OMAN-INDIA TIES, ACROSS SEA AND SPACE

parent organization, Indian Social Club Oman, and by-laws stipulated by the Omani government. The activities of the club include arranging medical camps and blood donation camps in association with the Ministry of health and private clinics, organizing the International Yoga Day, an Open House with officials from the Indian embassy, walkathons on World Cancer Day as well as cultural events celebrating Indo-Oman cultural ties. In addition, National Days and festivals like Diwali and Onam are celebrated with large attendance and participation of the community.

The Indian Social Club Salalah also actively participates in the organization of various community events, celebration of festivals as well as observing the Omani National Day. All these community organizations help Indians to retain their unique identity while living away from home. Central to creating this sense of belonging is also the role that faith plays in their lives.

Faith and culture The genesis for religious tolerance in Oman can be traced back to thousands of years when the ports of Muscat, Sohar and Sur attracted many explorers, traders and sailors from across the world, bringing with them, vestiges of their faith and rituals. One of the first pieces of evidence is seen through the ruins of an ancient temple in Qalhat, a stone that can now be found in the National Museum in Muscat. The carved slab in the shape of a lotus flower, significant in Hindu mythology, is traced to the 10th century and is said to have remained intact until the end of the 13th century28. The early documented evidence of temples in Muscat can be traced back to the mid-17th century. When the Sindhi Bhattias helped the Yaarubi defeat the Portuguese (propelled by the merchant Naruttim who was angered by the Portugese commander asking for his daughter’s hand), they were able to live with most of the rules and rituals of their community intact, including having a cowshed, a cremation ground and a temple. At the end of the 17th century, an idol of Govindraj was brought from Basra, Iraq and was placed in this temple, decorated with an Omani Khanjar, a tribute to the Omani rulers29. During the rule of Ahmad bin Said, the Banians are said to have had a total of 4 temples, only one of which survives today30. The surviving temple, the Motishwar temple with the Shiva lingam and a shrine of Hanuman was built around a banyan tree and a well, which was used by the Banyan community for their drinking water needs. At that time, the community also had access to cremation grounds, a cow pen for 28 Moosawi, J (2019, September 27). ‘Oman, the Gulf region and India’.

29 Allen, C (1981). p. 41.

30 According to Allen, these temples include the Govindraj temple, a Pushtimargi temple known as ‘haveli’, A Kalka temple and a Shiva temple.

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