For Hindus, Christmas begins with Divali
Dr. Kumar Mahabir. Dr. Kumar
Mahabir
By Kumar Mahabir
For Hindus, Christmas
begins with Divali — the annual
Festival of Lights — which
usually falls in November. As
followers of an eclectic faith,
Hindus celebrate Divali as
well as Christmas. For them,
Jesus Christ is just one of the
avatars divine incarnations,
and the son of the Supreme
Being Brahman, whose birth
on Christmas day must be
rejoiced.
Hindus love and revere
Jesus. After all, his missing
years between his childhood
and the beginning of his ministry
were spent in India, a period
not described in the New Testament.
At the age of 12, Jesus
followed the ancient Silk Road
to India where he spent six
years in Puri and Rajgirh, near
Nalanda, the ancient seat of
Hindu learning. Then he went
to the Himalayas and spent
time in Tibetan monasteries
(studying Buddhism) and after
to Persia. He returned to Jerusalem
at the age of 29.
This information is contained
Contributing Writers: Azad Ali, Tangerine Clarke,
George Alleyne, Nelson King,
Vinette K. Pryce, Bert Wilkinson
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in the book entitled The
Unknown Life of Jesus Christ
(1890) by Nicolas Notovitch,
a Russian war correspondent.
There is also the book Jesus
Lived in India: His Unknown
Life Before and After the Crucifixion
(2001) by Holger Kersten,
a German theologian. There is
also the documentary Jesus in
India (2008) by Paul Davids, an
American filmmaker.
Jesus of Nazareth belonged to
a sect called the Essenes which
was not really a part of Judaism
and the Hebrew community. In
an article entitled “The Christ
of India,” Abbot George Burke
(Swami Nirmalananda Giri)
states that the Essenes had
always maintained some form
of contact and exchange with
India – “a fact that galled their
fellow Israelites.”
The symbol of Light
As a young yogi growing
up in India, the Essene Jesus
found much in common with
Buddhist and Brahmanical
Hindu beliefs and practices.
Some of these were adherence
to non-violence, celibacy
and the wearing of only white
clothes as a sign that worship
to God who is Light must be
clothed by Him in Light. There
was also reverence to the sun,
not as a god but as a symbol of
the One God of Light and Life.
The universal mantra for
Divali resonates in the earnest
prayer of Christians, declaring
that Christ is the Light that
has risen. The eternal message
is derived from the ancient
Hindu B had ra yaka Upani ad
(700 BCE): “asato m sadgamaya,
/tamaso m jyotirgamaya,
/mtyor m ’m ta gamaya.” This
rendering translates to: “From
falsehood, lead me to truth; /
From darkness, lead me to the
light; /From death, lead me to
immortality.”
The motif of light is common
to Hindus during Divali
and Christians during Christmas:
“For you were once darkness,
but now you are light
in the Lord. Live as children
of light (for the fruit of the
light consists in all goodness,
righteousness and truth) …)”
Ephesians 5:8-14. The presiding
goddess for Divali is Mother
Lakshmi, the Goddess of
Light.
In addition to lighting countless
deeyas tiny clay lamps at
homes, in the streets, parks
and offices, Hindus in the tropics
also string twinkling clear
bulbs over “Christmas trees”
to mimic icicles dangling on
a snowy night. Entire villages,
such as Felicity in Trinidad
and Tobago (T&T, are lit up
in celebration of Divali, which
heralds the Christmas season.
Christmas store bargains soon
replace Divali sales.
Miraculous birth of
Krishna and Christ
For Hindus, Christmas is
a continuation and another
form of Lord Krishna’s birthday
(Janmashtimi) which takes
place annually between August
and October. Like Jesus, Krishna
had a miraculous birth on
July 18, 3228 BCE.
Lord Krishna was not born
from a sexual union, but rather
through “mental transmission”
from the mind of Vasudeva
into the womb of Devaki.
He was born in a prison cell
when his mother was captured
by King Kanse. During Janmashtimi,
an image or symbol
of baby Krishna is ritually
rocked in a little cradle or
hammock amidst the singing
of bhajans hymns. In keeping
with Christian Nativity tradition,
a doll of Jesus is rocked in
a cradle in a manager with the
singing of lullabies.
Before COVID-19, children
of all ethnicities in T&T in
the Caribbean would roam
the streets and fill the neighbourhoods
with wild laughter
as bamboo canons burst like
thunder after lightning. They
would scream in excitement
as they use Christmas candles
to light deeyas, sparklers
(“star-lights”), firecrackers and
fireworks.
Hindus carry over the joyous
spirit of Divali to Christmas
without compromising their
own religious beliefs. They continue
to clean, paint and decorate
their homes and entertain
guests with curried, vegetarian
food, roti and sweetmeats, and
offer them wrapped gifts and
greeting cards.
While Christmas is a Christian
festival, Hindus are very
much a part of it, just as much
as non-Hindus actively participate
in Divali. It is this fluidity,
mixing, comradery and cultural
exchange that make the
multi-ethnic country of T&T so
unique and attractive.
Dr Mahabir is an anthropologist
who has published 11
books.
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Natraj Center for Performing Arts dancers Angelina Young and Amanda Singh go through
their routine at the Diwali celebration. Photo by Tangerine Clarke
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