Far from Ayodhya, in northern India, where the elite celebrated the inauguration of a controversial Hindu temple dedicated to Rama on Monday, much poorer devotees are celebrating the god in their own way, by getting his tattoo name from head to toe.
Followers of the Ramnami religious movement have long been barred from entering Hindu holy sites because of their low caste. As a sign of defiance, they began tattooing the name of the god Rama in Hindi on their bodies.
These tattooed devotees, including on their faces, gathered on Sunday in the state of Chhattisgarh, in the center of the country, for a Hindu festival. The Indian Prime Minister, for his part, inaugurated with great fanfare on Monday a temple dedicated to the god Rama, built in Ayodhya, in the north of India.
But for ramnamis, the devotion shown through tattoos is stronger than any building.
“For us, Rama is everywhere, in every particle, every sound,” says Gularam Ramnami, a 52-year-old devotee.
For those who worship at the Ayodhya temple, Rama “is represented by an idol”. But “we have made our bodies a temple”.
Many ramnamis interviewed during their festival on Sunday said they viewed favorably the inauguration of the temple dedicated to Rama, often depicted with blue skin, armed with a bow and arrows.
But they also called for caution, recalling the violent history of the site on which it was built.
“Rama never destroyed a mosque, and Allah never destroyed a temple,” notes Gularam. We have always said that we should not hurt anyone, neither by thought, nor by words, nor by actions. »
When the ramnamis’ ancestors were denied entry to temples more than a century ago, they fought back with a needle and ink made from kerosene lamp residue.
“I have dedicated my body to his name,” says Setbai Ramnami, a devotee wearing a crown of peacock feathers and draped in a white shawl also covered with the name of Rama. “I have never been to a temple. […] I have not even offered flowers to an idol of Rama,” explains the septuagenarian from the Dalit caste, formerly known as the untouchables.
In addition to their tattoos, devotees adopt the name of the religious group “Ramnami” as their last name, as a sign of total commitment.
“An ideology”
It took Setbai a whole day to get her face tattooed, but she says she felt no pain because it was done out of devotion. “A day will come when we will all leave,” she said. It’s good that I immersed myself in devotion […], this is how I want to die. »
But times are also changing for ramnamis.
Full-body tattoos are becoming less common, as some young, job-seeking followers limit signups to areas of the body they can cover, while saying they respect the group’s other strict rules.
Ramnamis are vegetarians, do not drink alcohol, do not smoke, and grow almost everything they eat.
Unlike most Hindus who choose cremation, Ramnamis bury their dead because they do not want Rama’s name burned.
While many Dalits and other marginalized groups still face violence and discrimination in India, Ramnamis say their tattoos show their wishes for a god all can worship.
“It doesn’t matter if people think we belong to a lower caste, we belong to a country where castes and social classes don’t matter,” says Gularam. Ramnami is an ideology […]it is not linked to caste or religion,” according to him.