In the 60th year of
India’s Parliament, raising a toast in the name of goddess Kali is not our
‘pitcher of piety’, or so it seems to our representatives there. Coming amidst the
cartoon controversy, Tuesday’s Rajya Sabha sideshow saw more competitive
carping. Yet, another frayed feather to our cap of legislative infamy.
Apparently appalled at the American company’s blasphemy, the
BJP’s Ravishankar Prasad even read out the product’s ad-line in the House: “Come, worship the black one, Kali, as the ultimate
reality.”
However,
this outcry doesn’t seem to be in line with either the fiery concept and myth of
Kali itself or even the realities of India’s own alcoholic drinks industry.
First,
the most basic incongruence of the MPs’ misplaced piety, going by Centre for
Policy Research (New Delhi) economist Bibek Debroy’s take on the goddess.
“Kali
is clearly portrayed as drinking before she sets off to kill Mahishasura in the
Chandika section of the Markandeya Puran. While the word used is ‘madhu’, it is
clear what is meant going by the subsequent description of Kali being inebriated,”
he told me.
Debroy
would know. He is the author of an abridged version of the Purans. In the Hindu
pantheon, Kali is the surreal epitome of volatile energy, almost equal to the
explosive essence of Siva.
According to Rachel F. McDermot and
Jeffrey J. Kripal, “As his (Siva’s) consort… Kali often plays the role of
inciting him to wild behavior… exciting him to take part in dangerous,
destructive behavior that threatens the stability of the cosmos.”
Kali’s bizarre resplendence is described
in The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna this
way:
“Crazy is my Father, crazy my Mother,
And I, their son, am crazy too!
Shyama (Kali’s epithet) is my
Mother’s name,
My Father strikes His cheeks and
makes a hollow sound:
Ba-ba-boom! Ba-ba-boom
And my Mother, drunk and reeling,
Falls across my Father’s body!
Shyama’s streaming tresses hang in
vast disorder;
Bees are swarming numberless
About her crimson Lotus Feet.
Listen, as She dances, how Her ankles
ring!”
Going by these, one would think Burnside Brewing hit the bull’s eye with
Kali-Ma—“spiced wheat ale involving cardamom, fenugreek, cumin, India dandicut
peppers, etc”.
Some Parliamentarians obviously think
otherwise though.
Perhaps, the argument is against
using a revered icon commercially. Now, that could be taken seriously but for the
popularity of one of India’s oldest beer brands – Kalyani Black Label.
'Kalyani’ is goddess Parvathy, Kali’s
modest and sober version. With 7.8% alcohol content, one of the highest in the
category, the brand is particularly popular it seems in Kali’s own city
Kolkata. And guess who owns it?
In Indian mythology, Amrut is the
drink of immortality. Perhaps our MPs just need to down a couple of ‘Patialas’.
Cartoons too could do with a life!
