Worship, temples and cameras: a night with the gods in the Meenakshi Temple

Of Gods and Men, the third episode in the series Treasures of the Indus, was one of the toughest. By their very nature, the temples of Southern India are tied in with a complex religion called Hinduism, with its thousands of gods and goddesses.

The programme, however, wasn’t about religion.

It was a celebration of the all the art and culture inspired by the temple. With over 30,000 temples, Tamil Nadu, a state in Southern India, is the place to go when you want to make a documentary about it.

It helped that Sona Dutta, our presenter, had a doctorate on the subject. After months of research and planning, we were armed with a list of the temples we wanted to feature.

The Meenakshi Temple in Madurai is one of the many ‘living’ temples that inhabit the streets in India. It is also one of the few dedicated to a female deity — a fish-eyed goddess called Meenakshi.

For us, it offered the opportunity to film a unique ceremony: a holy communion of Meenakshi and her husband, Shiva. To put it in perspective, Shiva and Meenakshi, are Hinduism’s power couple and this was our ticket to a red carpet event!

The filming in Madurai was scheduled in the last week of our shoot. Most of the team had been on the road for over a month and it is safe to say our reserves of energy were running low.

The film crew in India

Since we were filming at night, we had used most of the day travelling down to the location and were all prepared to kick into action after dusk.

Unfortunately, the gods had other plans. The temple authorities had arbitrarily decided to cancel our filming. At this point, it was 5pm. We had four hours to convince them otherwise.

Gautham – or G-man, as I like to call him – our local producer, spoke Tamil and used his best negotiation skills to argue our case. After what seemed like an eternity, we were permitted to go in. It was now quarter to nine. Fifteen minutes until the ceremony kicked off.

With minutes to go, Sona delivered her introduction to the story. The crowds started to gather around us and you could feel the anticipation in the air.

The heavy wooden doors to the shrine opened and the priests spilled out. Some were playing the cymbal, others carryied oil lamps and the select few carried the palanquin with the deity. There was a lot of smoke and the smell of incense in the air.

The pace quickened. There is a specific route that the priests must stick to. We tried to keep up, squeezing ourselves to the best positions we could.

A hypnotised crowd fell in step with the priest. Foreign tourists and local devotees stood shoulder to shoulder.

The palanquin stopped as it reaches the goddess’ chamber. It turned out that Shiva must wait until Meenakshi invites him inside. It is hard not to be mesmerised by it all. The chanting in an ancient language, the fragrance of the flowers — all viewed through a haze of smoke.

And then, as if in a heartbeat, it was all over. Bright lights came on and the temple guards asked everyone to leave the premises.

It was reassuring to know that, the gods had been reunited and all was well with the world, at least for another day.