Opinion All too human

The sight of their gods wearing masks, according to the head priest, has created awareness among children and adults visiting the temple, who have also started wearing pollution masks.

Even the gods, it seems, cannot bear the smog. At the Shiv-Parvati temple in the Sigra area of Varanasi, temple authorities have sought to protect the idols of the eponymous divinities from the ravages of PM 2.5 with white pollution masks, the kind that have become ubiquitous in Delhi. The head priest’s logic for the move is sound: If gods can be presented blankets during winter, why shouldn’t they be protected from the man-made pollution crisis that has engulfed north India now?

It is also a fact that the many deities who populate the Subcontinent are all too human. The stories around them describe anger, love, passion as well as moral and social virtues. They are loved in all their variety, and their needs are taken care of. Clothes, food and even weddings are provided for them by devotees in temples across the country, establishing a vivacious two-way relationship between the worshipper and the worshipped.

Advertisement

The gods may give us a fair wind, but they did not fill it with toxins. And since they are so much a part of our lives, the sight of the divine being restricted by unthinking human indulgence is also meant to shake people out of their complacency about bursting crackers in the Diwali season, for instance. The sight of their gods wearing masks, according to the head priest, has created awareness among children and adults visiting the temple, who have also started wearing pollution masks. But one godess, Kali, remains unadorned. Covering her face hides her anger, which is considered inauspicious. While the protective gear for other gods is meant to evoke compassion and concern, she’s there to remind believers of divine wrath.