Presence of Lord Shiva in Africa:The Connection Between Hinduism And African Culture

I have been watching a lot of spiritual content videos and listening to short biographies of people and their spiritual experiences. Assimilating all the information and my research made me question the fact that how did human life and livelihood occur? As back dated as in the 1900s,about 89% of inhabitants lived from the primary occupations of farming,hunting & gathering,cattle nomadism, and fishing. Farming and hunting were per se the occupation of people living in villages and most villages around South Asia and Africa is built around temples.

There is a striking similarity between Indian Spirituality and it's impact on Africa as a region.Sounds mysteriously intriguing right? Let us deep dive into this correlation. An infamous author,Albert Kafui Wuaku, stated that "In the late phases of the 1970s,the African American evangelists who launched Krishna worship in Ghana bequeathed to the local Hare Krishna community a vibrant missionizing culture that is responsible for their expansion beyond the urban centers to the rural countryside presently". Further the author stated that Lord Ganesha,well known as the elephant god, and Lord Shiva,his father,were the more common choices of Ghanian adult males. They said Ganesh would remove obstacles in their way or bestow on them qualities that would “enable us to bulldoze our way through life like an elephant moving through the forest,” and Shiva would grant them the power to achieve their secular and spiritual desires.

Further,enlightened by Albert Kafui's beliefs; he states that India is a place of healing,magic and power. This originated with Ghanaian soldiers who were returning from the World War II era service and had resonance between Hinduism and Ghanaian traditional religions. Many of the Ghanaian Hindus were interviewed and as per his hypothesis, Kafui found distinctive similarities in dialectics and voice modalities as that of Indians.

Now in places like south eastern Nigeria,there is a female version of Lord Shiva that is worshipped who the localities have named the goddess as Goddess Mami Wata. Now, as discussed by the famous archaeologist,Dr. Ajay Prabhakar, Goddess Mami Wata is a water spirit deity where she has a python snake like image around her neck,wearing tiger's skin as a robe and has her hair twirled.In Nigeria, her followers wear red and white clothing to represent Mami Wata’s dual nature. They wear regalia of a cloth snake wrapped around the waist. The shrines devoted to Mami Wata are finely decorated in various colors. They have bells, Christian or Indian symbols, dolls, incense, and remnants of past sacrifices made to Mami Wata. Furthermore,the diety is connected to healing and curing afflicted people. Uniquely,Lord Shiva's head region has a water element present too.

What if I say that there is a similar existence of a mountain range carrying out uncanny similarities to Mount Kailash, the abode on Lord Shiva,let us unravel this story.In Cameroon, Mont Koupé that is also known as Mountain of Spirits is a sacred mountain at a height of 6300 feet in the south western regions of the country, it is known for it's worshipping by the Bakossa tribe, that consists of a water body known as the Twin Lake. It is famous for the best herbs in the region. There are many spiritual practices performed at the Twin Lakes as the locals consider one side of the lake as a female energy, as the colour appears crystal blue while the other lake by it's side has green waters and it is considered as male. The water bodies are observed to be laying side by side; coexisting naturally. As per the inhabitants around the lake, it is stated that the female lake is sensed to be more gentle and welcoming in energy;while the male lake presents a stronger foreboding vibe and because of this, the female lake seems more approachable while the male lake is preferably left alone. An anecdote to this is that the female lake is where fishermen can carry out fishing activities and the locals can swim because it is welcoming and flows out well,unlike the male lake.

Research stated that Hinduism has many parallels to traditional African religions. As per hinduamerican.org, 7th June 2022, author Syama Allard provided a broad statistical standpoint of Hinduism having a 0.2% presence in Africa which is roughly estimated of 2.5 million followers especially around belts of West, East and South Africa. This clearly indicates that Africans have an inclination towards the nature and acceptance of Hindu religion,by the presence of a range of beautiful temples in Africa,keeping the spirit of Hinduism alive in the country. Some famous temples Shiva temple Benoni,Shri Swami Naryanan Temple in Narobi,Kenya; Melrose Temple in South Africa as well as Mount Edgecombe Ganesh Temple which too is in South Africa.

Life is a preparation for a test and the test is what we call death. Hence,life boils down to two things; (a) How we treat people,the impact you have on people's heart,the imprint you leave on people's minds (b) The love that you get and the love that you give in life. Love is more important than money,clock,fame, the success because that's what you are going to remember when you end up dying.