Svasthani and Lord of the Rings

Before I went to India, I had brought my computer and a (bootlegged) dvd of Lord of the Rings over to my Chhetri family’s house and proceeded to give a little showing to my aamaa and sister and one brother. One of those movies is about equal in length to a Hindi movie (anyone who has seen one of those will know what I’m talking about), so they didn’t mind being patient, and I managed to get across most of the (very strange from their point of view I’m sure) things going on in the plot. My aamaa I think was the most into the movie really, she really went for the feeling sorry for Gollum and hating him at the same time. Her favorite character by far was Sam. I did have to keep reminding her that the scenery wasn’t from America, it was filmed in another country. She said that the story reminded her of a story from the Hindu scriptures, which is secretly what I was hoping they would conclude – many Hindu stories include a lot of fighting wars and magical interventions (by gods) and quite a number of heroes.

The story it reminded her of is in the Svasthani, about which I know very little but another Fulbrighter here in Nepal knows a lot – her research is on this scripture. For one month, about a month ago, every night, my Chhetri brother would read (very rapidly) from a very old book. This reading is also considered a pujaa, and beforehand he would use the red powder to make a “Om” symbol on the book’s cover, then pass out some uncooked rice grains to everyone present, and read a prayer. Afterwards we all set the rice grains onto the book cover. After reading his section, he marked his place with a little spot of the red powder, and repeated a closing prayer, again with everyone holding the grains of rice in a namaste (prayer) position. After again tossing the rice onto the book, everyone dabbed their finger into the powder and gave themselves tikaa (placed a spot of it on their forehead). Then we all ate a small piece of whatever food had been offered at the pujaa, fruit or nuts and coconut. During the actual reading, the tv would be on and mostly people would ignore the story, which was being read very quickly and in monotone – no doubt my brother was copying the way the Brahman (Bahun) priests say any of the Sanskrit prayers. I guess I would compare it to the way people (may or may not) space out during a church service, but here they’re realistic about it and don’t bother pretending they are listening intently to something they have heard every year and practically know by heart.