Category: April 2022

By P.R. John, SJ

(Responding to INI’s questions, the Principal of a well-known Jesuit theologate reflects on the significance of a hugely popular tribal festival in Telengana, India)

This tribal festival, called Medaram Jatara, seems to attract huge crowds from various States of India. What could be its appeal? What exactly could draw so many people from so many places?

India is a cradle of pilgrimages. We have kumbhmelas, pushkaras and jataras. They are integral to the ethos of Indian people. Jatara, a Telugu word, means a ‘fete,’ ‘temple festival’ or a ‘collective gathering of people’. These religious gatherings take place following the lunar calendar and the devotees come together to experience a deep spiritual ecstasy, joy and reconciliation. The people of Telangana are fond of jataras. Many jatara stories fascinated me during my school days. Sammakka Sarakka Medaram Jatara attracts huge crowds because of the ‘moral values’ and the ‘patriotic feelings’ that it arouses. The festival helps the people relive the value of ‘freedom and self-respect’ exemplified in the martyrdom of Sammakka and Sarakka. The devotees perceive godliness in these two women who they believe hear their prayers, and protect and bless their land.

Who are girijans? Do they still live in forests? How many are they in Telangana? How do they make a living? 

Girijans are forest dwellers and they continue to live in forests. According to the Telangana Tribal Welfare Report 2018-19, there are 32 scheduled tribes in Telangana belonging to Koya, Gonds, Pardhan, Andh, Kolamas, Chenchus, Thoti, Konda Reddies, Lambada, Yerukala, Nakkala and Kammara. The tribal population account for 9% of the total population in the state. Their main occupation is hunting and agriculture, piggery and basket weaving. They have vast knowledge of medicinal herbs and plants. Some groups try to make a livelihood from sooth saying.

Tell us about the legend of Sammakka and Sarakka that is celebrated at this festival. 

In the thirteenth century, the girijan region of Khammam and Warangal districts of Telangana faced a severe drought which dried up the lakes. As a result, their chieftain Pagididda Raju, husband of Sammakka, could not pay the tribute to the Kakatiya King, Pratapa Rudra. The King sent his army to collect the tribute from girijans. This resulted in a war between the Kakatiyas and the girijans. Many, including Sammakka’s children – Sarakka and Jampanna – lost their lives trying to defend their land and people. Hearing this, Sammakka too joined the forces and fought valiantly attacking the Kakatiya army. Stunned by her bravery, the Kakatiya king invited her for peace talks. Being furious at the loss of her family and people, Sammakka refused to come to terms with the king and continued the fight. She promised her people that she would always defend and protect them. Though she managed to chase the Kakatiya army away, Sammakka got stabbed from behind. Wounded though she was, with undeterred spirit, she walked into the forest towards a hillock called  Chilakalagutta. When the girijans went in search of her, they only found a box containing vermillion (Kumkum) and a few bangles. Eventually the Kakatiya kingdom was defeated and overthrown. The girijans believe it was the effect of Sammakka’s denunciation. The devotees of Sammakka celebrate her valour and sacrifice, and the protection she offers her people, the girijans.

What happens during the days of the festival?

Two weeks before the full moon night in the month of Magha, the Koyas go to Chilakagutta to bring the sacred pots containing golden Kanikalu signifying Sammakka and Giddaraju to Medaram to celebrate the festival. During the procession, some of the Koyas offer oxen as sacrifices. Then a week later, the Koyas erect a sacred pandal (tent) for the deity at Medaram. In the third week, the Koyas belonging to the Kokkera group bring the golden Kanikalu wrapped in a black silk cloth and hand it over to the priests who belong to the Siddhaboyana group. Kannepalli, a girijan village near Medaram, is the abode of Sarakka. The idol of the deity is kept in a small thatched hut. One day before the arrival of the deity Sammakka, the Koyas belonging to Kaka group bring the idol to the sacred pandal called gadde (raised platform or the throne), erected specially at Medaram, and hand over it over to the priests. On two gaddes, one for Goddess Sammakka and the other for Sarakka, the priest places bamboo poles smeared with vermilion (for Sammakka) and turmeric (for Sarakka).

The festival helps the people relive the value of ‘freedom and self-respect’ exemplified in the martyrdom of Sammakka and Sarakka.

The ceremonial ritual begins after a holy bath, which they believe purifies them and absolves them from sins, in the river Jampanna Vagu, named after the memory of Jampanna, son of Sammakka. Coconut and jaggery are the main gifts offered to the deities, though animal sacrifice is a common phenomenon at the jatara. The koyas and the other neighboring girijans believe that the deities are the most powerful goddesses and offer coconut, rice and jaggery to the deities. Some of the devotees who had earlier vowed to offer Niluvetthu Bangaram (gold weighing equivalent to the individual’s weight) gift jaggery as a substitute for gold.  They also offer chicken, sheep and goats as sacrifices. On the third day, after the full moon day, they send both the deities Sammakka and Sarakka to their respective permanent abodes viz.. Chilakalagutta and Kannepalli.

Does Sammakka make you think of similar heroines – in the Bible and real life?

Sammakka-Sarakka Saga remind me of prophetesses like Deborah (Jges 4:4-5), and Huldah (2 Kings 22:11-20), queens like Esther (Esth 1:10-11) and Judith, others like Jael (Jgs 4:11, 17-22), Tamar (Gen. 38) and Ruth (3:1-13). The mother-daughter duo comes across as a paradigm for heroism, sacrifice and commitment to the liberation of the “little” people, the Dalits and Tribals. Like Shiphrah and Puah, the Hebrew midwives who acted against the Egyptian Pharaoh opting to defend the lives of Hebrew children (Ex. 1:15-22), Samakka dares King Pratapa Rudra. She epitomizes Shakti, power, and the sheer feminine energy, the primordial creative principle underlying the cosmos that challenges the hegemonies of culture and religion, and the subversive politics of discontent and dissent against all forms of injustice and violence. By deifying Sammakka, the girijans affirm that she is a nurturant mother who protects her community, responds to human problems, heals their sicknesses, and mediates between humans and the gods.

The revolutionary potency of the Sammakka-Sarakka symbol has been the inspiration for certain radical groups that have taken socio-political mileage out of this festival. Sammakka, who was stabbed from behind, reminds me of Sr. Rani Maria, stabbed more than forty times and lying on the side of jungle road, soaked in her own blood. We know that she was eliminated because she dared to feed and shelter the tribal poor of Udainagar against exploitation and harassment.

As a theologian, what do you think of the significance of this festival? 

I see similarities between the Sammakka-Sarakka saga and Jesus’ paschal mystery. The mother-daughter duo voluntarily sacrificed their lives in their battle against the powers of death and darkness, against the Pilates and Herods of their time. “No one takes it (his life) from me,” says Jesus, “but I lay it down of my own accord,” Jn 10:18. Their blood becomes the seed for a new religious future. In their wounds, the girijans affirm, they are healed. Isn’t this a great echo of the servant song (Is 53:5)? This is what is celebrated at the Eucharistic altar when we remember Jesus’ life as a sacrifice, as a “ransom for many.”

Sammakka, like Jesus, “builds the maternal, compassionate, sensitive, bearing relationship among people.” Besides, one can’t miss the parallelism between Sammakka walking into te forest with the arrows that have pierced her body and blood flowing and Jesus’s final journey via dolorosa (sorrowful way). Moreover, the exemplification at the gadde of the smeared bamboo poles – vermilion (for Sammakka) and turmeric (for Sarakka) – reminds me of the two beams that make up the cross?

The Sammakka-Sarakka saga has simply captured the imagination of the tribal people. The goddesses are alive today in the personal and collective memory of the girijans, who believe that the goddesses have been bestowed with divine powers to guard and defend the defenseless. At a time when female foeticide, infanticide, rape, molestation, kidnapping, abduction, battering, dowry deaths, murdering, and trafficking for Sammakka-Sarakka saga is a shining example of determined and courageous resistance. We may look at Sammakka as one who, by emptying (kenosis) herself, takes us to the ineffable mystery of God. She and her family do not cling to their lives but are ready for martyrdom to save their people. Sammakka gave herself totally to her community. Her death has become a life-giving memory etched in the collective consciousness of girijans. She died, but rises year after year, and lives in her people at Medaram.

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Interview with Cardinal Michael Czerny, SJ

For this exclusive interview he granted to INI magazine, Cardinal Michael Czerny, SJ spoke to Fr. Pavulraj Michael, SJ, Professor, Gregorian University, Rome and a member of INI’s Editorial Board. Cardinal Czerny, 75, has already made a spectacular and inspiring contribution for migrants, refugees and HIV/AIDS victims. He talks of his birth in Czechoslovakia and childhood in Canada, his life as a Jesuit, the creative initiatives he started in Canada and Africa, his work at the Jesuit General Curia in Rome and now in Vatican as Prefect ‘ad interim’ of the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. He shares also what he thinks of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the massive exodus of refugees it has caused.

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A Ukrainian Catholic boy praying pic.twitter.com/gDnUzlAbBb

— Sachin Jose (@Sachinettiyil) March 22, 2022

Good morning Cardinal! Thank you for the interview. Can your remarkable work for migrants and refugees be traced back to your family history? Your family left Czechoslovakia, where you were born, to settle down in Canada. 

Sometimes life takes strange turns. Human maps start in one place, embrace the planet and return home. Veľké  Slemence, the border that connects Ukraine to Slovakia, is about 500 kilometres from Brno, in the Czech Republic. Both cities belonged to a state that no longer exists today, Czechoslovakia. It was there, 75 years ago, that I was born. When I look back, it seems like fiction. I left Brno in 1948, at the age of two. My mother, Winifred Hayek Czerny, had been interned in the Terezin camp during World War II. Her parents were Catholics, but her grandparents were born Jewish and so she was classified as Jewish by the Nazis. My father, Egon Czerny, was also a Roman Catholic, but he was interned in the Postoloprty forced labour camp because he refused to divorce my mother. After the war, as soon as they were able, the Czernys looked for a chance to live elsewhere and went to Canada. That is my story and I am happy about it. 

Could you tell us about your vocation to the Society of Jesus? How did it happen?

Sure. Ten years after we arrived, I was lucky enough to enter the best secondary school in Montreal. Loyola High School was run by the Jesuits. There began a new journey. I had a great admiration for the Jesuits. I appreciated their life in community, their studies, their intellectual capacity, their commitment to the poor and their missionary service. All this combined with God’s call and, after graduating from high school, I entered the Society of Jesus in the novitiate in Guelph, Ontario.

You founded a Centre in Canada that dealt with social justice issues.

Inspired by what St Ignatius says in the Spiritual Exercises, I have a great desire to follow and serve Christ in the poor and excluded and oppressed. I was interested in literature, philosophy, social sciences, but I wanted to spend my life in a context that was not the university, but social. The option to live for ten years in a poor neighbourhood of Toronto gave me a helpful perspective, where I co-founded the Jesuit Centre for Social Faith and Justice, which helped with various social issues in Toronto, across Canada and in Central America.

What took you to El Salvador at a very difficult, challenging time for that country?

I went to El Salvador, in the years 1990-1991, to continue the work of the six Jesuits who were killed by the military, precisely for their commitment to the poor who had to resist terrible exploitation and repression. My work at the University of Central America was as director of its Human Rights Institute and as Vice-Rector for Social Outreach. In 1992, Father General called me to Rome and for 11 years I served as secretary of the Social Justice Secretariat at the Jesuit Curia.

You founded the African Jesuits AIDS Network and directed it for some time. What inspired you?

It was after my work at the Jesuit Curia that I went to Africa. I founded and directed the African Jesuit AIDS Network (AJAN), in support of African Jesuits and their colleagues engaged in the struggle against HIV/AIDS. I did this for 8 years, Then in 2010 I came back to Rome as councillor to Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

At this moment – the first week of March, 2022 – the whole world is watching thousands of Ukrainians fleeing their country because of the Russian invasion that began on 24 February and taking refuge in neighbouring countries. What do you think of this immense tragedy? 

In the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, we are echoing the words of Pope Francis, pronounced during the Angelus on Sunday, 27 February 2022. The Holy Father said, “Time and again we have prayed that this road [the war] would not be taken. And let us not stop talking; indeed, let us pray to God more intensely.” 

I also want to emphasize what the Pope and the whole Church have expressed several times, namely that “Those who wage war forget humanity. They do not start from the people, they do not look at the real life of people, but place partisan interests and power before all else. They trust in the diabolical and perverse logic of weapons, which is the furthest from the logic of God. And they distance themselves from ordinary people, who want peace. Ordinary people are the real victims in every conflict, who pay for the follies of war with their own skin.”

In the face of so much destruction and suffering, what can be our response as Christians and as citizens?

The Holy Father invited everyone “to make 2 March ‘22, Ash Wednesday, a day of prayer and fasting for peace in Ukraine. A day to be close to the sufferings of the Ukrainian people, to feel that we are all brothers and sisters, and to implore God for an end to the war.” I think we should do this throughout Lent: we must not cease to fast and pray, day after day, until the weapons fall silent and a reasonably just resolution has been found. We must join the Holy Father to care for the weakest, the most vulnerable, the elderly, those who seek refuge in these times, mothers fleeing with their children.” The Pope has pointed out that “those who come seeking refuge are our brothers and sisters. It is urgent that we open humanitarian corridors for them. We must welcome them.”

So everyone has to contribute to reconciliation, justice and peace.

Each and every one should take up what the Pope asked us to – pray and fast so that this war comes to an end quickly. We should welcome the refugees. We should keep telling those who are fighting what the Pope said so forcefully at St Peter’s Square: “With a heart broken by what is happening in Ukraine, I say,  “Put down your weapons! God is with the peacemakers, not with those who use violence.” Let us not forget the wars in other parts of the world, such as Yemen, Syria, Ethiopia…”

You have worked at the Jesuit General Curia in Rome for a long time. Now you are working in the Vatican Curia.  

I take the same perspective as Pope Francis: the power centre is not Rome. The Roman Curia is a magnificent hub of services to the local Churches. This understanding frees us from certain aspects of government that are too centralized and allows us to see beyond Rome to the periphery. Though the Roman Curia’s structures and traditions sometimes isolate us from each other, my overall experience is positive.

In the last five years I have been one of the two under-secretaries of the Migrants and Refugee Section, which works under the direct guidance of the Holy Father. Pope Francis is very much interested and personally follows the work: he listens, he encourages, he advises and often accepts our suggestions. Our challenge, in the Migrants & Refugees Section, is to be attentive to the many needs of people on the move throughout the world, and to support the Church accompanying them pastorally in their urgent needs. It is the local community which hears their calls and responds with generosity and sensitivity. So it is a joy to work with Pope Francis in the Roman Curia in support of the local Church all over the world.

Pope Francis made you a Cardinal in 2019. Does being a Cardinal make any difference?

Whether as a Jesuit priest until recently or now as a Cardinal, my work is the same – aimed at helping in all possible ways migrants and refugees. My journey continues. Now as Prefect ad interim of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development I have wider responsibilities.

Pope Francis has called the whole Church to prepare for the Synod of Bishops on Synodality. How do you understand the Church as synodal? What will be the effect of synodality on the Church as we know it?

It is immensely meaningful. It is an extraordinary step to put this ancient Church in motion. Synodality is the deep idea of the Second Vatican Council. After fading from view for a few years, we now have a Church that wants to accompany the world that needs us tremendously, because if we do not rediscover faith and hope we cannot continue to live on this planet; we will not have the moral strength to take care of our common home. The magisterium of Pope Francis repeatedly invites us to use the method of Vatican II. What do I mean by this? It is to rediscover the spiritual joy of being the people of God and the need to enter into dialogue with today’s world, serenely, without being defensive, to meet the other, the different. And synodality has to do with rediscovering ourselves as the sinful but forgiven people of God, with the real desire to dialogue and walk together, with those of other beliefs and with the whole of humanity.

This means having an inclusive mentality, reaching out to the whole of humanity. For example, the charitable and social services of the Church reach out to everyone in need, not just Catholics, going beyond caste, creed, religion and ethnicity. With Vatican II we rediscover ourselves as children of God, with Laudato si’ we learn to care for our common home, and with Fratelli tutti we learn to treat each other, not as strangers but as siblings.

Thank you, dear Cardinal.

Thank you.

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