we arrived in Kerala and drove to our hotel in Fort Cochin. It was scheduled as a partial travel day/down day, rest a little and see a few historic sites, which we did. We visited the oldest Jewish synagogue in the Common Wealth of Nations. It was first established in 1568 by the Jewish Cochin community in, what was then, the Kingdom of Cochin. Sadly, a few days before we arrived one of the ten remaining members of the synagogue died. His picture was everywhere celebrating his life. Unfortunately this Jewish community can no longer hold regular services in the synagogue. They have been without ten men to maintain a quorum for prayer. They do still have services if and when enough men and their families or tour groups who have moved away return to visit.
We also visited St. Francis Church, the oldest European church in India, established in 1503. After his death in Kochi in 1524, Vasco De Gama, the Portuguese explorer was buried there. Later his remains were removed to Lisbon.
The Dutch Palace was most interesting to me and it's murals depicting the Indian cosmos and mythology. The palace was built by the Portuguese and first presented to Veera Kerala Varma, Raja of Kochi, in 1555. The Dutch renovated the palace in 1663 and it has since been identified as the Dutch Place.
I cannot begin to do justice to the beauty, complexity, and intricacy of the two murals. Prema, who grew up in Kerala and works with the World Bank is the wife of Sathi Clark—Professor of Theology at Wesley Seminary and our organizer for this trip. A comment she had made earlier in the day poetically and accurately described the murals, “India,” she said, “is a land of paradox and contradictions.” The murals were exactly that, paradoxical and contradictive.
Here’s what I mean. In the Western mindset we want our theology to be systematic, coherent, and complete. Hindu cosmology does not approach the divine in that manner. Depicted in the murals are the gods Ganesh, Vishnu, and Shiva. While looking at the mural I realized the god Ganesh is holding a plate with the Star of David on it. I went to examine the other mural and there it was again. I pointed this out to the guide. He said the artist(s) may have not been Hindu and because the Star of David is represented in more than one mural they suspect a strong Jewish influence. It seemed unusual to me for a mural depicting the Hindu cosmos that claims thousands of gods would also contain a symbol of a monotheistic religion. But then again, where I see contradiction they see none. That is one of the great strengths of the Hindu cosmology, its ability to absorb a local expression of faith into its own story.
But as religiously pluralistic as Hinduism is, being here has shown me where their fundamentalism lies, in the Caste system. Christianity as a religion is accepted. What is not accepted is the Christian mandate to free the oppressed in society. You can do almost anything within the religious realm and be accepted. But if you try to bring social justice to the Caste system you will find violent resistance.
That is the dilemma of the Dalti Christian community. The Churches of South India in Chennai are doing very important social justice ministries for the most vulnerable in India, but because they challenge the Caste system they are held suspect. How do you begin to change a system that is religiously, economically, socially, and politically tied to the Caste system but does not officially recognize the Caste system?
Blessings,
Perry
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