FROM THE WORLD OF RELIGION

Today I'd like to recall the sad story of Tituba (born: 16 February 1675) somewhere in South America, but whom the chaos of historical accidents brought all the way to Massachusetts, there to create a stir and to secure a place for herself in America's history. She was bought and brought to Boston by a certain Reverend Samuel Parris in whose household she served as a slave.

In 1688 Parris got a job offer from the village of Salem: he would preach in the local church. So the Parris family moved there. This included daughter Betty, a niece by the name of Abigail, and Tituba the slave girl. The following year, Tituba married John, an Amerindian youth.

In Salem poor Betty began to have occasional fits, and often ran around erratically. There were other young girls in the village who also displayed unusual patterns of behavior. In the meanwhile a popular book talked about an Irish washerwoman in Boston as a real witch and source of much trouble. In those days this word had the ominous connotation as an instrument of the Devil. The Devil was not just an exclamatory sound, but a very real entity, moving in our midst and out to ruin everything good that God had made.

The general belief was that Betty and the like were possessed, instigated by one or more local witches. Tituba could very well be the culprit, some thought. Tituba's own tradition had taught her ways to get the evil spirit out of the system. This called for the concoction of a cake whose ingredients included a pint of Betty's urine. The cake was to be given to a dog which would then lead them to the culprits. When the Reverend heard about this, he got furious and thrashed troublesome Tituba.

The people of Salem were convinced by now there was a witch, perhaps a few witches, in their midst. Even a physician suggested, after careful examination of the patients, that witches could well have started the ailment. Upon harsh questioning, Tituba confessed to being one. She took the opportunity to point to a few others in town, like Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne: apparently, a whole lot of witches were inhabiting the cursed community.

Thus began the infamous Salem trials which lasted about four months in the summer of 1692, and have brought much embarrassment to future generations. The outcome of it all was that 19 individuals were declared witches and summarily hanged; a very senior citizen - an octogenarian - was stoned to death, and hundreds more were thrown in jail. Someone had paid a ransom and released Tituba from prison.

Gradually good sense began to rise to the fore. A person by the name of Increase Mather wrote a tract entitled "Cases of Conscience" in which the now famous line appears:to the effect that it is far better that "ten suspected witches should escape than one innocent person should be condemned." Others like him began to speak out, and appealed to the governor to put an end to what was going on. The nightmare was over by May 1693.

It is important to remember that much more than the tools it provides to cure diseases, transport people, talk through cell-phones and blow up the world, science is the light which frees the mind of needless fears, exposes superstitions, and makes pseudo-sciences laughable. In so far as these sides of science haven't penetrated human societies, we are still languishing in the Dark Age. There still persist a variety of manifestations of the most obscene kinds of such beliefs, propagated with increasing success, ironically, by means of the internet. If the poetic images of religions add richness and meaning to life, their obscurantist vestiges keep the human spirit in chains under the spell of irrationality.

FROM THE WORLD OF SCIENCE

For a span of almost a thousand years (3400 BCE to 2475 BCE), Egypt flourished as a dynamic civilization, ruled in suc-cession by dynasties whose kings were known as the Pharaohs [Great Houses]. They were regarded as re-presentatives of the gods. Under these ancient rulers a peaceful and productive people thrived, cultivating land, innovating tools, explor-ing the heavens, and dreaming up gods and post-terrestrial possibilities. Austere priests controlled the realm of knowledge, and the in-tellect occupied an important place in ancient Egypt. The society also had feudal lords and sweating slaves, for exploitation of humans by humans is not a recent phenomenon in history.

The scientific and technological achievements of ancient Egypt continue to impress us to this day. We must be grateful to archaeologists and historians whose efforts have brought those legacies to our understanding and appreciation.

Howard Carter was an Egyptologist whose relentless exploration of Pharaoh tombs led towards the close of the year 1922 to what has been described as "one of the most brilliant successes in the history of archeology." The slow penetration into the buried depths in the Valley of the Kings, hidden from human eyes for well over three millennia, reached a climax on 16 February. On that date Carter and his team entered the room where the bodily remains of Tutankhamon lay in peaceful solitude. It wasn't lying in a dismal dungeon, but in a magnificent chamber with glittering walls. As they entered the shrine which had been hallowed by the passage of time, the probing archeologists could "feel the tingle of excitement which thrilled the spectators behind the barrier..."

In that huge hall they discovered symbols of ancient rites, decorations and inscriptions, colorful paintings and funerary emblems. There were statues of gold and ebony. There were tiny models of ships to carry the pharaoh and his entourage to the world beyond. There were jewels and ornaments and more. They discovered gilt and gold beyond belief. Three huge coffins and a sarcophagus of glittering yellow quarzite were the central pieces. In this was found King Tut's mummy. A good deal is now known about this youthful king who died before he reached 20, about the switch of his name from Tut-ankh-aten (Image of Aten) to Tut-ankh-amen (Image of Amen).

Not everything they left behind has been preserved for posterity. Even in those days, petty pilferers and skillful grave-stealers took away much of the buried treasures. But King Tut's grave was hidden so deep that it escaped robbery for many centuries. And we are grateful for whatever has been left, for we cannot reconstruct the history of peoples who have left no relics behind.

The site is lavish in its grandeur, reminding one of Versailles, Granada, and such that we can visit as museums: places which remind the common people of the heights to which ancient splendor reached. Some have condemned such opulence, and regretted the sweating labors of human beings but for whom such ostentation would be impossible. But such creations also tell us of the material manifestations of civilization that add to its aesthetic glories. Who is to say that where there are no pyramids or great walls, no cathedrals or Taj Mahals, the workers weren't exploited by the oligarchs?

It was good that the ancient Egyptian kings believed in an after world to which they could carry gifts and riches, for it was that belief that inspired them to crowd their coffins with costly trinkets, with art work and vases. There were no museums in those ancient days, and it is thanks to their belief system that such precious relics lay hidden for posterity to see, admire, and interpret.

V.V Raman

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Published   2002.02.16