Religion in Arampur: Religious Lives Together
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A Hindu woman prays at a Muslim saint's tomb. Is the tomb a Muslim space? Hindu space? Neither? Both? |
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In the whole of Arampur block, 86% of residents are Hindu and 14% Muslim (aside from the single Christian reported), roughly reflecting the proportion in India generally. Hindus and Muslims do not live in exclusive enclaves without contact. Even in their religious activites, many share common forms of activities, as the devotion of one Hindu family to the tomb of a shahid outside Arampur demonstrates. About twenty of this family gathers at the side of a saint's tomb near Singhpur one day a year. There they place a garland of orange flowers atop the half-dozen embroidered cadars ("sheets") draped on the concrete surfaced barrow of the tomb. They stand facing the edge of the raised brick platform upon which rests the barrow and perform dua, a prayer form from the Islamic tradition. One of the elder family members explains that, although they do not know the name of the saint, his family does this puja because he once helped them. While identifying his own family as Hindu, he describes the Muslim man who performs the ritual as a pujari (a Sanskrit term meaning "sacrifier") and "Muhammedan by caste." Particular types of religious activity promote shared experiences and a common local identity through the integration of an individual and his or her family into a general map of religious devotional spaces which includes temples and the tombs of saints. The religious activities which most prominently serve this end are the Muslim holidays of Baqar Id and Idul Fitr. After Muslims gather at the local idgah for the prescribed community prayers they return home where friends &emdash; Hindu and Muslim both &emdash; visit Muslim households in their own and other villages. Although Hindus would not attend prayers at an idgah or mosque, a great many seek help at the Sufi tombs which pepper Arampur and the nexus. Far less commonly, some Muslims go to the Shastri Brahm temple, particularly in search of relief from physical or mental incapacitation. Overall, many Hindus and Muslims may know little or nothing about the religious lives of each other but still avoid any interference or public disrespect toward each other's traditions. Because their lives inextricably intertwine daily in so many ways and because they share so many other identities if not religious identity, tolerance becomes the norm and conflict the exception. |