Devotion

Yesterday we toured the oldest synagogue in Kochi, the original building having been constructed on the site in 1344. India doesn’t have a large Jewish population, a total of 5,000 we were told, of which only 60-70 still reside in Kochi. But it does highlight an interesting aspect of Kerala that makes it a pretty unique place in the world, especially the developing one.

Religious tolerance is quite high here, tucked so close to regions of the world where religious strife is a daily part of life. Hindus, Muslims and Christians, all with sizeable populations in Kerala, live in peace with each other here, intermingled amongst the populations, which as you can imagine in a place like Kerala doesn’t leave much space for separation and isolation. The story of Kerala’s religious tolerance goes back to its history as a trading port along the Arabian Sea. Different religions were brought here by trade rather than by force, and so resentment towards groups of other persuasions never developed into an issue. Even Christianity, which I had assumed was brought to Kerala under colonialization, had existed here for centuries before due to traders moving through the area. 

The other thing I find interesting here is that religion, even though it is fervently practiced here in many forms, does not seem to be a dominating aspect of one’s socialization and community. We visited a slum development project a few days ago, a place where the sense of community is so strong that when being moved from shacks into a new brick structure as part of the redevelopment, members of the slum insisted on having the same neighbors in the new structure as they did in the old slum. Here, amongst many of India’s poorest members, people of different religions live side by side in tightly knit communities. I cannot think of many places in the world where this holds true, even in most of America.

How strong religion here is can be felt in the streets by the number of temples, churches and mosques, and the dress of many of those who pass by as you drive along. Here there are women in sarees, jeans, headdresses, and even the occasional burka, all moving about together. By and large women still dress very conservatively here, which is due both to the prevalence of religion but also to just the conservative culture as a whole. Men are much more likely to be seen in western style dress, although many still wear a type of light towel (that’s the best I can describe it since I don’t know the name) that they can either wear full length around their legs or fold up into a kilt like fashion.

It’s not to say that religious strife doesn’t exist here, as it surely does in other parts of India and likely does here as well. But by and large people live peacefully together here, and even though I can’t say it really makes me any more of a fan of religion overall, it is refreshing to see people at least going about their business doing wacky ceremonial stuff without having to kill each other over it.