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Indrani and Chandara, Ex-Hindu, Singapore (part 1 of 3)
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Description: A Hindu girl marries a pious assistant of a swami, but one who later looks to other religions for enlightenment.
By Muneerah Al-Idros (Interviewer)
- Published on 16 Jan 2006 - Last modified on 23 Oct 2006
Viewed: 9372 - Rating: 3.5 from 5 - Rated by: 13
Printed: 335 - Emailed: 16 - Commented on: 1
Category: Articles
> Stories of New Muslims
> Women
Category: Articles
> Stories of New Muslims
> Men
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Sister Nishani (previously known as Indrani) and
her husband, Brother Rafiq (previously known as Chandara) shared with Sister
Muneerah Al-Idros, their path toward embracing Islam.
Indrani was 6 years old when her father died. Her
mother stopped praying as she felt that god had been unfair to make her a widow
with 5 little children. Indrani and here brothers and sisters were brought up
as nominal Hindus. They had neither an altar nor pictures of gods in their
house, as many Hindus do.
When Indrani was 10 years old she began to love god.
She collected pictures of Hindu gods and goddesses and worshipped them at home.
She felt the need to pray and thought it was odd that, unlike other Hindu
families, her family performed few Hindu rites.
During her teenage years, Indrani started going
to temple thrice weekly. She encouraged some of her friends to go to the
temple with her, as she quickly became more interested in Hinduism.
She participated in bhajanai (devotional
singing) activities and became a committee member in Ayyapan Group in Perumal Temple for several years.
One day, Indrani became very ill. She consulted
several doctors but was informed that there was nothing wrong with her. However,
her illness persisted. She later consulted a Swami (a Hindu priest) so that he
would clear the sevanai (evil spirits) that she suspected were dwelling inside
her. The Swami and his assistant came to visit her. The assistant was
Chandara, who was involved in her temple’s religious rites, and who had also organized
religious trips to Malaysia for Indrani and her friends.
Indrani was very impressed with the knowledge
the young man demonstrated while assisting the swami.
After that visit, Chandara dreamt of his favorite
goddess, Kaliamma, telling him to take Indrani as his bride. After much persuasion,
his family asked for Indrani’s hand in marriage. Indrani and her family were pleasantly
surprised by the marriage proposal. Indrani could not believe that her dreams
of marrying a pious Hindu had come true.
Unlike Indrani, Chandara was brought up in a
religious Hindu family. On top of that, Chandara was the most religious in his
family. He would often slip into a trance, reciting the holy mantras in praise
of the gods and goddesses who would [supposedly] possess him and speak through
him. In Hinduism, it is considered an honor to be possessed by the gods or goddesses.
Chandara and other members of the group often
got together to listen to the teachings of the swami. They would also make
house visits to chase evil spirits out of other people’s houses and bodies. This
is how Chandara was appointed to be the swami’s assistant.
Indrani had never entered into a trance but had
seen Chandara [supposedly] being possessed by the elephant god, Vinayagar. Chandara
would behave exactly like an elephant, eating the fruits that the elephant ate.
When in a trance, Chandara would be approached
to solve problems. Those who approached him would prostrate before him, for
they regarded him as “God”. The vibuthi (white ashes) used to anoint the
forehead would be brought to Chandara to be blessed.
Despite all this, Chandara did not feel complete.
Dissatisfied, he knew there was something not right in his life. He failed to
see the light and always felt that his path was blocked by some kind of
darkness which he wanted to clear so he could reach the light. He knew that
were 3360 Hindu gods and he prayed to several of them.
Whenever he felt confused, he would go to the
library to find out more about Hinduism. He learned from the elders but knew
there was still a lot more to learn. Many of the Hindu priests did not want to
share everything that they knew; knowledge was their rice bowl, and they did
not want their source to be taken away.
It was difficult to learn on your own about
Hinduism, as most of the writings were in Sanskrit. Chandara could not find
any holy books that satisfied his quest. All the books were written by
different authors and each of them had different ideas about how and when
Hinduism started. Even the Bhagavat Geeta (which emphasized more on Vishnu),
Ramayana and Mahabrahta were very limited. These holy scriptures were more
literature books, teaching that we should do good and pray to the gods. Above
all these gods is the female god, who is the Aadhi Parasakhti. She controls
the whole universe. The essence of Hinduism is to strive at getting a good
reincarnation and to worship God and to pray to God through demigods.
During this search for enlightenment, Chandara
was approached by a Christian missionary worker in Toa Payoh. He got involved
in Christianity in the hope of enlightenment. However, he did not like
Christianity, mainly due to the behavior of the people in the church; he
noticed that young men and women were behaving indecently. Christianity was
not what he was looking for and he withdrew.
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