A Little Piece of India

In mid-November, I attended a Diwali celebration at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Throughout the day, there were several events going on, such as a traditional Indian dance workshop, and a lantern-making workshop. But the day concluded with the Ramayana Dance Drama. For those who do not know, Diwali is the Annual Indian Festival of Lights, celebrated by those in the Hindu tradition. Being half Bengali, I was able to recognize and relate to a lot of the cultural dynamics of the event. However, I am not Hindu and I did not know very much about Diwali, so learning about the story of Diwali and its religious significance was an insightful and valuable experience.

The performance took place in the auditorium at the museum, a Broadway-sized proscenium theatre with mezzanine and all. A large statue of Vishnu was sitting at the corner of the stage. The audience consisted of many Indian families with small children and grandparents. Some families opted to wear traditional Indian clothing: kurtas, saris, and lehengas. Even some of the museum employees wore them as well. Although there were plenty of Indian families, the audience was very ethnically diverse. In fact, I sat next to a Jewish family. Many of the Indian families draped their coats and other personal belongings across the theatre seats, trying to save them for their family members. I giggled at this observation, because that is something my family would totally do. However, this caused a few predicaments because the museum employees did not permit people to save seats and a few audible arguments occurred. When the performance actually started, I was amazed by the traditional Indian dance and the storytelling. The Ramayana is a Sanskrit epic poem, which tells the story of Rama and Sita: their marriage, exile, and journey back to the kingdom. Overall, it depicts the victory of good over evil. The Indian families around me seemed to be enjoying the performance. They clapped and sang along, commenting throughout the entire story. A standing ovation concluded the two and half hour performance.

The main purpose of this event was to serve as a form of entertainment. For the museum, its main purpose was to encourage diverse communities to visit. However, like other immigrant groups in American history, the traditions and customs that are practiced must have a greater significance in the grand scheme of things. The Irish Catholics that came to the U.S. in the 1850s were discriminated against because Catholicism was suspect in America. However, when the U.S. acquired New Mexico, the Latino Catholicism did not sit well with the Irish Catholicism, because it differed greatly. And it certainly did not sit well with the Know-Nothings who believed in the power of Anglo-Saxon origins. This proves that religion extends beyond culture. Indians are not the only Hindus. But understanding Indian Hinduism is an attempt at understanding what it means to be Indian-American. I believe that for the Indians who attended this Diwali event, it served as a way of creating peoplehood and identity, just as the AME Church did for the African American community as James Baldwin alludes to. This event served as way for the Indian diaspora to share their culture and religious traditions with their children. It is a method of keeping their culture alive within them, a way of bringing a little piece of their homeland into America.