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In India, Even Gods Are Going Hungry
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| Contributor | ArmyDem |
| Last Edited | ArmyDem Apr 30, 2008 09:26am |
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| Category | News |
| Media | Newspaper - Washington Post |
| News Date | Wednesday, April 30, 2008 03:25:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Poor Struggle to Donate to Temples as Food Prices Skyrocket
By Emily Wax
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, April 30, 2008; Page A10
NEW DELHI -- Every morning, Hindu devotees haul buckets of fresh, creamy milk into this neighborhood temple, then close their eyes and bow in prayer as the milk is used to bathe a Hindu deity. At the foot of the statue, they leave small baskets of bananas, coconuts, incense sticks and marigolds.
But recently, Ram Gopal Atrey, the head priest at Prachin Hanuman Mandir, noticed donations thinning for the morning prayers. He knew exactly why: inflation.
With prices soaring for staples such as cooking oils, wheat, lentils, milk and rice across the globe, priests like Atrey say they are seeing the consequences in their neighborhood temples, where even the poorest of the poor have long made donations to honor their faith.
"But today the common man is tortured by the increases in prices," Atrey lamented during one early morning prayer, or puja, adding that donations of milk were down by as much as 50 percent. He had recently met with colleagues from other temples, along with imams from local mosques, who reported similar experiences. "If poor people don't even have enough for bread, how will they donate milk to the gods?" he said. "This is very serious." |
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