There has been much fuss created by the Hindu Forum in the UK over a Christmas stamp issued by The Royal Mail, which depicts a Hindu couple with the baby Jesus. The original painting, from the 17th century, hangs in Bombay.

Now when I saw the picture of the stamp, I thought it was rather moving and tender, and found nothing “insulting” about it. Surely our Hindu “sentiments” must be very weak when they get “insulted” so easily.

Ramesh Kallidai of the Hindu Forum of Britain had said the stamp was the equivalent of having a vicar in a dog collar kneeling down to the Hindu deity Lord Ram on a Diwali stamp. Is it really? I don’t think so. Just look at the painting.

It is apparently an Indianised version of a European print of The Holy family with St Anne and the two angels. The picture shows St Joseph pushing aside a curtain so that St Anne can look at the baby. The painting is a Mughal one. Quite wonderful actually, Hindu parents, a baby Jesus, and a Mughal painter.

How about viewing it simply as an Indian artist’s interpretation of the Madonna and Child, rather than some sinister conversion plot by the Royal Mail? This stamp is something one can be proud of-multiculturism existed in India before it did anywhere else!

You can read about the controversy here.

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