Of Gods and Nudity!

The reference by a Minister on the floor of the Kerala Assembly to nude Hindu Gods raised a furore leading to boycott of the House by the Opposition who allege that the Minister offended the sensibilities of believers in the Hindu faith. The Minister immeidately withdrew his remarks but the Opposition has decided to continue its boycott of the Minister till he apologises for the same. The Minister has since clarified that he was referring to the sculptures in many Hindu temples.
Debates have started in the language newspapers as to whether it is proper for Gods to be in the nude or as to what respectful attire they should be draped in. The Minister's comment and consequent debates reflect the offcial culture of India that has been influenced by the British administrators and missionaries who managed to impose on this country the prudishness and puritan morality of the Victorian era. This influence was so extreme that no less a person than Mohandas Gandhi wanted the erotic sculptures of Khajuraho to be defaced.
What the Minister, the Opposition and others have failed to acknowledge or understand is that these sculptures where created to enable 'drishti-shuddhi' whereby the worshipper who feasts his eyes on these and other scenes of social life enters the garbha-griha with his mind emptied of all wordly thoughts and prepared for communion with the divine. The position of these sculptures, their numbers and size would readily lend themselves to this interpretation.