Heritage
Content
This, in many ways, parallels our own eclectic heritage. While our official guide was distracted by a friend, a bright young man
at the reception desk of our hotel looked at our names, our passports, at us, frowned and addressed us in German. Gantzer is
a German name. Then our guide bustled up, a volley of Arabic followed, and all was well. We Indians have a great advantage
over all other nations: we have the world’s most diverse living culture and, thanks to the communication revolution, it is evolving
exponentially.
We drove out of our hotel to the high Citadel where the bronze trumpets of history echoed in our minds. Massed far below was
Amman. Cars like bright beetles coursed down the roads, between the high-rises of the capital of the kingdom. Many of those
who had passed this way, left their mark on this town. On the citadel where we stood, the Corinthian columns of the ruined
Temple of Hercules still rise. Near it lie the remains of the Christian Byzantine Basilica Church. But there were even older faiths
in this heritage-wrought land.
We climbed the steps of the Archaeological Museum. Among the exhibits that caught our eyes was a goddess of the Nabatean
traders. These adventurous people had established caravan routes from India to the Mediterranean, through Jordan. We’re not
archaeologists, but their goddess looked Indian and a god with long locks seemed to have a Third Eye. Then there was a
strange statue that the museum folk claim is the oldest sculpture known to science. It has a human-like appearance but with
two heads emerging out of a single body.
As a young Australian visitor asked his father when we were there: “Could that have been an extra-terrestrial from Outer
Space?” We filed that question away to mull over at leisure. There was also a rare display of some Dead Sea Scrolls. These
were the scriptures of a sect called the Essenes whose monasteries dotted the silk and spice caravan route. We feel that their
mores had been inspired by Jain and Buddhist beliefs and practices. They were also waiting for the birth of a Teacher of
Righteousness: a tirthankar or a rimpoche, perhaps? The theory that Essene beliefs could have influenced early Christianity is
intriguing
at the reception desk of our hotel looked at our names, our passports, at us, frowned and addressed us in German. Gantzer is
a German name. Then our guide bustled up, a volley of Arabic followed, and all was well. We Indians have a great advantage
over all other nations: we have the world’s most diverse living culture and, thanks to the communication revolution, it is evolving
exponentially.
We drove out of our hotel to the high Citadel where the bronze trumpets of history echoed in our minds. Massed far below was
Amman. Cars like bright beetles coursed down the roads, between the high-rises of the capital of the kingdom. Many of those
who had passed this way, left their mark on this town. On the citadel where we stood, the Corinthian columns of the ruined
Temple of Hercules still rise. Near it lie the remains of the Christian Byzantine Basilica Church. But there were even older faiths
in this heritage-wrought land.
We climbed the steps of the Archaeological Museum. Among the exhibits that caught our eyes was a goddess of the Nabatean
traders. These adventurous people had established caravan routes from India to the Mediterranean, through Jordan. We’re not
archaeologists, but their goddess looked Indian and a god with long locks seemed to have a Third Eye. Then there was a
strange statue that the museum folk claim is the oldest sculpture known to science. It has a human-like appearance but with
two heads emerging out of a single body.
As a young Australian visitor asked his father when we were there: “Could that have been an extra-terrestrial from Outer
Space?” We filed that question away to mull over at leisure. There was also a rare display of some Dead Sea Scrolls. These
were the scriptures of a sect called the Essenes whose monasteries dotted the silk and spice caravan route. We feel that their
mores had been inspired by Jain and Buddhist beliefs and practices. They were also waiting for the birth of a Teacher of
Righteousness: a tirthankar or a rimpoche, perhaps? The theory that Essene beliefs could have influenced early Christianity is
intriguing
