Beachcomber Magazine 03

S hikha, 21, smiles ecstatically in spite of her fatigue. This Mauritian woman works in a call centre and has taken two days off to devote herself to Lord Shiva, one of the three supreme gods in the Hindu triumvirate, with Brahma and Vishnu. She has walked for a day and a night from Montagne Longue, a village in the north of Mauritius, to make her way to Grand Bassin, 28 miles to the south. Here is where the Indian River Ganges is said to have resurfaced, in the Ganga Talao, a small lake that Hindu Mauritians have believed to be sacred since the late 19th century. (Hindus make up some 80% of the island nation’s population). With fifteen of her neighbours and relations, Shikha has been pulling a cart, or “kanwar”, proudly bearing a black obelisk representing Lord Shiva, unlike most of the other kanwars, which display the destroyer of evil with blue skin. “ Making this effort, and then praying together, streng- thens the spirit of togetherness. It’s a tradition here, ” confesses the devotee, lying face down on the tiled floor of the temple overlooking the former crater. Like Shikha, nearly600,000Mauritians – one out of two inhabitants – complete the long pilgrimage for Maha Shivaratri in late February or early March, depending on the new moon. It is one of the biggest religious events in the world, causing huge crowds on the roads winding between the fields of sugarcane. All along the route locals offer drinks, cakes or biscuits. To make room for these large multi-coloured kanwars to pass, the pilgrims lift telephone wires with a bamboo stick. Here you see a white bull, there the goddess Kali with her eight arms, and everywhere, the enigmatic smile of Shiva, armed Maha Shivaratri – a great moment of peace and communion – celebrates Shiva, one of the three supreme gods in the Hindu triumvirate. Shiva is believed to have saved the world from destruction by swallowing the poison that rose up from the seabed as the Devas (saints) and the Asuras (demons) were searching for the nectar of immortality. Le Maha Shivaratri, grand moment de paix et de communion, célèbre Shiva, dieu de la trinité hindoue. Shiva aurait sauvé le monde de la destruction en ingurgitant le poison surgi des fonds marins lors de la quête du nectar de l’immortalité par les Devas (saints) et les Asuras (divinités malveillantes). PILGRIMAGE BEAUTIFUL MAURI TIUS 18