Idols- Unearthing the Power of Murti Puja

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The idea for this book emerged from three incidents.

The first incident happened with me (Amish). I was on the stage at a popular literature festival, and the audience largely comprised youngsters-the primary audience of my books. One college-going youth stood up and said that he liked my books and that he was a proud Hindu, but not an 'idol-worshipper obviously. He said that last bit almost with distaste. I stopped him before he could get to his question and asked what was 'obvious' about not being an idol-worshipper. He said that he knew that idols were not real Gods and worshipping them was wrong, and, hence, did not do it. And then he reiterated, "But I am a proud Hindu.' I was 'obviously' befuddled by the youth's contradictory comments and wanted to question him further. But I thought it best not to challenge him in a public forum and in front of his friends and let him get on with his question. However, the incident remained in my mind. This book is, in a way, a response to that youth, who is interested in our culture, but has, perhaps, not completely understood it. He is suffering from a version of what psychologists call 'battered-wife syndrome', in which the wife, suffering violence at the hands of her husband, often blames herself as the cause of the violence. Idol-worshippers, as a group, have suffered horrific violence over the past 2,000 years and the worst genocide in human history; they have been wiped out almost everywhere in the world, except for a few remaining outposts like India. Yet, like battered wives, there are many idol-worshippers today who blame themselves, rather than those who oppressed their ancestors.