When I’m involved, is the short answer. Just as enthusiastic but slightly less individualistic are the dances that are virtually always created as part of the branding process of a deranged sect. That’s why in India
The Supreme Court (coram, Babu, Mathur, Lakshmanan, JJ) in a majority judgment today held that Anand Margis can’t perform the tandava dance with knives, snakes, tridents and skulls in public as this ritual is not an essential part of their religious tenet. The SC thereby overturned a 1990 Calcutta High Court order that allowed the sect to perform the tandava at certain religious occasions. On 25 May 1987, Bengal police had refused permission to the Marg to perform tandava in public.
The Bench, noting that the tandava was introduced in 1966, observed that even without the practice (between 1955-66) the Marg was in existence. “Therefore, tandava is not the core upon which the order is founded.”
The background to this story is the banning of Anand Marg by Indira Gandhi during the 1975 state of emergency, the alleged involvement of members in the assassination of a government minister in the same year, and a variety of other insalubrious activities. However, as a cult official commented,
In matters of religious rituals and functions, the autonomy of the guru should be final. The commissioner of Kolkata police should not interfere in these matters. Since the Supreme Court has recognised Ananda Marg as a religious organisation/sect, we expected that they would also recognise our rites and rituals. Our expectations have been belied and we are unhappy.
That said, I’m still a bit unclear as to why in a country with a tendency to religious violence the cultists have to use real skulls, knives, tridents and snakes instead of ones from Woolworth’s, and I positively dread to think what the Indian Supreme Court would make of the inebriate shambling of Homo Britannicus.
Similar posts
- Hsieh Ch’ing kao on Spain and Portugal
From the The Hai-Lu (1783-1797), as quoted on this page on this excellent site, again via TdiT: Portugal (called Ta-hsi-yang, or Pu-luchi-shih - Mayoress´ Gretting
What does the English translation of the official presentation website for Vinoble 2010 tell us? That the Mayoress of Jerez cares - Local government: e-gnoramuses
I reckon that most of the money invested by local and regional government in providing e-services, ranging from bog-standard pages for - Official languages
There’s a lot of fuss at the moment in the land of the free about attempts to make English the official - LEXIS WHICH IS NECESSARY FOR SOCIALIZATION, INFORMATION AND THE EXPRESSION OF ATTITUDES
Thanks to our good friend, Anon of Andalusia, for this excerpt from the requirements for those wishing to participate in public
the most fucking judgement is given by SC of india because it (SC) does not know what a religion is.