Author: Vas, Luis S R

The sacred in the Indian tradition is more an experience than a concept and goes much beyond the narrow confines of an organised temple or even a shrine. The gods of this traditons as well as those who hold them sacred are simple and unpretentious yet dignified and self-assured. Whether it is a tree that is held sacred or a naturally occurring stone that is revered a river that is the embodiment of divinity itself an ancestor that is worshipped a fabric that is simply draped a road side shrine on a busy street or a votive terracota horse that is lovingly made and offered a narrative scroll that holds its audience spell-bound; here is religion at work that is as spontaneous as it is intense charged with faith, fervor and commitment; now private and not shared that forms an integral part of the lived lives of these common people be they rural or urban tribal or traditional.