Authors Amish Tripathi and Bhavna Roy discuss their latest book on the subject of idol worship with dancer, choreographer and writer Anita Ratnam.
The book, titled Idols: Unearthing the Power of Murti Puja (HarperCollins India), has been inspired by the ancient principles of philosophical debates and is centred around members of the Deshpande family, who are in the process of choosing a Ganesha idol for the Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations. Their conversations become a tool to impart the philosophy and history of idol worship as a practice.
Noting that this conversation was taking place just five days after the inauguration of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, Ms. Ratnam began by asking Mr. Tripathi to “describe the Ram Lalla murti” for the audience. Mr. Tripathi, who was in Ayodhya for the inauguration, spoke about being struck by some things as he viewed the murti of Ram Lalla. The first was the economic transformation of Ayodhya and he said that this tied into how India’s traditional economy had worked. He noted that temples in ancient times would give jobs and sustenance to a community, and become the source of education.
“The modern Western economy has the mall at the centre of life. Our traditional economy had the temple at its centre. And socially perhaps a temple at the heart of the economic life leads to better outcomes,” he said.
Read more: Idol worshipping makes you intuitively liberal, says Amish Tripathi
