Hinduism! One of the ancient cultures with extra-ordinary beliefs and trends. "Hinduism is not a religion, it’s a way of life” explains A.S.Natarajan The chairman of the Hindu community in Rwanda.

The earliest evidence of this pre-historic religion in India dates back to 1500 BC and their teachings follow the VEDAS which is the Hindu holy book. In the beginning, the Hindus used to perform fire sacrifices and build temples.

As compared to their rivals the Christians, Moslems and other faiths, Hinduism seems stronger, with many rituals to follow one which is cremation of the dead.

When a person dies, we tend to respect their last wishes. In Rwanda and most countries giving the deceased a decent burial amounts to making a big funeral for them followed by burial in a magnificent grave.

In the West, graves are always visited with flowers in the essence of remembering the deceased and their good deeds.

"Her last wish was burying her in a very expensive coffin,” said Florance Uwantege on her grand mother’s burial ceremony. Funerals are more expensive compared to weddings since they are considered people’s last parties in life.

In some countries like Uganda, entrepreneurs have earned obscene amounts of money from running funeral companies. These include the likes of Uganda Funeral Services.

These companies are paid to oversee all funeral related issues from coffins, suits to flowers to decorate the tomb. A grave is regarded as a person’s everlasting house so maximum attention is put to its perfection.

Not to forget are some wealthy families who preserve bodies of beloved ones so that they can keep an eye on them. Meanwhile, the Hindu culture burns corpses to ashes and throws some of the ash in running water!

However some can not understand it all.  "It’s not understandable, how one can burn a beloved one’s body,” exclaimed Filbert Mugisha.

Like many, he is not amused with the logic behind burning bodies instead of burying them. On several occasions, people have taken Hinduism for a merciless cult that punishes the dead for their sins by burning them.

"We burn bodies as a sign that however much one prospers in life, in the end they are reduced to ash,” says A.S.Natarajan.

Hindus put holy ash on their foreheads each morning reminding them that one day they will be back to ashes. The application of holy ashes destroys evil and then reminds the believers of divine power.

Hinduism regards cremation as burning impurities related to the gross body, so as to let the attachment between body and soul end since its believed that a person’s soul is moved on to another person.

"We believe in rebirth of the soul,” says Natarajan.

The Hindu faith believes that if a person was bad, his soul will be forwarded to an animal and for perfect people; their souls are given to wealthy families. As Christians believe in going to heaven, to the Hindus the soul’s destination while reborn is worst fear.

60 years back, the Hindus came to Rwanda and today there are only three hundred. All these years, the Hindus have been carrying out cremation in Kicukiro {Nyanza} though many bodies are taken back to India for cremation on relatives’ request.

"In the past 11 years, we have cremated only two people among the five that passed away,” says Natarajan.
Hindus have faced a challenge of the Rwandan culture giving less value to the sacred tradition of cremation. Nyanza developing into a residential area means that there are no longer any available plots to buy for the ritual.

"If at all we bargain for a plot and say it’s for cremation no body will offer it,” says Natarajan.

Hindus report their minor numbers as a challenge too. They tolerate Christianity and Islam but it’s hard for other religions to tolerate them.

Because of the sacred principles that the Hindu can’t follow in Rwanda, they possess no temple in Rwanda which affects their worship.

Speaking of worship, to a Christian its God the almighty, to a Moslem Allah whereas to the Hindu, various gods depending on what you want.

"We believe in one final God and many other small gods who we go through to reach him,” says Rakesh Deeper.

As the elephant god (Gonesh) moves obstacles, the fire god is meant for oaths.

"I said my vows in front of the fire god,” says Rakesh. He says that incase one went against the oath made in front of the fire; they would be bound to misery for the rest of their lives.
Hindus worship mountains, waters, a goddess, trees and they believe every thing to be sacred.

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