Nepal earthquake: The gods must be angry, feel devotees

Kathmandu: Some blame the corrupt politicians for bringing devastation to this Himalayan nation. Others fault Western tourists with tight T-shirts and loose morals. But among many of Nepal’s most devoutly religious, the chaos and destruction wrought a week ago by a massive earthquake makes one thing clear: The gods are angry.

Now, in the shadow of some of Nepal’s holiest mountaintop temples, many find comfort in the notion that there was a divine and just cause behind the tragedy that has killed thousands and left hundreds of thousands more homeless and destitute.

“It’s a warning from the gods to the politicians: Change yourselves, or who knows what will happen,” said Ishwar Nath Yogi, the 51-year-old high priest at Gorkha Kalika, a revered temple to the goddess Kali and the birthplace of Nepal’s first king.

Yogi was certain the Hindu goddess of death and destruction had saved him and the many others who were praying in the 17th century temple when the Earth heaved and the red bricks of its walls began crashing down on April 25.

Those less fortunate were unlucky, the yellow-robed holy man said, or maybe even undeserving. Perhaps they did not pray enough, or did not revere their sacred cattle. Maybe they embraced Western cultures and lost their own traditions. “We are a Hindu nation,” he explained, a place where dressing conservatively is simply a given. “Look at the Americans, the Japanese, they run around half naked. That’s why the gods were mad.”

Three-fourths of Nepal’s 27 million people consider themselves Hindu, and the religion has a deep connection to this rugged Himalayan land dotted with countless temples and shrines. The king, for example, has long been worshipped by many as an incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. Even as Nepal modernized in recent decades, many of its traditional beliefs remain deeply felt.

There is also a practical side to the devotion; most Nepalese are desperately poor and rely heavily on agriculture and cattle-rearing to survive. Appeasing the gods who control nature is just common sense.

The rivers, the trees, the raptors that sweep the peaks on the horizon — all can be considered holy. Prayer is a daily habit, and religious idols as ubiquitous as home-brewed milk tea.