mosques | Cartography of Wanderlust

I visit mosques of the world and unearth relics of Mohammed; I collect a pantheon of cartoon gods and choose a winning goddess.

In between my encounters with fruits, flowers, and primal colours that make even Disney look tame (see previous post here), I found a vendor of Muslim devotional items. When I asked if he had calendars, he strode off. I almost lost him around a maze of corners, before reaching the Naaz Book Depot. It had racks of calendars, many designed by the owner on his PC. He bemoaned the decline in Arabic calligraphy. Few people have the patience to spend hours or months doing by hand what computers can print in minutes. When I said I was teaching English, he asked whether I taught calligraphy: he’d be my student. I admitted my ignorance of the art – Dad once compared my writing to a drunken spider staggering across the page – and asked which of his calendars sold the best.

I bought two, both arranged by Western dates with the Muslim lunar days in small letters. My birthday this year was Rabi-ul-Awwal 30. Hindu, Christian and Muslim festivals are marked in Hindi, English and Urdu scripts. One calendar shows mosques on each page. January has an aerial night-time photo of Mecca. The concentric white rings of praying figures reminded me of raked sand in a Zen garden. Other months show an old khaki façade in East Turkistan, a bland concrete box in Canada, a mosque in Jakarta with blue batik patterns, and the “floating” mosque in Borneo. December gleamed with the Crystal Masjid in Malaysia, a fantasy of metallic domes and spires. The collection of shots gave me a sense of the worldwide community of Islam. On the rear of each page are the five daily prayer times in Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore.

The second calendar has quarterly pages and is less orthodox. Instead of mosques it has pictures of relics: a rough-edged parchment letter written by Muhammad, the Holy Mantle of the Prophet Mohammed, the “protective case of the leather sandal of the Prophet Hazrat Mohammed”, and, in a lump of black granite, the footprint of Mohammed. The sword of Mohammed lies alongside its jewel encrusted sheath; jewelled reliquaries contain the tooth of Mohammed and soil from Mohammed’s grave. Something like black wool in a glass cylinder with golden caps is labelled hair from the beard of Mohammed. (Will anyone care to save my whiskers?) By way of variety, one page had a box and blouse from Fatima, daughter of Mohammed, with two items of clothing from the Shiite martyr Imam Hussain.

Each page has a saying of Mohammed from the Hadith. “One should be scared of death, so stand up when you notice a funeral”. “That nation will never be benefited which is owned and governed by a woman”. I didn’t ask my new acquaintance what he thought of Prime Minister Indira or Sonia Gandhi. But I shouldn’t mock, for “Backbiters will not enter Paradise”, and “those who do not show Mercy to others, Allah will never be Merciful to them.”

The centre of each page is a circular swirl of colour and calligraphy. I suspect one page is the 99 names of God; page 4 resembled a Tibetan Buddhist Mandela. I was intrigued by the promises appended to Arabic invocations, which struck me as more superstitious than Islamic. “Whoever recites this Darood 80 times after Asar prayer on Friday his 80 years of sins are forgiven by the grace of Allah.” Christ said he could call on 12 legions of angels (Matthew 26:53) or 72,000 in Roman military terms. With a few repetitions you too can engage a similar count of heavenly aides. “Reciting this Darood Shareef prompts seventy thousand angels to register virtues for the person who recites it up to one thousand day.”

Equipped with Muslim calendars, I went in search of the Hindu equivalent. I’d seen garish calendars of gods hanging in shops, offices, hotels, and houses and had just bought a book that explains their meanings: Seven Secrets from Hindu Calendar Art. I drew a blank on calendars, but around another corner two men were mounting pictures of gods in gold-painted frames. Larger reproductions were embossed with glitter. I asked to buy one of each smaller, non-sparkling print, which gave me 18 vivid icons of the most common gods, as bright as Walt Disney cartoons and spunkier than American superheroes.

Monkey-god Hanuman, green as the Incredible Hulk, strides across a mountain meadow. One hand wields a golden mace studded with rubies and emeralds; the other holds a forested hill aloft like a waiter carrying a plate. (He had been dispatched to get a certain healing herb that grows on this sacred hill. His botanical knowledge falls short of his strength so he brings the whole mountain instead.)

Elephant-headed Ganesh sits on a yellow lotus, belly bulging beneath his trunk. His right tusk is broken off. He was the scribe of the epic Mahabharata and his nib broke as he was writing it down. Dictation continued so fast he had to grab this tusk for a pen. His mouse crouches at his feet and nibbles on a sweet. Ganesh is the son of blue-skinned Shiva, who sits on a Himalayan glacier with a trident, a cobra coiled around his neck and the river Ganges cascading from his knotted hair (see my post on Shiva here). The god Vishnu reclines on the multi-hooded cosmic serpent, or poses in his incarnation with a lion’s head (see my post on Vishnu’s avatars here).

Vishnu’s consort Lakshmi, goddess of wealth, sits in the lotus position on a pink lotus and pours out a shower of gold coins – businessmen love her. My set lacked the gory gals who are favourites with feminists: Durga riding a tiger with abundant arms waving fearsome weapons, or black-skinned Kali with a necklace of skulls, tearing out a man’s intestines.

Of all the female deities, whether sexy or scary, my babe would have to be Saraswati. She’s the goddess of learning and the arts and I did get a picture of her. She wears a red blouse and modest white sari. One hand holds a book, a second fingers meditation beads, while her other two arms play the stringed veena, a sort of long bulbous lute. For a portrait of Saraswati that’s less garish and Mickey Mouse, I bought a card at a Bangalore art gallery. Ravi Varma was influenced by European painting, and he seats Saraswati in an impressionist scene of lotus blossoms on a pastel lake (1896).

I sleep on a train, study at a madrasa, rage at litterbugs and relax in mosques; I walk from the coast to the Himalayas in a few hours, sweat like dogs and play chess with Krishna.

The Leprosy Mission and Allahabad Bible Seminary had looked after me for over a week. On Friday I set off on my own again, for the big push south towards Bangalore on three overnight trains. As I waited for the driver to take me to Allahabad Junction station, I heard the students singing at Friday evening chapel, “Because I know He holds my future… all fear is gone.” I had earlier sung with them, “Guide me O Thou Great Jehovah, pilgrim in a foreign land.”

I travelled second class AC, on the upper bunk. With my bag alongside my feet, I just had room to sit or stretch out; in third class which is three tier I’d be hunchbacked. Towels, sheets and blankets are provided on the blue vinyl mattress. With mesh pockets to hold bottle, book and glasses, and your own reading lamp, once you draw the curtain it’s a cosy little shelter. Vendors move along the carriage droning “pani water pani water” – chilled water bottles, “chai coffee chai coffee” – Western teabag or coffee, “masala tea” – the Indian brew, “tomato soup” – with croutons. Each is poured from a thermos into a small paper cup for five rupees, about ten cents. There are cartons of juice, punnets of yoghurt, packets of chips; and omelette, “veg” or “nonveg” meals. I bought the vegetarian for Rs 50. Like an aeroplane meal, it comes in a tin foil tray: three chapattis, vegetables, runny yellow dal that almost spilled until I spooned it onto the rice. I inserted my ear plugs, and had more sleep than I did on trains in 2007.

It was a 12 hour trip, arriving at 8 am in Bhopal, the state capital of Madhya Pradesh. It’s a quiet city with only 1.5 million inhabitants, and has seldom made headlines since the 1984 Union Carbide gas leak that killed perhaps 20,000 people. (One of my English students in Bangalore is a drummer and once played there to commemorate the disaster.) After the Hindu interlude in Ayodya and Allahabad, I was back to a more Islamic city. Bhopal is 40% Muslim, way above 15% nationwide, with over 400 mosques. From my hotel room balcony, I could see the minarets from two of the most famous above the jumbled rooftops.

I spent my first day exploring these mosques and the markets in between. Although one of India’s largest mosques, the Taj-ul Masjid seemed almost deserted. On the west side towards Mecca was the prayer hall, with fluted arches, white onion domes and two 18-storey pink towers that reflected in a square pool for ablutions surrounded by plastic stools like mushrooms. Dull pink walls lined the other three sides of the courtyard, punctuated by dozens of bright blue doors. Arabic scriptures hinted at the world inside: a madrasa or Muslim school, with, I was told, 500 students. Teenage boys emerged for a morning tea break after studying since 7 am, and ushered me into their room. Perched on a bed, they eagerly asked how many Muslims were in New Zealand, and how many mosques in my city. Many spoke little English, but an older student told me he was learning English to spread Islam across the world.

Back outside, young boys laughed and chased a school of fish around a pond while their elders sat in the shade. Beneath the stone vaults of the prayer area, students bent over books on low benches; blackboards with math sums and English vocab stood between the pillars. As I left, I saw a wrinkled state government sign glued to the wall. It referred to yoga, which is compulsory in most schools but may offend Muslims:

Authorities will not compel the students to undertake the exercise of Surya Namaskar or Pranayam and will not take any action … if the students of such educational institution do not perform the aforesaid exercise.

For lunch I sat on a step with a bread roll and banana. I was looking around in vain for a bin for my peel, when a goat approached and gobbled it up: a pleasingly perfect, zero-waste solution – two of us fed from one banana! I’m less impressed by the homo sapiens. I saw one guy, flanked by rubbish bins one meter to either side, drop his takeaway plate to the ground. Wanted to grab his collar and shout, “That’s why your country is such a stinking mess!” Indian writers lament the lack of public ownership or social responsibility, although people scrupulously clean their own homes. Shopkeepers look strangely at me when I ask for a bin, and when my bag gets cluttered with empty bottles I wonder whether I’m being stupidly idealistic and should ditch them in the gutter like everyone else. At other times, I have self-righteously preached in my mind to onlookers: “Watch carefully sir. See, the wrapper simply goes into the trash can. One more time now: that’s iiiiiiiiinto the can. It’s not so hard, is it?” At least there’s some show of concern from the top: the paper said the Bhopal Municipal Corporation was introducing spot fines for littering.

Hot and tired and sick of wading through garbage and threatened by a headache from the symphony of horns, I climbed the steps of the smaller Pearl Mosque, removed my shoes – and socks to air my toes – and slipped inside. Mosques are often a lovely refuge of cool, clean quiet. This afternoon, the tiles were so hot I put my socks back on and stayed on the narrow strips of carpet crossing the courtyard. Cables were strung overhead to hold, I presume, an awning for the Friday prayers. I leaned against a pillar in the shady breeze of an open arcade and watched schoolgirls play hide and seek on the rooftop across the street.

At 1:30 pm men flooded towards the pool in front of me, mostly dressed in loose white kurta tops and pyjama leggings – most suitable for the heat. They washed arms and feet, rinsed faces, blew noses, scrubbed teeth with fingers and spat the water back into the gutter around the tank, all as prescribed by Islam. Some asked my country while they purified themselves. As they lined up and began to pray, latecomers straggled in, often with more Western or secular clothing. Some had no head covering and borrowed a white prayer cap from a stack on the floor. Behind the men, two boys imitated their prostrations at double speed, giggling and bumping each other. Apart from this quarter hour of action, there was no one much around except a few men sleeping. With traffic muffled by the walls and reflections dancing in the water, I nearly dozed off myself, and felt little desire to re-enter the chaos.

I later realised one reason for my apathy. In early March, the temperature was apparently lower than usual, but now it was above average. By the mid-30s, my shirt is permanently wet. As the mercury climbs towards 40^oC, I don’t consciously notice a rise in temperature so much as increasing exhaustion – I relate to the dogs lying half dead on their side – and decreasing appetite. I mostly breakfasted well at my hotel buffet, reading the paper, writing my diary and mapping out a plan of attack for the day. By early afternoon I’d emptied several one litre bottles – surprised at how quickly chilled water becomes warm – but eaten little except a packet of chips to replenish salt lost in sweat. I’d go to a restaurant by mid-afternoon, more to rest my feet in the cool than to fill my stomach. If air con is lacking, I’ve learned to ignore the waiters’ directions and grab a seat underneath the fastest-turning fan. When I reach my room, it’s shirt off, fan on full, collapse spread-eagled on the bed beneath it. Some evenings I roll my sleeves up and down, up and down, as heat and mosquitoes battle to dominate my attention. It’s always gratifying to see Indians mopping their brows too: I’m not just a wimpy Westerner who can’t handle the heat!

The next day I took a rickshaw to the National Museum of Mankind. This is an open-air tribal complex where “the communities are the curators” and villagers from throughout India practise their crafts in traditional houses. Straw was tied into bundles and hoisted onto roofs for thatching. Guys dug a hole to erect a totem pole they’d just carved, in front of a ceremonial hall hung with horned skulls. Murals on mud walls showed scores of figures farming, weaving, building, hunting, cooking, playing, fighting, copulating. There was a coastal village with a fishing boat and a Himalayan village of two-storey stone buildings with balconies, slate roofs, and paintings of the Buddhist wheel of life and death inside. Bamboo-panelled houses on stilts. Crudely modelled clay village gods. Past the peak season, there were few people around and again I had a sense of Bible times, as in the villages I visited with the Leprosy Mission (see here). Had it been 10^o cooler, it would have been a totally lovely day.

I descended the hill to stroll alongside India’s biggest man-made lake, bypassing the many snack carts for an iced chocolate shake and veg puff (flaky pastry with samosa-like filling) on a café balcony. Coming from the seaside city of Auckland, the view reminded me slightly of home. Children were feeding geese on the beach and splashing in paddle boats. Dinghies were anchored offshore, while people rowed out to a low grassy islet with a Muslim shrine to the patron saint of local fishermen. Across the water was the old city and minarets of the mosques I’d seen the day before.

That evening I saw a live Hindi play for Rs 50, about $1.25. It was an excerpt from the Mahabharata epic, which is eight times longer than Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey combined, or four times longer than the Bible. (In Ayodya I saw a snippet of the Ramayana, India’s other great epic – see here.) The audience sat on carpeted steps; I was the only white face. The stage was simply set with several white pillars, what looked like an inverted mosquito net, and giant chess pieces: a king, queen, castle and knight. I caught a lot of individual words and the play seemed to involve female machinations to manipulate weak men – the blurb indicated a feminist twist to the ancient tale. It opened and closed with Krishna, the divine hero of the Mahabharata, playing his flute under soft rainbow lighting.