Temple to the "Unknown God"

When I saw this temple, I thought of Paul's epistle to the Romans (I think) where he was reprimanding them for having so many gods, they even built an extra idol in case they missed a god. There are Hindu temples and Hindu gods, large and small, virtually everywhere, most of them grotesque and bizarre. The gods are usually depicted disemboweling some fair maiden and wrapping her intestines around their arms. Sometimes the victim is just being stabbed by a hundred different arms of the 'god'. I tell you what. I've missed something in the gods department. Christ was much too loving and kind. We would all be better people if we would just build and worship idols on every corner who are threatening to kill us at the slightest provocation.

 I should probably also mention that Hinduism's grip is a tad neurotic where women are concerned. Or have I done that already? They are required to wrap themselves in YARDS of fabric for modesty's sake while the men run around wearing what amounts to a large diaper. Bear in mind that India is HOT. I refer to the weather, not the men.

 Anyway, in Indian life, the women are covered from head to foot at all times. They are not even allowed to swim in the same swimming pool with the men - which to my way of thinking, is a positive thing the women probably figured out themselves and convinced the men (dim) that Vishnu or Ragu or some other vindictive god made up the rule.  BUT . . . . and this was my original point before I went off on a tangent, all of the Hindu Gods are depicted as big busted, bare breasted, nearly naked women. This place is pornography heaven.

The downside of all the god depictions is that it's always women being disemboweled, beheaded, burned, and abused in general. Wow. Gandhi had it right when he said that his goal for India was to enfranchise the Dalits AND the women. This place makes me want to come home, look up Gloria Steinem, and give her a big fat 'thank you' for burning her bra way back in the 60's. Or pretending to. The wonder of it all is that India does have 27 percent of the world's population living within its borders. SOMEBODY is doing SOMETHING. The women probably wrap themselves in all that fabric hoping to postpone  . . . . . . . . .well, you get my drift. Somehow, it's not working. India is standing room only - except of course for the spots the gods occupy.

Sorry, Sandra. One more blog post you probably shouldn't share with your 4th graders. Or your kids.  I PROMISE the next post is going to be the elephant picture. You're going to get a fabulous opportunity to talk about animal abuse.