As 2004 bowed out, snarling with apocalyptic fury, citizens living or holidaying along the Indian coastline found unexpected islands of hope and refuge as unseen powers stepped in to save lives apparently destined for burial at sea. The picaresque Vivekananda Rock in the middle of the sea off Kanyakumari, hit by 40-feet-high Tsunami waves on 26 December, imperilled almost 2,000 lives, including around hundred children. As frissons of shock and terror caused stampedes, Swami Vivekananda’s serene statue mediated between life and death. Ferocious waves struck the statue for two hours, but could not get those sheltering behind; who were later rescued (Times News Network, 27 December 2004).
Miraculous instances of total control of the raging waters were noticed along the Chennai coastline, where Hindu temples stood tall and protected people and even other structures. By all accounts there was heavy devastation in Marina, Santhome, and Foreshore Estate; desolation at Neelangarai; ruin at Kovalam. Yet there was a strange calm at Besant Nagar, where people were saved by the Ashtalakshmi Temple, built at the instance of the late Paramacharya of Kanchi, who consecrated it with the words: “The purpose of constructing this Ashtalakshmi Temple is to save the people living in the land areas from the fury of the sea waves. No harm will befall anyone living in this region from the vagaries of the sea.”
At Besant Nagar itself, the famous Rathnagirishwarar Temple was built along the coast after the Paramacharya pointed to the spot saying: “There is a Swayambu Lingam inside.” The people dug, found the lingam, and the temple came up. The Arupadai Veedu Temple of Lord Murugan also stands on the seashore in Besant Nagar, having come up at the instance of Shankaracharya Swami Jayendra Saraswati and Swami Vijayendra Saraswati. Despite the proximity of these temples to the sea, not a drop of water entered their premises; they saved hundreds of people who took refuge in them.
On the Cuddalore coast, thousands were swallowed up by the tsunami, but almost 4,000 fishermen from twenty villages in the Chidambaram region had a providential escape as they had gone for the annual “Arudra Darshan” of the famous Nataraja Mandir to pull the Lord’s chariot, as per tradition. Returning to find their villages ravaged beyond recognition, a fisherman said there was no impact inside the Chidambaram Mandir, and that the community was saved by the grace of Nataraja (Eenadu, 31 December 2004).
At Kovalam, the Kannikaparameshwari Temple stood resolutely within 500 metres of the sea, and kept the waters firmly at bay. The Goddess saved hundreds of children who sang soul-stirring bhajans as the sea raged, as other areas of Kovalam were devastated.
My purpose in narrating such instances as have come to my notice is to highlight the Indian media’s animosity towards Hindu dharma and its deliberate policy of ignoring such major acts of divine intervention, which literally saved thousands of lives, while playing up individual cases of escape from the fury of the elements. Another shameful media omission is the complete refusal to acknowledge the sterling service being provided by thousand RSS volunteers in nine major Tsunami-hit centers. While RSS is not alone in rushing food, medicines and clothing to the victims, it is the only organization undertaking the more difficult task of the disposal of the dead, and several thousand bodies have been given respectable funerals already.
In sharp contrast, many proselytizing agencies are viewing the tsunami tragedy as an opportunity to promote their agenda, and it is just as well the Indian Government has refused to permit foreign adoptions of orphans. K.P. Yohannan, president, Gospel for Asia, says his organization is working in India, Sri Lanka and other affected nations, to minister to those suffering both physically and spiritually. With the Vatican pledging $ 6 million, one shudders to think what price will be extracted for this charity. Dr. Ajith Fernando, the “Billy Graham of Sri Lanka,” has been reported saying: “We have prayed and wept for our nation for many years. The most urgent of my prayers has always been that my people would turn to Jesus. I pray that this terrible, terrible tragedy might be used by God to break through into the lives of many of our people.”
Such shameful quid pro quo is alien to our spiritual tradition. Swami Dayanand Saraswati’s AIM for Sewa and several other Hindu bodies are engaged in outstanding relief work. Mata Amritanandamayi, who personally led 15,000 devotees to safety when the waves hit, has announced a Rs. 100 crore relief package and offered to adopt all orphaned children in Kerala. Far from aggrandizing herself, she is seeking coordination with the State Government – which has not been able to raise even Rs. 25 crores – in this massive rehabilitation effort.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, bete noire of Indian secularists, reacted with exemplary speed, with his Crisis Management Group meeting even before the Centre’s CMG. Modi was the first to send condolences to the Governments of Thailand, Sumatra and Indonesia. By afternoon the same day, he finished stocktaking and had two planeloads of relief material ready. He also displayed sensitivity in selecting Tamil-speaking officers to coordinate with the Tamil Nadu Government, Malayalam-speaking officers for Kerala, and similarly with the Andamans, and had the presence of mind to change the relief material from ‘Kurta-Pyjama’ to ‘Lungi-Shirt.’ And even as the Centre’s Disaster Management team was surveying the damage, he selected 67 highly affected talukas and appointed 67 officers to look after them in collaboration with local voluntary organizations.
Given this wonderful native energy, I endorse Dr. Manmohan Singh’s decision to shun foreign aid, though this has annoyed Western diplomatic missions immensely. India has suffered great humiliation while taking foreign aid in the past, particularly during the Gujarat earthquake and the Orissa supercyclone. In Orissa, European aid agencies pontificated upon the state’s poor infrastructure instead of focusing on relief. During the Gujarat earthquake, the Japanese rushed to test the water in affected areas and declared it undrinkable, instead of providing relief. These experiences upset the Indian Government, besides which a cost-benefit analysis showed foreign aid to be inadequate and not worth the bother. Interestingly, countries demanding access for relief teams to distribute material relief – which India does not lack – are unwilling to make cash donations to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund.
Clearly they only want access to the sensitive coastal regions. But there are sound logistical and security reasons for refusing foreign aid. Government sources say that after ensuring visas for the aid workers, they have also to provide them security and living environments similar to what they enjoy back home, which is hardly the priority of a hard-stretched administration in disaster-struck areas. Moreover, with the tsunamis having hit some strategic assets, the government is keen to contain negative reportage in the wake of the flooding of the Kalpakkam nuclear complex. Certain Western nations are also notorious for conducting espionage activities in times of vulnerability.
Already in neighbouring Sri Lanka, around 1,500 US Marines are landing ostensibly to provide emergency relief. They are expected to be based in Jaffna, Trincomalee, Amparai (in the East) and Galle, where they will set up command and control facilities. India is already concerned that internationalization of Sri Lankan relief efforts may impact upon its geo-strategic environment.
The Pioneer, 11 January 2005
