Disturbing India!

When the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod asked him to teach in India for a year, Theology professor Dr. Richard Carter jumped at the chance.

India, with its tumultuous convergence of culture, language, religion and people, would provide unique challenges and experiences that would give him new insights for his Lutheran Doctrine, World Religions and other courses at Concordia.

India, Carter discovered, is a place of contradictions.

A place where cows are venerated while millions of its citizens live in poverty. Where the Gospel challenges and is challenged. Where 40% are illiterate in a country celebrated for science and technology.

India, he discovered, was as disturbing for its riches as for its difficulties.

The experience led him to create “Disturbing India!” an exhibition in which he explored through photography what he describes appreciatively as “the 10-ring circus that is India.”

Carter spent his 2005/06 sabbatical year teaching at Gurukul Lutheran Theological College in Chennai (Madras) in southeast India, while his wife, Miriam, tutored English and helped in the school’s library.

He also taught for the Manipur Evangelical Lutheran Church (a new church body in northeast India) and worked with the India Evangelical Lutheran Church, an LCMS partner church.

1& 2] At Bodh Gaya,one can walk the grounds where the Buddha first walked as “the Enlightened One.”

The stupa at Sarnath [2], where the Buddha first preached, is said to house some of his relics. The grounds were host to monks before Buddhism nearly died out in its homeland India.

3] Rice, rice and more rice. It was the mainstay, eaten by hand, at virtually every meal, with flavorful variations in the sauces, curries and vegetables served with it.

4] At a neighborhood convenience store, a local Hindu leader conducts the puja, a ceremony to invite the blessings of the elephant-shaped god, Ganesha, for business prosperity for the year.

5] On the way to a famous Buddhist site, Carter and his group stop to witness the Christian baptism of a dozen previously Hindu young adults.

6] Temples dot the landscape throughout India. The mountain in the background is believed by many Hindus to be one of the places where the Hindu god, Shiva, touched the earth.

7] Kanniyakumari, the southernmost tip of India, where the Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal meet. Next stop: Antartica. According to the local people, the spray of the devastating 2004 tsunami covered the top of the statue of the great first century poet Tiruvalluvar (center of frame).

8] The venerated cow is everywhere in India, roaming freely. This cow waited at the depot but didn’t get on the bus. Cows with a cord around their neck belong to a family; no cord means they “belong” to a temple.