PENANCE OF A HALF MILLENNIUM

Brasil hosted the fourth World Cup in 1950. Anything less than winning it was a bigger disaster for Brasilians than every other disaster put together. This world cup had a final round robin stage with the team topping it getting to kiss the Jules Rimet trophy. Brasil opened it with a 7-1 win over Sweden and followed it up with a 6-1 win over Spain. Their opponents in the last match Uruguay, effectively the final, trailed 1-2 vs Spain before sharing the honours and again 1-2 vs Sweden needing an 85th minute winner.

A draw would suffice for the hosts but nothing less than a win would do for the football mad nation. A calamitous error by the Brasilian goalkeeper Moacir Barbosa gave Uruguay a 2-1 win and with it their second world cup in two attempts. A man named João Ramo do Nascimento was in tears. His 9 year old son, Edson, consoled him, "Don't worry papa, I will win you a world cup". Eight years later, Edson now known as Pele, scored the only goal in the quarterfinals against Wales, a hattrick in the semis against France and a brace in the final to deliver on the promise he made to his father. Pele could not control his tears.

An eight year effort for what is ultimately just a sport brought so many emotions out. How would a nation, no a civilization react after an effort that spanned at least 15 generations and almost 500 years? This tapasya was against not one, not two but three powers hostile to Hindus. The first two were foreigners of immense power: the superpowers of their day. The latter were the Congress party, virtually the legatee of the Turkic-British empire, that tried every trick in the book to fool (seemingly) gullible Hindus.

Hindus kept chipping away. One does not defy 2 imperial powers: Islamic & European, for nearly a whole millennium just by leaving everything to the Gods. Remember, no other BCE civilization survived the Monotheism virus for more than 2 centuries. These villagers refused to wear turbans or leather shoes until temple was constructed for example. The Hindu-baiting media even now continues to ignore this centuries-long struggle and attempts to show this as a 30 year struggle. The first major attempt to reclaim janamsthān happened in 1853.

In 1990, Mulayam Singh Yadav opened fire on innocent kār sēvaks simply to show solidarity with Muslims. Officially 16 people were killed, unofficial estimates are at least in 3 figures. Any other community would have given up. This was but a scratch. Hindus regrouped and redoubled efforts. People from all over the country defied hunger, pain, cold weather, hostile state and walked 100s of kilometres to reach janamsthān because trains to Ayodhya were suspended. People in and around Ayodhya welcomed their brethren with open arms. There are literally 1000s of stories of kār sēvaks being not fed but overfed. 

Our Hindu itihāsa-purāṇas are filled with stories of various kinds of people, ṛṣis, manuṣyas, asuras, dānavas, at times even dēvas themselves performing kaṭhōr tapasya to receive various boons from the dēvas. The dēvas, usually indra, would even disturb these efforts. These were tests to see the dedication and determination of the being performing the penance. Once they feel the devotee's śraddha is up to the mark, they appear before him/her and give their blessings. 

rāma must have decided that it's time to return to Ayodhya. On that glorious day, 450 years of slow-boiling anger and rage broke free and janamsthān was reclaimed. It should have been a piece of cake but He was still not satisfied. rāmalallā, for reasons known only to Him, made us wait a further 3 decades. We waited 470 years, what's another 30? Finally, it's here. The mother of all kaṭhōr tapasyas that spanned generations finally came to fruition.

Yogi Adityanath's commanding voice was shaking. Narendra Modi's hands were trembling. Tears of joy were flowing through every single Hindu household. Pejawar & Kanchi Swamis provided intellectual cover. Kothari Brothers gave up their lives. Ashok Singhal Ji spilled blood. Kalyan Singh lost his CMship. Thousands were jailed. Their balidān did not go in vain. They have won. We have won. Bhavya Ram Mandir is but a formality now. 

This is barely the beginning. As they said and still do:

अयोध्या तो बस झाँकि है काशी मथुरा बाक़ी है!

जय श्री राम मित्रों!