green on her pyre. So, every family has a sati symbol, of food, clothing etc. I don8217;t believe in all this, but I go to the sati mata as she is our family god. Why invite misfortune unnecessarily?8217;8217; she retorts.

Forget feudal chic, this should come as good news for the doughty activists who have been fighting a tireless battle against the glorification of sati. But where8217;s the ultimate purification promised by the Queen of the Desert, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia, and her band of fawning courtiers?

IT is the majestic Rajasamund Lake now bone dry with its huge dam, built by Maharana Jai Singh, in 1660, which draws people to the Ghevar Sati Mata Temple.

Most pilgrims head to the famous Nathdwara Temples, 50 km outside Udaipur, but some come further to Rajasamund to view the sensational, vast bund on the lake. The ornamental arches, beautifully carved chattris cenotaphs and grand pavilions with exquisite inscriptions on the ceiling almost dwarf the shrine at the far end.

Bhansi Khatik, a self-appointed guide, is more excited about deciphering the architecture than the Sati Mata temple. 8216;8216;It is because Ghevar Mata attained samadhi here that the bund could finally be built,8217;8217; says Khatik, finally acknowledging the lady8217;s role. The Maharana was sent by his astrologers to find a pativrata singularly devoted to one man woman to commit sati, so that the bund would not collapse for the nth time. 8216;8216;She let the waters rise above her to save humanity, but she asked for one favour from the king8212;that her husband be given a bigger temple after he died.8217;8217;

Local women and girls come here only during Navratri. 8216;8216;Yeh mariyada ke raksha ke liye hai it is to save decency. Any attempt to meet the temple priest is foiled by Khatik. 8216;8216;He is cracked,8217;8217; he whispers.

Dr Mahendra Bhanawat, author of the controversial local temple guidebook, is bewildered by all the attention. 8216;8216;I have written 75 books on folk art,8217;8217; says the crestfallen retired director of the Bharatiya Lok Kala Mandal. 8216;8216;All are testimony to the many folk arts that have vanished,8217;8217; he says, sitting in his cluttered Udaipur drawing room, surrounded by folk paintings and symbols.

8216;8216;The new book was a compilation of state gods and the four sati temples were included because they were fascinating stories8212;one was only bethrothed, the other committed sati for humanity, not for her husband, the third in Bayan was for her child, and the Jhunjhunu Sati is a vaish merchant caste, not a Rajput.8217;8217;

Bhanawat blames Tourism Minister Usha Puniya for the needless quarrel. 8216;8216;The book was not a tourist guide, she added the tourist angle. Anyway, why is everyone ignoring the various annual sati festivals attended by ministers in Chittorgarh, Jhunjhunu and Merta?8217;8217; he asks.

SO, it is with casual disdain that we whiz past the Sati Mata Emporium and Sati temple in the main city, to Jhunjhunu, 200 km north, near Haryana. The 600-year-old Rani Sati Mandir is like a Disney theme park and is a symbol of its rich merchant patronage8212;the Crorepati Anardana Goli and puja thali shops in the grand palace facade in the forefront.

The three gateways leading to the temple are adorned with life-size apsaras, cherubic baby gods playing with conches and serpents, and sprawling gardens, which are popular with local picknickers. They enclose the 800 rooms, the gigantic silver pillars in the sanctum sanctorum, marble engravings of the Sati8217;s life on the walls, and such like.

Chief temple manager, 70-year-old Mahavir Prasad Sharma, says the temple administration is afraid of being hauled up for glorifying Sati Mata. 8216;8216;There is a lot of fear as the provision in the Sati Act on glorification is vague,8217;8217; says Sharma, 8216;8216;you can be arrested for chanting Sati Mata Jai. We8217;ve stopped printing pamphlets about the temple, and the DM has banned several pujas.8217;8217;

He dismisses the charge that glorification of sati temples could encourage the sati trend. 8216;8216;Such pure, devoted women can never be found today,8217;8217; he says, 8216;8216;all the present satis, like Roop Kanwar in Deorala, are forced.8217;8217;

As we leave the haunting emptiness of the desert behind, the fire continues to rage between neo-liberalists and zealous dharma warriors over feudal patriarchy and female justice, free cultural choices and indefensible traditional practices. It is not the desert8217;s hostility to life but mankind8217;s conspiracy against itself.