Opportunity for religious entrepreneurs

I am truly surprised that no religious entrepreneur had spotted an opportunity, not for spiritual enlightenment but for making money in the Rock Garden on Gonda Hills in the Chandni Chowk area of Ranchi. It is ironic that it took an avowed pacifist, non-materialist and atheist (read Raghuram Ekambaram) to raise this call to attention!

Look at the pictures below, sourced from the Net.

This is nandi, the mount of Lord Shiva, the God of matted hair and in general, of unsavory look and disposition. But his mount does look serene, doesn’t he? Obviously these have been sculpted by human hands.

Now I will take you to a swayambhu nandi. There is a story behind this.

The master, Lord Shiva, decided to self-manifest in various locations, many in the state of Tamil Nadu. 

At these sites the icon is claimed to be swayambhu. These icons – quite uncomplicated they are, you will agree – sprung out fully formed and are thus considered holiest of holy, the mythical narratives go.

It so happened that nandi, Lord Shiva’s mount decided that he needed to match his master in holiness. He decided that he, of such speed and vitality, will be at the back and call of his master no matter where he decided to manifest himself. Therefore, he sprang out from the earth, fully formed. He chose the mildly climbing path to the gates of the Rock Garden in Ranchi, far away from Tamil Nadu. The picture below shows the swayambhu nandi.

Now, here is where the religious entrepreneur comes into the picture. There is an open plot of decent size right in front of this rock. All that the entrepreneur needs to do is to get some sculptor to sculpt a shiv ling of decent proportions and place it in the middle of this open area. Then, he can get a horde of gullibles assembled and create the myth:

Nandi manifested himself here to become as holy as his lord; the master ordered him back to where he (Lord Shiva) was at that moment but nandi demurred. Then, Lord Shiva, not a good bargainer that he is, relented easily and struck a bargain: “You come here and take me to where you have self-manifested. I will make that site holier than all the other places where I myself have self-manifested!” That was an offer nandi couldn’t refuse and he didn’t. This is how we have the swayambhu nandi and the human sculpted ling.

The entrepreneur will make a killing with this narrative and I will take a cut, leaving nandi and Lord Shiv in the lurch!

Raghuram Ekambaram