The gods are not deaf

In stating the truth bluntly that the gods are not deaf, the Madras high court may have set the cat among theologians and the faithful, who have become accustomed to praying loudly in order to invoke their gods. The problem with the order passed to the chief of police to tend to the illegal use of cone or horn-type loudspeakers that scream out prayers to the gods is whether they can enforce it without stepping on religious sensitivities.

This loudness, frequently over the decibel level defined by the Supreme Court in 2005, is not particular to any one religion. The verses and slokas to wake the gods from their nocturnal slumber, the peals of the cathedral bells and the call of the muezzin are all part of human history.

As the wise judges remind us, prayer existed aeons before electricity was invented and channelled into hi-fi audio equipment that invades the eardrums of all people in the vicinity with particularly loud entreaties for divine help. Far from upsetting divinity or shaking the faith of the people, the court’s order to check 44 specific places in Chennai goes beyond the temporal matter of the proof of loudness as recorded by the petitioner.

What the judges would like to say is we are a needlessly loud society, be it in our market place or anywhere people tend to congregate, like at festivals and weddings and, most of all, at election meetings where politicians make very loud prayers to the electorate. A measure of self-control is called for so that the peace of many may not be spoilt by the loudness of a few — a reasonable enough entreaty.