There's a brilliant article by Devdutt Pattanaik on Hinduism and children, and is a must read for anybody who's interested in religion and are likely to be discussing this with kids. I think a lot of people end up treating kids as idiots when talking about religion in general, and Hinduism in particular, and consequently I think it is not surprising that kids go away with a very poor impression.
Devdutt gives a very sane and wise take on how best to do this. You should read the whole article, but here are some excerpts to get you interested:
What are some of the things a parent can do to get their child curious about their religion and culture without actually forcing them into learn about it?
By making the rituals fun. Rituals are about doing things. Rituals are choreographed to connect with us symbolically. Making rangoli can be fun. Cooking prasad can be fun. Doing puja – bathing the image, dressing it up, feeding it, singing songs to it – can be fun. The child will notice that the fun is associated with a deep reverence. Then he will question. Often this the point where parents turn rituals into "holy cows" and lose the opportunity to help their children gain an understanding of their cultural world.
My own moment of understanding of this point came when I read in my history books that Lokmanya Tilak pushed the whole 10-day, community Ganesh celebrations concept in Maharashtra as a way for getting people together and strengthening community ties. At that point I suddenly realized the social value of religion, and hence I've always been very supportive of the less stupid rituals and festivals, inspite of the fact that I don't really believe in God.
My other pet peeve about popular Indian religious writing is covered by the next question:
When it comes to Hindu mythology, there are either over-simplified books (geared towards kids) and there are the scholarly tomes. Neither is a good fit for a curious young person who needs something in between they can read independently. What kind of books would you recommend for them ?
My books! I became a writer because I saw this gap. Often the answers are not what the parents expect. The problem is that authors are burdened by wanting to make Hinduism look nice. The measuring scale is that of other religions. As a result writing becomes apologetic and defensive. People are trying but often I find writers have a poor understanding of the subject and so are unable to appreciate the complexities and so end up with awkward prose.
Try explaining the idea of Krishna surrounded by hundreds of milkmaids doing Raas Lila to a child. Are those girls, Krishna's friends? So is it ok for a boy to have many girlfriends? Are those girls his wives? So is it polygamy? Rather than answer such blunt uncomfortable questions, some writers escape into metaphysics – using words like Paramatma and Jivatma which, unless you are a believer, sounds like gobbledygook.
This really makes me want to go and buy Devdutt's books. I've already read his "Myth = Mithya" which I think is a great book. I'm now going to go and check outwhat else he's written.
On a related note, many years ago, meetu and I were browsing in Crossword, and decided to buy the entire set of Amar Chitra Katha comics they had. At that time, we did not have children, so this was sort of an impulse buy. Years later, now that I have children, I'm really glad we did that, because I read Amar Chitra Katha stories to my children at bedtime. And we have lots of fun discussions. From stories of ancient India (Ramayana/Mahabharata), to Shivaji and the Marathas and the Mughals, to the Indian freedom struggle, they are a great source of brilliant stories that kids absolutely love.
So you can imagine how glad I was when I saw this advice from Devdutt:
Do you have any recommendations for daily reading that may help a young person to navigate with greater confidence through their life – specially when the world outside is very dissimilar to the world inside their homes ?
Step 1: Read the Amar Chitra Katha. Step 2: Discuss the stories and don't let the comic be the end. Discussion is the key. Stories are to be told, not read. Step 3: don't reach a conclusion, don't justify, don't apologize, don't defend … just try and understand why the story was told by our ancestors.
I picked up a Amar Chitra Katha recently and I found the stories were monodimensional and borderline violent. For instance, Krishna simply and repeatedly annhilates his enemies in “Stories from Bhagavad Gita”. The focus on their destruction was unnecessary and glorified, even more than the Mahabharat and Ramayana we saw on TV as kids. I’m not sure if this is just the rendition at fault.
What are you reading, I’d be glad to go pick it up if what you have is better.
@Santosh:
I totally agree that a straight reading of Amar Chitra Katha leaves a lot to be desired. But I don’t do a straight reading. I add whatever context I can add from my knowledge of the story. Sometimes, as in the case of Shakuntala, where the Amar Chitra Katha dialogue felt illogical, I try to go and find the original, read it, and then tell the correct story. Basically, I use the Amar Chitra Katha as I would use a PPT during a talk – as graphical aids and bullet points on which to expand upon while talking. And once I’ve told the story, the kids later reading the story themselves is not a problem because they remember the context.
I’ve had a lot of success with Shivaji and the other Marathas, because after they know the story, I can actually take them to relevant places in or near Pune. Lal Mahal (Shaista Khan’s story), Sinhagad (Tanaji’s story), Raigad (Hirakani’s story) are all stories I end up repeating _every_ time we go there. The Raja Kelkar museum is also great in this regard. Mahabharat/Ramayan I know well enough myself that I can add appropriate context where necessary. The Indian freedom struggle also works now, as I am slowly upgrading my knowledge from various sources (mainly books).
I’m usually reluctant to read them an Amar Chitra Katha whose story I know nothing about.
Superb. Totally agree on every point. And many thanks for sharing.
I try to read your writings, they give me insight into your generation , thought process, how you are different, why you are making progresses, etc . It always makes me proud.
I have very fond memories of ACK, having read every one I could lay my hands on.
However: Reading way too many stories can leave children with the pernicious world-view that everything has a ‘meaning’, a ‘purpose’ which is ultimately fulfilled. Stories have neat endings, central characters always succeed, good and evil are neatly delineated and even death is not in vain, etc.
Adjusting from this to the messy real world – where you’re not really the hero of your story, where people, after a lifetime of doing the ‘right things’ snuff it untimely and ‘in vain’ more often than not – is not easy. Some adults never do adjust.
I struggled for a long time with the question of introducing religion to children. As I saw it, there is definitely a religion-shaped hole in the human psyche. And one might as well fill it with a tepid version of relatively benign Hinduism to prevent it from being filled with something far worse.
But ultimately I didn’t. Myths have so much internal and external inconsistency that either one is forced, under relentless questioning, either to sweep the whole thing under the carpet as “just a story, it’s not real” or lose credibility as a reliable source, or discourage questioning and logical reasoning. The first is self-defeating if you intended the story to be taken seriously, the second and third must be avoided at all costs.
I was quite literal-minded as a child, and having been assured of the truth of the myths, spent quite a long time agonizing over the inconsistencies and caprices of the same Gods who were supposedly watching over me.
I’m not sure what’s left after “don’t reach a conclusion, don’t justify, don’t apologize, don’t defend…” what exactly does one discuss then? The colour of Draupadi’s sari? 🙂
So I’m doing animal stories – Panchatantra Jataka et al – (explicitly unreal), and historical stories (explicitly real), giving god-related myths a wide berth until a few more years have elapsed.
@tubelite wrote:
I actually interpreted that as: “Don’t force a justification unless an obvious one exists; don’t force a conclusion that is not supported by the story.” Also, another interpretation is to not prescribe conclusions and justifications, but allow open ended discussions of the possible conclusions and justifications. And finally, there are lots of microstories within stories, lots of single situations where you can justify and conclude and talk about good and bad and fair and unfair.
Also:
Of course the second and third must be avoided at all costs. However, one approach I’m trying so far is to help them live with the ambiguity. Letting them know that at times people are inconsistent, at times the ‘devas’ also do bad and unfair things, and sometimes thing happen for no reason at all. So far, it’s working – fingers crossed.
Navin – nice article.
Problem is – violence, lust, greed in all stories is often carried forward but context is almost always lost. violence and other similar attributes are often are very interesting to read/watch and far easy to understand. Hence many times thats what is written about. I wont be surprised in few years or couple of hundreds year down the line only stories of wars of Shivaji/Peshwas are told and good governance practices implemented by Shivaji and long forgotten. Internet or no – information will be lost or buried deep somewhere. Internet will though enable people who are searching for it to find it more easily – but chances of them finding opinion about it rather than objective description is much much higher.
On other note – I always learned these stories in metaphor and tend to think of them as metaphors only. Specially when it comes to gita/mahabharat.
Example – Story of Abhimanyu. Unfortunately we always tend to think of this story as war-hero story. There is a subtle metaphor where Chakravyuh is life, the 7 warriors in the middle of it are deadly sins and Abhimanyu is a common teen-ager. everyone knows how to live life and be consumed by these deadly sins which is metaphor on learning in the womb but very few learn the hard part of to break the chakravhyu and win over these deadly sins.
(PS- above version of story is copy-righted and part of series I am co-authoring with my mentor)
@Sushrut,
I agree that what is carried forward is usually to simplistic and misleading, and ultimately not all that interesting. I think one of our jobs as parents is to find out the context and add more and more of the subtleties and complexities into the story (to be introduced gradually, as the kids grow older).
The stories-as-metaphors angle sounds intriguing. Would be interested in seeing your series when it comes out.
I liked your inputs, not so much on Devdutt