Dear Editor,
The death of the young Adriana Younge holds special significance for me and my extended family. Many years ago, in 1967, my niece Basmattie, a year or so younger than Adriana, left home in Cornelia Ida to walk to school in Leonora. She was never seen again. Several weeks later, the remains of what appeared to be those of a child, and assumed to be those of Basmattie, were found on the sea dam at Bushy Park, but no one can speak with any certainty about what happened to Basmattie.
It is hard to say whether there will ever be real closure in such a matter. But the family seems to have moved on. A couple of years ago, my friend and former journalist, Michael Jordan, who seemed obsessed with the case of Basmattie, sought her parents’ permission for an interview. They gently refused.
Then also, as in the case of Adriana, all sorts of rumours involving race, religion, and politics abounded, including a rumour of her being a “sacrifice.”
But Guyana did not shut down. There was no burning and no looting, the only protest being that of a group of women who went to the Leonora police station to call out the police officer, who mocked the family, saying in the crudest possible manner that the child, “ran away with a man,” something I vividly remember to this day.
We have seen how Hindus and Hinduism were ignominiously dragged into the death of Adriana Younge in Tuschen, where the hotel has been accused of “sacrificing” the child in a “bizarre” Hindu ritual to gain wealth. With Hindus being held responsible, the aftermath was immediately felt. The Tuschen temple was vandalised and the Lakshmi murti was broken into many pieces.
The accusation of Hindu involvement could be the function of an abysmal ignorance of Hinduism and Hindu practices, and might very well be the reflection of the superstitious mindset of the accusers themselves.
It is not difficult to see how those brought up with the belief in the transformative and mysterious efficacy of blood could conclude that Adriana’s death was connected to a “blood sacrifice,” which has been the claim.
On the other hand, something more devious may be at play. Implicating Hindus and Hinduism, however farfetched and fictitious that may be, is a deliberate and conscious ploy to caricature and demonise those who are perceived to be more “successful.”
It is deliberate because the accusers know that it is fiction, a fantasy. We have seen the evil that such an accusation has caused. Being accused of sacrificing Christian children to use their blood in a “bizarre” ritual, Jews have been subjected to one of the longest-standing forms of antisemitism, horrific violence, destruction, persecution, and eventually the Holocaust was demonized.
With this in mind, it is not difficult to see what the consequences could be for Hindus in Guyana. Georgetown was brought to a standstill with protesters burning and looting when the autopsy revealed that Adriana died by drowning. But worse than that were the social and political commentators who applauded the mob for carrying “the torches of freedom” and who promised more to come.
With this carefully manufactured environment in which leaders engaged in an implicit and explicit demonisation of a particular ethnic and religious group, following the accusation of Adriana being sacrificed in a “bizarre Hindu ritual” for enrichment, and with the knowledge across the world that Hindus propitiate Lakshmi as the giver of wealth and abundance, Baby Skello’s vulgar depiction of Lakshmi should come as no surprise. Yet, I believe the real target of Skello’s fantasy could not be Lakshmi, but the bodies of Hindu women. As children of Lakshmi, we are daily reminded that a deer does not walk into the mouth of a sleeping lion, and that the lion does not become the king of animals by ritual, consecration, or proclamation; but by his own effort.
Editor, please allow me to end with a few verses of the Prasanna Varada Shri Lakshmi Stotra written in Sanskrit. The English translation does not match the exquisite beauty of the original Sanskrit.
Salutations, O Lotus Dweller.
Salutations, O All-bestowing One.
May you ever send showers of wealth to all beings.
Drenching them with the blessings of sweet delight.
Salutations, O Mother of the World.
Salutations O Ocean of Mercy.
Salutations O Tender One.
O Queen of the Universe, salutations.
Salutations, O Daughter of the Milky Ocean.
Salutations, O Support of the Three Worlds.
Salutations to You, of Propitious Glance.
Protect me, for I come seeking refuge.
Protect me, O Queen of the Gods.
O Lakshmi, Beloved of the Lord of Gods,
Envelop me with your tender compassion.
Rescue me from poverty.
O Lakshmi, let beauty increase.
O Lakshmi, let community increase.
O Lakshmi, let wisdom increase.
O Lakshmi, let prosperity increase in every direction.
