One fine late afternoon, at a prayer session in a small temple at Belle-Rive (Chinnamasta Maha Kali Sthann), during a strange and mysterious late night session, ten people felt very sick, out of which sadly, four people perished and disappeared into an unending ocean of dark and dull obscurantism. I was living outside of Mauritius during this ‘‘killing season’’ in Mauritius, and to be specific the year was 2015, I had promised myself to investigate this case if I was ever blessed to return to Mauritius.

Few things caught my attention in this unfortunate and seemingly pointless tragedy. The simpleton priest did not seem at all educated and knowledgeable about Brahmanism (ignorantly called Hinduism by non-scholars), as well as the simple science of air ventilation which he needed much more that his theories, and waffled a few imbecilities during a post tragedy interview about his own conception of Kali, which I felt was all deeply rooted in ignorance. How could others have been made to trust this man and allow him to be a religious leader?

The root of the incident was true obscurantism in the sense that they had closed the temple to convert it into a newly confined space, and because of the lack of basic knowledge, as they were lost in the delusion of blind faith, no one realized that carbon monoxide (CO) would be produced by lighting a havan in a room starved of oxygen. No universal immanent god would be available to reverse this universal law of physics, so the carbon monoxide emission lead to slow asphyxiation, loss of consciousness and finally, silent death.

Those who were luckily saved were dragged out right on time and allowed to breathe, hence recirculating their red blood cells with fresh haemoglobin, immediately stopping the CO poison from arresting oxygen supply to their brains. They were saved, not by the interference of any powerful external agency, but by the on time provision of additional oxygen at the right amount, at the right time.

The inside of the small ‘sthanam’ was shown on TV and it became clear that this was a low grade tribal form of Brahmanism as practised with great fervor everywhere around in Mauritius. The Kali figures were awfully poor artistic representations of Kali (mother Shakti) in an angry tandaw pose, dressed with skulls around her neck and a tongue as long as the Ganges itself. I was stunned to see these poor representations of Kali which were obviously drawn to serve a purpose: impress onlookers by the shock of the shear violence of the pictures.

Kali is so called energy. To this energy, one should always kneel, seems to say these frightful pictures. The more goring and shocking the pictures, the more powerful the effect. It is through such fearful representations that self-appointed priests become rich and famous in Mauritius and garnered heavy popularity by concocting fertile stories about the immortal mystery of that undefined entity we all call God.

Prior to year 450 before CE, great non‐violent debates were taking place in India between different schools of thought. Although the philosophy emerged from Vedic traditions, many flatly broke away from the tradition. There was an absolute and complete tolerance during philosophical debates in India, even prior to the emergence of Buddhism. As example, likes of Pakauda Katyana even denied there was a cause for every event, events he said, occurred independently.

Makhali Ghosal, on the other hand, preached that cause was not to be found in human agency but is to be sought outside in nature, in line with the modern naturalists. It is the Buddha who launched a direct rethink on Brahmanism, with right speech of course, not sticks and stones, when he uttered to the Brahmin Vasettha… ‘‘But Vasettha is there a single one of the Brahmins versed in the three Vedas who has ever seen Brahma face to face?’’

To the Buddha, belief in God was the most dangerous thing laced with hypocrisy and violence. For belief in God gave rise to belief in the supposed efficacy of worship and prayer and these in return gave rise to the office of the all‐powerful priest. The priest, oh that evil genius who created all agency of superstition. I was sometime back, ‘‘blessed’’ with another visit to another politically powerful Kovil in the north of the island, and the priest we were told was very famous and had to be consulted for happiness and prosperity. Famous in what, I had never asked. However, on reaching his domain, he immediately started to lecture on the critical importance of coming to visit him weekly, indirectly meaning that donations were to be given ‘‘with devotion’’.

False axis of power

The side effect of not coming to him, he mentioned, was accident, fatalities, tragedies, black magic befalling on me and my family. He mentioned the name of one of his‘‘client’’ who did not follow up his ‘‘program’’ and was sadly killed in a road accident. His ritualistic system was all too familiar with me. It was an adulterated very Mauritian form of Brahmanism where questions were never asked, but the procedure was high in placement ritual, with the aim to create a false axis of power.

In other words, one can only pray via his intermediary, not by oneself, so power was in his hands, not in that of the disciple. The priest was the intermediary by which the suffering disciple would be blessed. By him, all impediments will be duly removed and holy money will find its way back in his MCB bank account. This was no different from a twisted stock broker on Wall Street.

When asked by a Brahmin ‘‘is there, O dear Gautama, any other sacrifice with more fruit and more advantage than killing animals’’, the answer becomes a fine jewel of new Indian tradition and the birth of a religion (can we even call it religion?) on rationality… abstinence from destroying life, abstinence from taking what has not been given, abstinence from evil conduct in respect of lust, abstinence from lying words, abstinence from strong intoxicating maddening drinks, the root of carelessness, that is a sacrifice better than largesse, better than perpetual alms, better than the gift of dwelling places, better than accepting guidances.

The tragedy in Mauritius is the emergence of a new line of Brahmanism called Mauritianized Ritualistic Brahmanism. Many outside visitors remain fascinated to observe emergence of this highly conservative new branch, where priests implicitly reestablish power by using a false aura of legitimacy covered with the incense smoke of ignorance of their disciples, and hence directly moving away from pure Vedantism openness and returning to Parochialism.

This is indeed the state of heavily organized religion in Mauritius. It is this deeply flawed sense of Hinduism that has been surreptitiously gifted to the public, hence oppressing them for years. This has perhaps forced an increase in the Hindu laywoman and man making a full back turn towards new Christian Evangelism societies, that are seeing an eerie new light on the island.

Not that his new Evangelism is any better nor any refined. It is a fall back plan putting believers worst off by its ‘‘smart marketing’’ approach to intensely project the good word of Jesus on the forefront and present it as the magic tablet that would solve all of life`s riddles and sufferings. Convert, convert and convert they will, per their dictates, but they will always convert those who are ignorant of their own millennial cultures. I dream of someone coming to my door to convert me, it just never happens! Please do come!

The true wonder that is Brahmanism, its true essence as revealed by Vivekananda, Ramakrishna and Ramanan Maharishi, its openness, practical approach, deep tolerance, seems completely oblivious to most Mauritians during this age. An age, we can safely call that of the powerful non Philosopher Politician Priest.