Puja: Expressions of Hindu Devotion

Puja: Expressions of Hindu Devotion
a Video Guide for Educators
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
Smithsonian Institution, 1996
Sarah Ridley, Education Department

The Protestant cultural monomyth of religion as primarily being about personal faith and belief is a constant danger we all face as teachers of secondary religious studies. Our concern should be to make sure we do not turn the study of religious traditions into a laundry list of disembodied concepts. The tendency can be to forget that religion is as much practice as it is belief. The Sackler Gallery's "Puja: Expressions of Hindu Devotion" is an exciting and informative corrective to that tendency. Focused on the spiritual practice of "puja" for Hindus in both India and the United States the film brings the concrete reality of ritual practice into vibrant focus.

The education packet that students and teachers can cheaply purchase from the Sackler Galley contains a twenty minute video and a guide for educators. The video is divided into three short segments. The first segment focuses on India. We are introduced to puja (ritual devotion) in three different settings. First is the formal temple setting where, for example, we see a Shivite priest offer to a lingam gifts of milk, honey, and sandalwood paste. Incense fills the small temple and is waved clockwise around the statue. The sound of bells ringing jars our consciousness into focused attention.

Next we are shown rural roadside shrines, some hundreds of years old, that reflect the transitory nature of forms in their biodegradable offerings and images, and the constancy of a religious tradition that spans three thousand years. Puja ceremonies are shown in a wide variety of Indian settings.

We then move to a Hindu home in middle class America where the mother of a household performs a puja at the family shrine. The juxtaposition between the scenes of puja in India and the United States nicely demonstrates for the viewer the historical roots and current vitality of Hinduism in India and the reality of religious pluralism in the Unites States. This is followed by Hindus of a wide variety of ages explaining their understanding of puja, of the nature and meaning of the images of the gods and goddesses, and of having darshan (direct visual contact with the deity). I was particularly impressed with the conversations of teenage and young adult adherents. It is extremely important that our students see and hear their peers talk about religious traditions that most likely are different from those of the majority of students. The film is short enough to be shown in any class period and to allow time for discussion afterwards.

The 40-page guide for educators with the packet is useful, amply illustrated, and innovative. It includes a short fact sheet on Hinduism, a map of India, and a whole series of sections on Hindu worship, and questions and answers about Hindu gods and goddesses. The education packet contains current Indian prints of the three major deities, Shiva, with his consort Parvarti and their son Ganesha; Vishnu and his consort Lakshmi; and the great goddess, Devi. There are several pages devoted to talking about each of these sets of gods and goddesses and why they are important. I was most impressed with the sections devoted to explaining the iconographic representations of the deities. The goal here is to help students visually recognize images of the god and goddesses when they see them. There are exercises designed to help students recognize these symbols and a brief glossary. The exercise of having students work with the notions of personification, metaphors, and abstract representation is ingenious. These are, I think, designed to help students enter empathically into the world of Hindu religiosity and beyond western notions of image as idol. The guide also includes a bibliography of literature, art, and general information that would be helpful for both students and teachers. Helpful, too, is the list of other museums that provide resources for the classroom.

If you clink on our link Puja:Expressions of Hindu Devotion it will take you directly to the Sackler web site devoted to Puja. I might also suggest that teachers of Indian religion and history check out the Sackler's other excellent site on India, Devi: the Great Goddess. Further information on Indian religious images and puja can be found in Diana Eck's excellent book "Darshan: Seeing the Divine Image in India." Stephen Huyler, who contributed some of the photos for the teacher's guide, has put together a spectacular and visually stunning book "Meeting God: Elements of Hindu Devotion" that beautifully shows the force of puja in the daily lives of millions of Hindus. I recommend "Puja" highly.

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