Robots help with Hindu rituals and some people don’t like it
What modern robots just can’t do: deliver parcels, drag cargo, take care of the elderly, perform the duties of waiters, and so on. In the countries of South Asia, robotics is used even in religion – there are robots that perform rituals. Some religious people believe that robots are superfluous in this matter, but most tend to assume that there is nothing wrong with this. After all, specially tuned mechanisms can perform all actions with extreme precision and never get tired. In addition, in some religions it is believed that each object has its own soul, so robots do not seem to people like empty piles of metal with electronics. For several years now, a robot has been used in India that can perform the Hindu ritual of arati. On the one hand, it looks very strange, but on the other, it is amazing.
Интересный факт: индуизм является одной из нескольких индийских религий. Его история имеет корни в ведийской, хараппской и дравидийской цивилизациях, из-за чего индуизм называют самой древней религией в мире. Статистика гласит, что индуизм исповедует 1 миллиард человек по всему миру. По числу последователей, это третья в мире религия.
How robots help people in India
According to IFL Science, the arati robot was developed in 2017. In Hinduism, this ritual is used to pay respect to a deity, a respected person or a sacred object. During the ceremony, people illuminate the object of worship with a lit lamp. As a rule, the ritual is performed in the morning or at dusk, when the deity “awakens” or “goes to sleep.” The action is accompanied by the sounds of shankha (a ritual object in the form of a sea shell), the ringing of bells or the reading of a mantra.
Arati ritual
Hindu deity Ganesha
The arati robot was introduced during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival. This festival is dedicated to the Hindu god Ganesha with the body of a man and the head of an elephant, who is considered the personification of wisdom and prosperity. It is believed that with the help of his trunk, Ganesha destroys obstacles to success. The festival dedicated to Ganesha takes place every year, in August-September, with the participation of millions of people. During the 10-day festival, people bring food, sweets and milk to the deity. They also perform the arati ritual mentioned above. For several years now, the robot has been doing an excellent job of fulfilling this tradition – see how it looks in the video below.
The robot performs the arati ritual
Pros and cons of robots
Needless to say, this innovation caused a lot of controversy. Some people believe that the use of robots represents a new horizon of human innovation that will lead to a better society. Others believe that the replacement of humans by robots is a bad omen.
Representatives of both sides can be understood. Robots can be useful because they perform all the actions according to a strictly defined scenario, so they do not forget anything and do not make mistakes. At the same time, they can also cause harm – many people fear that due to the automation of Hindu rituals, fewer people will start going to temples. And this despite the fact that in South Asia, for about ten years, there has been a decrease in the number of young people who want to devote their lives to spiritual education and practice.
The robot from the Brabo company was not created specifically for performing the arati ritual – it can do many other things.
Эффект «зловещей долины»: почему нас пугают роботы и куклы-убийцы?
The most ancient robots
It is worth noting that the automation of religious rituals is no longer a new phenomenon in South Asia. For example, Hindus have long used pots from which water constantly drips, which is needed for washing before prayers. They also have automatic prayer wheels, which are a cylinder or roller on an axis with various mantras. In conventional drums, the cylinder is turned by hand, while in automatic drums it is driven by streams of water, heat from a candle, or wind blows. There are also Thardo Khorlo prayer wheels, which are driven by an electric motor.
prayer drum
According to Sanskrit specialist Dhaneshwar Sarmah, there are also references to robots in ancient Hindu stories. For example, the stories about King Manu say that his mother was the daughter of a great architect and once created a moving statue that did her household chores and also performed rituals. Folklore expert Adrienne Major added that robots are also found in Hindu epics – for example, they say that the divine master Vishvakarman had mechanical war chariots.
Хотите еще больше интересных статей? Подпишитесь на наш Дзен-канал!
Robots are more ancient inventions than is commonly believed. To see this, read our article “History of Robotics: What did the very first robots look like?”.
