Some time back Satan was the flavor of the blog world with Prototype X (http://iamsociety.rediffiland.com/blogs/2008/05/10/Worlds-Greatest-Villain-Paradox.html) , Lissome (http://lissome.rediffiland.com/blogs/2008/05/30/THE-MARRIAGE-OF-HEAVEN-AND-HELL.html) writing brilliantly and thoroughly about the dark side of the world. These posts and some really awesome History Channel Series called "Exorcism: Driving out the Devil" got me thinking as to why India did not have major dark ages of exorcism and mass murdering in the name of Satan. Why the western observers while branding Indians as backward with superstitious, pantheistic, pagan worshipper tags missed the conspicuous bright spot of ancient and medieval India's civilization and religion - the absence of a real Satan in the literature. Yes, I agree that there have been discriminations, humiliations and awful customs that distanced people and communities from one another in the name of caste or in the name of
Shaivite/Vaishnavite and so on, but never in the name of the Devil or a Satan.

How could it have been possible? Not that we don't have Ghosts in our folk tales or Rakshasas in our mythology (history? ;-) of Ramayana and Mahabharata. We too had our share of evil people to make the stories more interesting and making our hero's deeds, truly heroic. But never are these characters attributed to human beings to be killed and tortured in the name of exorcism as in the medieval Europe. My take on that is here!

For one, Indian Hinduism never branded the alternate way of life, as evil. It is just an alternate way of life, a different way to reach God or God in a different manifestation. I am no expert but as they say there are three Gunas: Sattvic, Rajasic and Tamasic but without the three the world is just incomplete. While being a insightful scientific premise about the nature of matter (in matter, energy and the inertia), this at the same time was a master stroke at bringing in harmony in the society and I believe is at the root of tolerance by real Hindu definitions. So Aghoras can eat meat, drink alcohol and live next to human corpses but Hindus never deny the sect as not theirs. Same is the case with some of the projections of Hindu gods -Shakti in her angry form, Shiva in his primordial form and so on. So much so that I vividly remember going to the village deity's temple as a kid, afraid initially but grew up to appreciate the need of God/Goddess to manifest in that state as just a terrifying really angry mom! Here Satan is an alter-ego standing on the other side to God.

Secondly, most of the real Indian way of life is not to scoff at someone who is selfish, greedy and so on, with the standard definitions of evil. It is to lovingly understand that everyone evolves at their own pace. While this has led to condescending and "You-will-take-time-to-reach-where-I-did" attitudes thrown around by "learned" and "religious" people, the intent was perfect and the concept accurate with the prerequisite assumption of reincarnation and "Every life is a lesson". So there is no place for a Satan, just a someone who would sooner or later know that hatred and greed are not the way of life.

Thirdly, the Rakshasas who could have been the Satans from our mythologies. But nope, they somehow did not become Satans. A lot of our demons are pretty talented folks with just some greedy, selfish intentions. Each one of them had their boons after a pain-staking effort that they put towards achieving it. Pretty real and practical it seems - Are these not like the perverted nuclear scientists of today's world? I love Ravana for what he is from the story of Ramayana. An impeccable devotee of Lord Shiva, probably a great scientist (Supposedly wrote a book on Gayatri Tantra, explaining the technique of utilizing Gayatri mantra for worldly accomplishment) and led an awesome disciplined life all the way. So much so, that there are temples in Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka for this great king. So are other Rakshas kings and their Guru Sukracharya. Putting aside the reality of their existence,these characters who impacted Indian social life for long are no Satans - no good as per the original definition of Satan ;-)

Fourthly, the devils as they exist in Indian folklore. I remember that starry night while all cousins and nephews are sleeping on the terrace on a summer night, to beat the South Indian heat and smoke rising slowly from behind the trees. When all the stories of the neighbors sighting ghosts at the Banyan Tree, the Reddy girl who committed suicide in the village lake, and all the stories rushing together putting that smoke into context and the scare that caused, the screams that were let out and the commotion that ensued! I am sure every Indian kid has a similar ghost story to tell which he heard from their grand- parents or people they know in the village. While exorcism and related beating with neem leaves is common in a lot of Indian village, Ghosts as my grandma told me are souls finding no rest. They are troubled people and they need our prayers for a safe travel forward. Anyway, my assumption is that while a lot of Indians are scared of ghosts, this the basic attitude they carry towards ghosts and other beings of that family ;-) The person is never put to death as an acceptable way of Indian exorcism. While I don't push my ideas on to other people, most of my personal beliefs on this space are formed listening to my really knowledgeable grandma and a few books I picked up as per my interest -For instance, a book called "Astral Plane by C.W.Leadbeater")

My knowledge of the Satan in Islam is limited but I like their description for Jinns (esp. Iblis) as someone - ".....not
considered to be a 'fallen' angel, but a jinn who was among the ranks of angels due to his wisdom and piety; in Islamic belief, angels always follow God's commands, but jinns (like humans) have free will, which explains why Satan was able to rebel against God's command of bowing to Adam" (Courtesy Wikipedia)

So from a purely Indian perspective, I think it is unnecessary to debate about Satan for we never acknowledged his existence in the first place. But as a true global citizen, let the debate go on!!

Note: My usage of the word Satan is as per the Christian definitions of medieval Europe - you know, the one with horns, a tail and the real fun guy to imitate on a Halloween!