“I imagined myself sitting on the end of a beam of light and imagined what I would see.”
– Albert Einstein
I remembered the words when a photo on the front page of one of the highest selling Hindi dailies caught my eye this morning. It showed our Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, sitting huddled over a tablet inside a plane after an election rally in Assam’s Nalbari. The photo shows him gravely looking at a sunbeam anointing the forehead of the newly installed statue of Ram Lalla on Ram Navami.
If only Einstein were here to see the image!
Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty
This year a few days before India began the democratic exercise of voting in a government, the rays of the noon time sun were cleverly directed to fall directly on the idol’s forehead on his birthday. The media was told by the chairman of the temple building trust that the idea came from the PM himself. He wanted a merging of tradition and high science to create a memorable image within the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya. It was duly done and the moment was described by an excited agency reporter as though the sun himself was applying a ‘raj tilak’ upon the newly installed idol of Ram. It was hugely symbolic since Ram’s Ikshwaku clan is said to have descended from the sun god and is called Suryavanshi. The caption beneath the photo also underscored that even though he was in Assam, the PM watched the holy ritual live, feet bare out of reverence.
Later the PM himself posted the photo on the popular social media platform X saying he was supremely lucky to have witnessed the magical moment. It had made him feel sentimental (“bhavuk”) and newly energised. He was sure millions of Indians watching the holy ritual must also have experienced similar joy and excitement.
Posts on X (earlier called tweets) from usually reliable sources explained how the feat was achieved. After the PM desired that the celebrations showcase both the ancient and the modern, the Indian Institute of Astrophysics in Bengaluru (an autonomous body under the Department of Science and Technology) was tasked to do a special ‘Surya Tilak Project’. It consisted of steering a beam of the sun from the third floor of the yet to be completed temple, straight into the Garbha Griha and ensuring it fell directly on the forehead of the deity. The scientists swung into motion. A device was manufactured in Bengaluru and the installation at the site was mentored by another apex institute of engineering, the Central Building Research Institute (CBRI) in Roorkee. Together they, through a scientific positioning of four mirrors and two lenses that guided the sun rays at the auspicious hour decided by the priests, did it. We were also told that once the top (‘shikhara’) is in place, a permanent aperture will be created so the feat can be recreated year after year! This feat would be executed with four mirrors and four lenses. And since the Roman calendar repeats the position of the sun only once in 19 years on this auspicious day, care has been taken to tweak the system astronomically to follow the sun’s position according to the Hindu lunar calendar and direct its rays at the hour set by the priests.
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Whoever scrutinises the photograph of the honourable PM sitting reverentially hunched over his tablet with bare feet, eminent Hindi papers and anchors told us, will understand that the PM has an acute sense of mission – bringing in Ram Rajya to India ASAP. Once he wins a third term, and he is sure he will, he has declared his intent to introduce a barrage of reforms for the next decade. It will be revolutionary and galvanise not only the techies, corporates and SMEs in metro cities but also the laidback, somnolent youth in the ancient cities of Ayodhya, Kashi , Ujjain, Haridwar and Kashi to get going and turn these small pilgrim towns into smart tourist hubs that will generate jobs and big money. According to reports, bands of committed bureaucrats are already hard at work on blueprints. Thus Bharat, the mother of democracy, is Vishwa Guru.
Many more roads, railways, schools of medicine and high-tech airports and grand new (Bhavya-Nvya) residential quarters will be required for Bharat (no longer referred to as India) to take the big leap into Ram Rajya.
It doesn’t matter if completion of the dream takes five years or 10 or 25, the important fact is that the archetype spelt out by the ritual – and the leader watching the ritual within his aircraft – occupies the collective conscience of Bharat that was India.
The question arises, are we the people of this vast nation, ready to take a somewhat strange pendulous big leap that takes us backwards and then forward at the same time against the known laws of physics? This is where the scientists and event managers and priests may step on to the stage and dazzle us once again with mirrors and lenses placed just so.
In 2014 Europe and the US and their media after the new PM’s visits abroad, expected a furthering of Gandhi and Nehru’s ideals for India’s development as a vast, modern and market friendly democratic state led by the rightwing. The leadership no doubt exuded charismatic vibes and made sure during the visits to attend events that showcased NRIs’ vast admiration for him. He also continued to pay homage to the Buddha and Gandhi and our ancient and principled stand on world peace, encapsulated in the phrase Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam. But post COVID-19, things began to change. Even now when touring within the country the leader certainly creates a passionate atmosphere with speeches about ‘achhe din’, women’s empowerment and our great and rich intellectual traditions. But voices from the margin, especially in the east and down south, are raising question marks over a Ram Rajya that would be basically rooted in Brahmanical codes set by Manu, in Sanskrit.
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Hindi of the north becoming the Rashtra Bhasha, along with Brahminism, touch a certain painful nerve south of the Vindhyas. That the leader works hard and is very well informed, of that there is no doubt. Also, most would agree there is no corruption in him. But by now several verified reports reveal there is corruption in the state and many regulatory bodies, and huge amounts of black money are being used to buy up elected representatives. Frequent defections have brought down popular governments in several states. Then there is the prolonged incarceration of several naysayers and opposition leaders under yet-to-be-proven charges. All that seems contrary to the common image of Ram’s Rajya where all lived equally happy lives, “Jasu raj sub praja sukhari”. Even the shot inside the aircraft cannot dispel a certain edginess in the face, proof that here is an intelligent man who is aware of the situation where unemployment and inflation will continue to generate huge pressures even after the battle is won.
As the Surya Tilak ritual has revealed, there are thousands of temples and 33 crore deities but the ultimate secret divinity of our century is science. Algorithms are our ultimate go-to solution when it comes to everything from preparing blueprints for a grand temple to building roads and homes. We need science more than almanacs, algos more than Sanskrit for building a modern democracy. We need to go from directing the sun’s rays on Ram Navami, to landing on the moon. To allow religious heads or corporates to intervene in the organic path of scientific exercises and regular data collection is to invite chaos and hostilities.
“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I am not sure about the universe,” Einstein had said.
Saakhi is a Sunday column from Mrinal Pande, in which she writes of what she sees and also participates in. That has been her burden to bear ever since she embarked on a life as a journalist, writer, editor, author and as chairperson of Prasar Bharti. Her journey of being a witness-participant continues.
