ATITHI DEVO BHAVA – GUEST IS GOD

There is verse from the Taittiriya Upanishad, Shikshavalli I.20 that says: “matrudevo bhava, pitrudevo bhava, acharyadevo bhava, atithidevo bhava”. It literally means “be one for whom the Mother is God, be one for whom the Father is God, be one for whom the Teacher is God, be one for whom the guest is God.” Atithi Devo Bhava, it is not just a catchy line to promote tourism but is a beautiful tradition that is deep rooted in Indian culture. The host-guest relationship in India is truly one of the most revered relationships. The unique practice of giving utmost importance, respect and preferential treatment to the guests is certainly not a practice monopolized by we Indians but we do have a way of going pleasantly overboard and do somethings the guests remember all their lives.  ‘Atithi Satkar’ meaning to welcome the guest with warmth and respect is a practice seen in all villages and all across our socio-economic spectrum.

In our attempt to treat guests like God no distinction is made based on the guests’s nationality. caste, colour or creed and he/she is showered with all love, care and affection the host can think of. Despite high degree of cultural and geographical diversity in the country, these sentiments towards the guests stay the same throughout the vast expanse of our country.

But Atithi Devo Bhava, has lost its true essence and spirit over the sands of time. Today trade globalization that has helped modernize India, but this process has also begun to erode our culture. Today where everything travels the fast lane, how much time do we devote towards our rich, age old culture? Do we truly lead our lives in this spirit? Atithi Devo Bhava, is an important part of the Indian culture which may soon be lost with time and a country with a lost culture is simply without an identity.

Today culture and morality are not going hand in hand and so tourists often don’t find India a very welcoming destination. Whereas 99% of the tourists love what they see and feel, the odd tourist is often left disillusioned by the corrupt and the immoral. Thus India holds a conservative approach towards many issues unlike western countries and also a tendency of taking things for granted, be it a matter of cleanliness or crime, nobody seems bothered.  Theft, robbery, cheating, molestation and roguish acts against tourists were unheard of once upon a time but are tainting our tourism industry today. Promoting your business is one thing, but asking for 10 on 1 is nothing else but cheating. Do we treat our God in this way?

A tourist is not just a tourist; he/she is an ambassador for  spreading a good image of our country's warm, soothing hospitality, culture and safe environment. How shameful for us it would be as an Indian, when western countries issue security warnings for their people visiting India, to remain alert and safe, especially women, as they can be molested in India!

But we must not confuse mindset with culture. Though both supplement and complement each other, yet both are different from each other. The culture claims the concept of "Atithi Devo Bhava", that means the Guest is like God, but mindset is built on a hypocritical approach, where the cultural concept of treating guests like god becomes meaningless.

The Indian Government's "Atithi Devo Bhava" campaign is certainly an appreciable step and very effective one as well, especially for the younger generation. But people with sick mindset seldom watch and heed to such things. Sensitization is certainly important, but strict punishments and timely execution of them is need of the hour.

Let me now introduce you to a perfect example of our "Atithi Devo Bhava" culture. Recently Neeta and I  were in Hyderabad for our elder son Ananya'a convocation in Indian School of Business after the completion of his M.B.A. We arrived the day before the convocation and had an evening off. I was reminded of the fact that three of my friends who went to Kailas with me in September last year were staying in this city. So I picked up the phone and called our friend Bhaskar who, if you can remember from my Kailas blogs, can move mountains and nothing seems impossible for him. As it was expected we were picked up from the hotel in 20 minutes by his nephew Harish and then were driven 60 Km from Cyberabad to L. B. Nagar. It was evening; the sun had set when we entered the locality where he stayed.  We saw a group of musicians playing the drums and Nadswaram, a very difficult wind instrument. We naturally thought it was a baraat (a wedding ceremony where the groom is accompanied by a band of musicians and his friends who keep dancing to the tunes) but to our utter surprise Harish told us that this was an arrangement only for us! He showed us Shyamsundar’s house as we went past it. The musicians led our car to our host's home where we were given a traditional reception with garland, tilak and a warm hug, which will be difficult to forget in this lifetime. 

The musicians sat down and played for us as each member of the two families of my two friends welcomed us. This was followed by a traditional drink, tari, which I most respectfully declined. Tari is a palm wine - an alcoholic beverage created from the sap of various species of palm tree and its inflorescence and is collected drop by drop in an earthen pot as a frothy fluid, which is strained through a piece of clean cloth and served fresh or stored as a cloudy liquid for future use.

Bhaskar, me, Shyam's father, Shyamsunder, his wife and Neeta

My tari was however  replaced by a second beverage, which was more like a herbal tea - coriander, pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, and many other stuff from Shyamsunder's collection. Shyam is Bhaskar's neighbor and we were given a conducted tour of his beautiful home with gorgeous pine wood interior! The dinner at Bhaskar’s place that followed was predominantly millet and was very tasty. We even received a call from our third Hyderabadi friend Venu, who was with us for the Kailas trip. He was caught up in a family function and he apologized profusely for not being present.

With the two families

The families of both Bhaskar and Shyamsunder were very loving and caring. Children were in different stages of education employment and the joy of living together could be felt easily by us who were visiting them for the first time!  4 generations were staying together and language was no barrier as I found Neeta engrossed in discussion with everyone from the elders to the youngest bride to the fantastic children. Shyam's son is a swimmer with Olympic dreams and we hope he brings glory to us all one day!.

What was most impressive about this interaction was that here were two families which have not given up on their traditions, remained in touch with its roots and yet has prospered tremendously and is planning to touch the sky! May God bless them! May God bless our country and may we, despite all odds of modernization, keep the culture of "Atithi Devo Bhava" close to our heart as Bhaskar and Shyamsunder have done so successfully.