By Barnes Mawrie
This is still the season of Christmas Octave so an article on this festival is not overdue. The advent of the Messiah or the Saviour of mankind, is not only spoken of by the Bible, but there are other scriptures which do so. The Mahabharata speaks of the coming of the Divine Redeemer called Kalki Visnuyasas who is to free mankind from endless evils. The Buddhist scripture too speaks of the expected Saviour, Metteya. Close to our own homes, even the ancient Khasis speak of “Uta” (the One) as the promised Saviour to be sent by God to us, one who will liberate mankind from the darkness of sin.
The birth of Christ is definitely the most significant event in the history of mankind. This is proven by the fact that reckoning of time begins with the birth of Christ, Anno Domini (AD). Christmas is a festival celebrated all over the world by Christians and non-christians alike. The word Christmas comes from two old English roots “Christes” and “Maesse” which means the mass of Christ. Although there is no doubt about the historicity of Jesus Christ, yet there is no surety about the exact date of his birth. In fact, the birth of Christ had been celebrated on different dates and different months of the year both in the Eastern and Western traditions. However, it was in the early 4th century that the Church fixed 25th December as the date of Christ’s birth. Some critics explained that this day coincided with the Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, a Roman feast of the birth of the Sun-god and accused the Church of paganizing herself. The Church was least worried about these critics and so the date has remained up to today.
There are many legends surrounding the Christmas event. One of such is the appearance of a miraculous star. The Bible describes it as the star of the Messiah. Scientifically, the star appears as the result of planetary conjunction. According to Kepler Christ’s birth coincided with the conjunction of three planets Jupiter, Saturn and Mars. This astronomical phenomenon results in the appearance of a bright heavenly body which the Bible speaks of as the star. But the fact that this took place on the very day of Christ’s birth is miraculous and fulfilled the prophecy in the book of Numbers 24:17 which says “a star shall rise out of Jacob”. The association of a star with the birth of an important person is very common among people all over the world. In fact horoscope that is still popular today is based on this belief. It is coincidental that the Mahabharata also speaks about the birth of the Saviour during the time when “the Sun, Moon and Jupiter enter into the constellation of Pusya (Cancer)”.
The second legend associated with Christmas is the group of three magi or wise men from the east. Popular Christian tradition depicts these magi as persons from Persia. This is evident from the Persian dress they are usually depicted in. There are some scholars who differ in their opinions on this issue. The very indicative statement in the Bible “wise men from the east”, has become a bone of contention. Many scholars today tend to agree that India could be the place of origin of the three magi. This is based on the fact that India since the ancient times, has always been considered the land of wisdom. In fact the Arab historian El Masudi affirmed that “Hindus were that portion of the human race which in the most ancient times most enjoyed the fruits of peace and wisdom”. So the three magi could be three Rishis from India. Further, the gifts presented by the magi to the Child Jesus were gold, frankincense and myrrh has connection with the culture of our country. In some parts of India after the birth of a male child, he is fed with honey and butter touched on gold according to Manu’s laws. In other parts of India a male child is offered some coins (for his education), grains of frankincense to aromatize the room in which the mother lies and some myrrh which when mixed with mother’s food promotes lactation. Therefore it is quite logical to conclude that the three magi could be the rishis from India. A question may still arise in the minds of skeptics: How did the three wise men know that the place of birth was Judea and not anywhere else in the East? This is easy to explain for the existence of Jewish colonies in India before the beginning of the Christian era was well known. Jews were found in Taxila (now in Pakistan), in Chaul near Mumbai and in Cochin (Malabar). The three rishis would have come to know from these Jews about the Jewish prophecy of the birth of the Messiah. Their ability to identify this event with the avatara of Kalki Visnuyasas, could have hastened them in their quest for Christ. If this is the fact, then we Indians should never consider Christianity as a “foreign religion” (as it is being branded today by many Hindu fundamentalists). If our own rishis were the first persons to have visited and paid homage to the Messiah Christ, even much before the Jews themselves, then Christianity is our own religion as much as Hinduism is. It stands to reason therefore that Christmas be celebrated by every Indian today.
The message of Christmas is “peace, joy and hope”. For us Indians it reminds us of the return of the first age of “peace and prosperity” which Mahabharata speaks of, which has been lost due to the sin of man. Christmas is peculiarly a feast for India because India is a land of peace and harmony, a “unity in diversity”. It is the birth place of thousands of rishis, of the great Buddha, Mahavira, Guru Nanak, Ramakrishna, Gandhiji and others, all of whom were men of peace and true embodiments of Christ the King of Peace.
(The writer is a researcher and a Catholic priest)