Today over one billion Hindus from across the world, including from Guyana, will be celebrating the consecration (Pratishta) of the “Rama Lala Mandir” at the spot where he was born millennia ago in the city of Ayodhya in modern Uttar Pradesh. The site had, since the mid-nineteenth century, been in dispute between Muslims – who worshipped at a Mosque that was constructed by the Emperor Babur over four hundred years ago – and Hindus, who produced archaeological evidence that the Mosque had been constructed over a pre-existing Ram Mandir. Matters had come to a boil after Hindu activists demolished the Mosque in 1992, but saner heads prevailed when the issue was taken to the Indian Supreme Court. In 2019, in an exceptional unanimous decision that included one Muslim jurist, the Court awarded the contested 2.6 acres to the Hindus, and a nearby 5 acres to the Muslim community to construct a Mosque. What was noteworthy was the issues were decided along legal, and not religious, principles, which can become bogged down in doctrinal assertions, rather than facts.
Eighty-five percent of the Hindus who arrived in Guyana as indentured labourers originated from North India, where Sri Rama is regarded as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, the sustaining aspect of the Divine Godhead. His story was captured contemporaneously with his life on earth in the millennia-old Sanskrit text Ramanyana, where he is depicted as “Maryada Purushutta”, or the perfect man on whom Hindus should model their actions. In the sixteenth century, the text was reinterpreted by Tulsidas, who emphasized his divinity in a more accessible north-Indian dialect in the “Ramcharitmanas”, or “The exploits of Sri Rama”. It was this text that was memorised in parts by the North Indian Girmitiyas in all of the eighteen countries to which they were sent during the 19th century, and became the foundation of their moral and ethical value. For instance, one of the favourite sayings attributed to Sri Ram and repeated by the Girmitiyas was, “It is better to lay down one’s life to keep one’s word than to let it fall.” This was the moral certitude that made them adhere to the labour agreement (“Girmit”) but also made then protest when the planters broke their word. Each region of India has its own version of the exploits of Sri Ram.
The ancient festival of Divali became associated with Sri Ram because, after he defeated Ravana, who had abducted his wife Mother Sita, and returned to Ayodhya after fourteen years on Divali Evening, his subsequent rule over his kingdom lent its name to the perfect rulership of “Ram Rajya”. A study of ancient texts informs us that during Rama’s rule, there was no room for pain, poverty, disease, grief, or discrimination. He provided immediate justice, and the poor were not marginalised. Truth and non-violence were the creed people followed, without coercion, and out of free moral responsibility and self-discipline. Ram’s own behaviour carved that consciousness in the hearts of the subjects. In the struggle for independence from British rule, Gandhi wrote copiously on his understanding of Ram Rajya that he believed India should become. “Whether Rama of my imagination ever lived or not on this earth, the ancient ideal of Ramarajya is undoubtedly one of true democracy in which the meanest citizen could be sure of swift justice without an elaborate and costly procedure. Even the dog is described by the poet to have received justice under Ramarajya.”
On this auspicious day, most Hindus would at least visit their local Mandirs or the other Mandirs that are commemorating this special occasion. While the Sri Ram Mandir was being constructed, several Guyanese organizations would have, over the years, sent “shilas” or bricks that were incorporated into the foundation, or sent water from our rivers that would merge with that from India and the rest of the world to offer as oblations to Sri Ram. Today we wish our Hindu sisters and brothers all felicitations of “Jai Sri Ram!” on this most sacred occasion
