Dear Editor,
Indo-Guyanese are observing the period of Pitri Paksh, an annual two-week period in which the souls of departed ancestors and relatives are remembered for their contributions to the family, neighbourhood, and nation. It is an ancient practice going back thousands of years in India and brought to Guyana by the indentured slaves. Other nations and ethnic groups have borrowed from it and have their own ancestral tributes. Hindus are bound to perform Pitri Puja or Shraad.
When a Hindu dies, relatives also perform Shraad several times within a year for the soul. This year, Pitri Paksh began on September 4 and ends on 17, after which begins the holy period of fasting for Navratri and other religious festivals.
Pitri Puja involves remembering the ancestors. Our lives and our status in society rest on the labour and sacrifices of the departed ancestors. They laid the foundation to fulfil our potential in Guyana and in the diaspora. We owe a debt of gratitude to them. All cultures honour their dead; no group should be denied the practice of honouring their dead. But in Guyana, Indians were not free to engage in their cultural practices and paying tribute to the dead.
Pitri Puja or Shraad require various elaborate rituals, oblations and offerings to appease the Gods (Yamraj as opposed to say Goddess Durga or Lord Rama or another of the Gods or Goddesses) and please the soul. Special spices and incense are mandatory for oblations and rituals. Special meals with required materials are prepared and offered to the Gods, the soul, and to the guests who are invited for the puja. During the Burnham and Hoyte dictatorships, most of the spices and goods required for the offerings and preparation of meals (foods) were banned or their importation disallowed by the State Board.
Pitri Puja and Shraad and burial of the dead were conducted under intense hardship during the dictatorship. Even the white man was not so oppressive. Access to goods and maintenance of religious and cultural practices were easier during white man rule and indentureship and perhaps during slavery. Even in apartheid South Africa or during WWI and WWII, Indians did not encounter the kinds of difficulties they faced during Burnhamism (1965 and 1992).
The scriptures required the anointing of the deceased with ghee and atar and offerings of flour and black till and other incense that is placed on the body for burial or cremation. The burning of incense like agarbatie, camphor, kasturi, gogol, samagri, among others were needed for rituals. The preparation of mohanbhog, sirni, maleda, gulgula, pandri were not possible. The scriptures also require the offerings of alou, dhal, flour, channa, garlic, onion, raisins, ghee, among others, all of which were on the banned goods list or their importation was disallowed by the Trade Ministry’s import department. They were illegally smuggled in from neighbouring Suriname, Venezuela, and Brazil; some were brought in coffins. The costs were priced out of the budget of the poor, many of who were forced to abandon long-held practices. A special food police was established to enforce the ban, with heavy fines and jail terms. Many Indians spent time in jail for flouting the ban and getting caught consuming roti and alou or dhall and rice or phulourie and bara or channa and sirni.
The Hindu scriptures also require the offerings of daana or Sidha (hampers containing flour, grains, cooking oil, ghee, etc) to the poor during Pitri Puja and Shraad. Because of the ban, the practice could not be effectively carried out and or severely reduced in Guyana. (Hoyte reversed the ban around 1989, allowing Indians to bring in items needed for their special dietary needs and cultural and religious practices. A Commonwealth team and the Bush Administration insisted that he end racist practices as a condition for restoration of financial aid that was cut off around 1985). By that time, hundreds of thousands of Indo-Guyanese had migrated abroad. In the US, UK, Canada, white man countries, Hindus have been free to carry out their religious practices as they did in Guyana before Burnhamism when the white man was also in charge. Today, even Black Americans freely engage in ancestral worship during Emancipation remembrance ceremonies.
Whenever I met Indian Ministers who served Burnham and Hoyte dictatorships, I would ask them why they did not oppose the ban. They claimed they did but that Burnham and Hoyte would not listen to their pleas. When asked why they did not resign their positions in protest, they were mum. They were not willing to sacrifice their privileges. They preferred to compromise their souls and integrity for material gains. Some attempted suicide when their wife and or female children were forced into compromising situations; the names are well known. They could not bear the shame. In America, they are in hiding, embarrassed to face the public for their wicked deeds. They ought to be ashamed. Restrictions should never be placed on cultural or religious practices of any group.
Yours truly,
Vishnu Bisram
