Past gods, present tense

Gods have been all over the headlines in recent weeks. They are being invoked with a regularity not seen perhaps since the time of the Crusades - be it the hundreds dead due to a flyover collapse in Kolkata, or the temple fire in Kollam, both have been labelled acts of an angry god. Similarly, floods, earthquakes, drought and rapes; god's wrath is upon us, warn those who claim to speak on their behalf.

The furies have been unleashed for a variety of reasons, from the entry of women into temples to pleasure-seeking honeymooning couples and even eating taboo meats. The gods, it seems, are vengeful beings. Defy them or ignore their wishes and the heavens will surely fall.

This is an interesting throwback to a time when religions were first beginning to organise themselves. Worship was a function of fear and gods and goddesses had to be propitiated and kept happy. Enrolling into a religious order was a way to seek the protection of the ruling deity, whose power emanated from the ability to crush rivals.

Religion evolved out of a variety of belief systems (not just the one above) and it had many functions, a big one was to bind tribes together. According to author Jared Diamond, it helped instil obedience among a disparate band of people and instilled a fear and belief of the gods and the rulers.

At this stage of evolution, religion was organised around all-powerful gods and goddesses who were created in the image of nature, mighty monarchs, death and illness; all forces beyond the pale of the ordinary. Like many kings who established their rule through might and brute force, the gods were believed to do the same. For instance, Sumerian king, Gilgamesh, who is described as 'two-thirds god and one-third man' was known to oppress his subjects and claimed first rights on every virgin in his land. Ultimately, he was cut to size but that is another story. Old gods such as Varuna, the chief god in early hymns of the Rig Veda, sit in fine palaces and had an army of spies spread across the universe bringing back news. Varuna punished sinners with disease and hell.

Weather gods, especially, were known to be whimsical, mighty and arrogant. Take the epithets around Indra for instance - Shakra (mighty), Shachivat (possessing might) and Shatakratu (having a hundred powers). He is feared and in the Rig Veda 250 hymns are dedicated to his powers. Over time, gods acquired a more benevolent avatar. Ganapati, the modern day god of benevolence, for instance, has evolved from being a hurdle maker to a remover of all hurdles.

Now, we seem to be circling back to a time and the gods are back in their wrathful avatars. It is not just the trivial and absurd statements that 'godmen' spew from time to time that tell us so but, even more frighteningly, in the rise of cults such as ISIS. The quoting of Quran as people are beheaded and women are raped, everything seems to be justified under a religious order that sees its survival in the annihilation of others.

According to scholars such as Karen Armstrong, this is because there is a difference in the way religious thought evolved in different parts of the world and the emergence of secular states. But in times of crisis, such as the refugee influx in Europe and economic decline in other parts of the world, the fault lines make themselves visible. In an article for The Guardian in 2014, Armstrong wrote, "In almost every region of the world where secular governments have been established with a goal of separating religion and politics, a counter-cultural movement has developed in response, determined to bring religion back into public life. What we call 'fundamentalism' has always existed in a symbiotic relationship with a secularisation that is experienced as cruel, violent and invasive."

Fundamentalism was the order of things when societies were being trained to live by laws, those of nature and subsequently of community living. Religion played a huge role at the time in bringing people together and to explain the inexplicable. Violence was not seen as an aberration, rather a way to greet strangers. As times changed, religion too evolved. It found a way to help people make sense of the changing times. For religion to do the same again, it needs to define its gods within the current context, not take them back to the past.