AIZAWL

18 November 2018 20:49 IST

Temple committee welcomes and oversees inter-mingling of customs in Christian-dominated State

In Christian-majority Mizoram, some Hindu temples do as the churches do. The Central Gorkha Mandir Committee manages 13 such temples in Mizoram, five of them in State capital Aizawl. Rituals across these temples are uniform and minimalist, and they follow the schedule of the churches around. Sundays, thus, are congregation days for the devout, primarily for reasons of convenience on the weekly holiday, although it’s not mandatory to attend.

“There’s no harm in being inspired by another religion, offering discipline and positive impact,” Uday Kumar, president of the committee, told The Hindu. Near his house is Om Mandir at Thuampui Mulco Veng, a locality of about 120 Gorkha families.

Families take turns in bringing prasad — homemade suji halwa or kheer or boondi with pieces of fruits. Bharat Joshi’s family organised the prasad on November 11; this Sunday was Kumar Chhetri’s turn.

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Nine-year-old Samaira Joshi is among about 40 children attending Om Mandir’s Sunday school — a community hall below the temple’s prayer hall. “My Mizo friends in school talk about their Sunday school in the church. I can talk about mine now,” she says.

She enjoys stories from Ramayana and Mahabharata that her Sunday school teacher Rita Giri relates. “The focus is on being good and truthful in all that we do every day,” Ms. Giri said. For Shubham Jaishi (9), playing the dholak for the Sunday sangat (gathering) in the prayer hall is the bigger attraction.

A concise booklet, modelled on the Christian book of psalms, features bhajans and shlokas recited at the temple. “It is handy for people who cannot memorise,” Bishnu Prasad Subedi, the temple’s priest, said.

Finally, the Hindu dead are also carried in coffins, and well-wishers gather to sing bhajans before the final rites. “This is derived from the community service at the core of Christian values,” Mr. Chhetri said.