The stampede occurred on Friday night, 14th January 2011.A jeep filled with pilgrims lost control and smashed into a crowd of worshippers returning from offering prayers at a shrine in the state of Kerala ,Sanjay Kumar.
The tragedy unfolded in a remote, mountainous area of southern Kerala during the evening as pilgrims made their way home from an annual ceremony at the hill shrine of Sabarimala that draws up to four million people every year.
Last year in March At least 63 people were killed and 100 others injured in a stampede at a Hindu temple in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh .
Only a few months before that incident,in January 2010, 10 Hindu pilgrims died in a stampede during a religious festival on the Ganges river in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal. The incident took place when hundreds of devotees tried to board a ferry to take them to the festival.
A very worrying trend .This is India , that new powerhouse , 'the fast growing economy ,' lauded by the market-worshipping financiers , political pundits and media moguls of the west.
What drives people to this doom ? what is it with human beings , huddled together in such an unnatural , uncomfortable proximity, hoping to experience some super- natural , superstitious , magical power ? what keeps so many people so desperate ,docile , ignorant and near suicidal? And this is not some thing peculiar to India .
Similar tragedies,it seems regularly befall the faithful of Islam.
There was one stampede in Mecca ,March, Saudi Arabia 2001 .35 lost their lives when crowds from accross the world on their holy pilgrimage or Hajj surged forward during a stoning of Satan ritual .
One of the most deadly stampedes in history was in the same context :
On July 2, 1990, a stampede inside a pedestrian tunnel (Al-Ma'aisim tunnel) leading out from Mecca towards Mina took and estimated toll of 1,426 pilgrims' lives!
In fact there are lists of the regular carnage that goes on in the name of the Islamic pigrimage:
* July 2, 1990 : A stampede inside a pedestrian tunnel (Al-Ma'aisim tunnel) leading out from Mecca towards Mina, Saudi Arabia and the Plains of Arafat led to the deaths of 1,426 pilgrims.
* May 23, 1994 : A stampede killed at least 270 pilgrims at the stoning of the Devil ritual.
* April 9, 1998: at least 118 pilgrims were trampled to death and 180 injured in an incident on Jamarat Bridge.[2]
* March 5, 2001: Thirty five pilgrims were trampled to death in a stampede during the stoning of the Devil ritual.[3]
* February 11, 2003: The stoning of the Devil ritual claimed 14 pilgrims' lives.[4]
* February 1, 2004: 251 pilgrims were killed and another 244 injured in a stampede during the stoning ritual in Mina.[5]
* January 12, 2006: A stampede during the ritual ramy al-jamarāt on the last day of the Hajj in Mina killed at least 346 pilgrims and injured at least 289 more. The incident occurred shortly after 13:00 local time, when a busload of travellers arrived together at the eastern access ramps to the Jamarat Bridge. This caused pilgrims to trip, rapidly resulting in a lethal crush. An estimated two million people were performing the ritual at the time.
So what is it with these devoutly religious folk that makes them persue such dangers for the sake of their spirituality ? And what is spirituality?
Spirituality in a wider sense is that within us in which we define our selves and our place in the universe.It is the essence of our self image and the underlying principle of how we make sense of the world and meaning in life.
Very profound.And on the whole the 'spiritual' aspects of a human being tend to be defined in religious terms .For example, someone dies or sees suffering or simply wonders at the mystery of the cosmos and their own existence.
The faithful, those belonging to a particular religion will press the default button of their religion and off goes the automatic pilot of their reasoning and they will have a stock answer to the question that may have troubled their minds temporarily . The answer being handed down by generations of 'experts', religious scholars , theologians and other indoctrinated , misguided thinkers or arrant charlatans.
So in the case of the thousands of deceased , who died tragically in such stampedes so close to what they so highly valued in their lives, there seems to be some dark dichotomy .
What was so meaningful and vital to them : Hinduism or Islam for that matter , was the cause of their premature deaths. Was this human folly? The fault of bad infrastructure of India being an over populated , developing country ? Or outright negligence of that much richer 'Theocracy' ,or dictatorship of corrupt royal families called Saudi Arabia ?
In either case one is left with the painful meaninglessness of it all. Young and old , many very poor and of course much lesser in numbers but rich also , had lost their lives , there in the very place where they had faith in its very meaning.
For such people the most inportant aspect of their lives is this religion , that binds them together and helps them find meaning to their lives .Many attend such pilgrimages in hope of being ' helped' , or 'protected' by their particular deity of choice.Some , and I have met such people: Some hope that by performing certain religious rituals or just praising their God , can even bring them financial propserity as well as everlasting health and happiness!
Alas , for these ill fated human beings suffering and death was the result of their dedication. This makes the whole foundation of what they held so dear crumble to reveal the meaninglessness of their lives.
It could have been you or me : Meaninglessness? or maybe from the wrought-iron inflexibilty of the doctrines many religious folk hold dear, maybe it was their divine destiny ? The hand of God claiming his beloved to live with him for eternity? Yes of course within the narrative of all the worlds current mainstream and fringe religions , just like the dead religions we now call 'mythology' there is a get-out clause . To explain the inexplicable and make meaningful the meaningless.
Many will say that their souls have gone to heaven . 'It was the will of God and
therefore beyond our lowly human understanding of his scheme of things.'........ .etc. So in effect what would make a rational human being reject such belief systems as flawed only works to reinforce such circular ways of thinking thereby strengthening the resolve of the faithful.
So the meaninglessness of the string of tragedies remains unsolved to the inquiring mind .But of course can be explained away within various religious belief systems thereby allowing the tragedies to repeat themselves.
All in the sake of spirituality .Which, as explained earlier is not the monopoly of the religious institutions and their billions of followers but something bigger and more mysterious.
The fact that life has no meaning , that there is a meaninglessness to all this life is part of the spiritual quest in itself. The very marvel of this mystery which may never be solved ,is the answer: that there may be no answer .All cannot be
explained out of the deciphered verses of ancient tribal, mythological scriptures. No. May be we are alone? Maybe there is no God there for us to open up
insurance policies with ?
To recognise this could be a way to liberation and possible salvation . It would at least prevent many from charging to corners of the Earth only to encounter thousands of similarly desperate souls , huddling together in extremely life threatening conditions. For no one died in a stampede when alone in their sitting room pondering on the meaninglessness of life.........
