{"id":44,"date":"2010-02-13T14:39:28","date_gmt":"2010-02-13T14:39:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/omsweetom\/2010\/02\/calling-on-avatar.html"},"modified":"2010-02-13T14:39:28","modified_gmt":"2010-02-13T14:39:28","slug":"calling-on-avatar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/omsweetom\/2010\/02\/calling-on-avatar.html","title":{"rendered":"Calling on Avatar"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Avatar_Movie_Poster-James_Cameron.jpg\"<\/a><\/form>\n

In a case of life imitating art imitating art, it appears that the blockbuster (and, as I’ve discussed<\/a>, sort of Hindu-ish) film Avatar<\/i> has a very real-world application. Reportedly, a British charity called Survival<\/a> (which campaigns on behalf of tribal peoples) took out a full-page ad in the Hollywood entertainment Bible Variety<\/i> appealing to the film’s director, James Cameron, on behalf of the Dongria Kondh tribe of Orissa. London-based Vedanta Resources is about to build a mine on Niyamgiri mountain, which the Dongria consider a sacred site. <\/p>\n

What’s the connection to Avatar<\/i> and Cameron? Apparently, quite a bit. The U.K.’s Guardian <\/a>reports:<\/p>\n

\n

Like the Na’vi tribe in Cameron’s blockbuster Avatar<\/a>,who are desperately trying to stop humans from mining under theirsacred ‘home tree’ in Pandora, the Dongria Kondh are trying to stop[mining company] Vedanta from opening its mine on the mountain they worship.<\/i><\/p>\n

Vedantaplans to construct an open-cast mine on Niyamgiri mountain in Orissastate which activists believe will destroy the area’s ecosystem andthreaten the future of the 8,000-strong Dongria Kondh tribe, who dependon the hills for their crops and water and who believe the mountain andsurrounding forest to be a sacred place.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The advertisement is concise, but not short on emotion. “Avatar is fantasy… and real,” it says. “TheDongria Kondh tribe in India are struggling to defend their landagainst a mining company hell-bent on destroying their sacred mountain.Please help…” Mr. Cameron is directed to watch a 11-minute documentary on the issue, with the cheeky “We’ve watched your film, now watch ours.”<\/p>\n

So this is a case of a native Hindu tribe being exploited by a heartless, godless, Western corporation, right? Not quite.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n\"tribalkid.jpg\"<\/a><\/form>\n

For starters, whether or not the Dongria Kondh are Hindu is open to a great deal of debate. Some would say that their faith — rooted in recognizing the Divine in nature and traditional deities — is more representative of authentic Hinduism than many contemporary Hindus are. For instance, they use “Hindu” terminology — such as puja <\/i>(worship) — when describing their practices. Others however, would hotly contest this, arguing that tribal peoples have their own faith that ought to be recognized as such. <\/p>\n

This isn’t, by the way, a matter of mere semantics. It is chock full of politics and conflicting agendas. Consider tribals to be non-Hindus and they become the minority (usually in the face of an oppressive and exploitative Hindu majority).  Call them Hindu, however, and suddenly they become sympathetic mascots for a traditional form of Hinduism threatened by extinction (usually at the hands of exploitative proselytizing Christian missionaries). <\/p>\n\"dongria_banner.jpg\"<\/a><\/form>\n

Sharp-eyed readers (or at least those more familiar with Sanskrit) may have noticed another curve-ball in the Avatar-esque story of the Dongria Kondh tribe. The company that is “hell-bent” on the mining, you may remember, is called Vedanta<\/i> Resources. Yup, a company named after — and purportedly rooted in — Hindu philosophy. Vedanta’s website<\/a> touts its corporate ethos:<\/p>\n

Sustainable development is a key part of Vedanta’s strategy and overallethos. It represents a core commitment of our management and employees. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While one might dismiss this as typical corporate hot-air-blowing, perhaps in Vedanta’s case it is more. The company’s Executive Chairman, industrialist Anil Agarwal<\/a>, is known to be a committed Hindu spiritualist himself. (Full disclosure: I’ve been a guest at satsangs, <\/i>Hindu religious gatherings, hosted by Agarwal at his home in Mumbai.)<\/p>\n

With the Variety ad generating all sorts of publicity of its own, a number of questions arise. Will Cameron take up the challenge? Will Vedanta change course? Will the legions of Trekkie-like Avatar<\/i> fans turn their love of the film into a call to arms in the real world? <\/p>\n

Whatever else, we can note one significant way that reality differs from Cameron’s film: in real life, its not always so easy to tell the good guys from the villains.<\/p>\n

Here’s Survival International’s film on the Dongria Kondh’s mountain and the conflict:<\/p>\n

<\/object><\/p>\n
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He is a Hindu Chaplain and the Coordinator for Hindu Life at Princeton University, and serves as the North American Director of Communications for the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), a worldwide organization representing the Vaishnava Hindu tradition. In previous incarnations, Vineet has been a New York City prosecutor, a cable TV show host, and a hospital chaplain. In his free time, he enjoys relaxing with his wife and his new baby, attending classes at The Bhakti Center, and teaching himself photography. As a second-generation, Indian-American, Vaishnava-Hindu, Vineet ponders new ways of further hyphenating his identity.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/omsweetom\/author\/vchander"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/omsweetom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/omsweetom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/omsweetom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/omsweetom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/207"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/omsweetom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/omsweetom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/omsweetom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/omsweetom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/omsweetom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}