Romani Beliefs - Jesus, Kalki and lots more

Introduction

 

As I am arguing with people, especially among the Roma who strongly believe the beliefs which were taught to them by the Non-Roma, I must make this post, yet further reflecting current Romani beliefs within Christianity and compare them yet more with the Dharmic beliefs.

These contemporary beliefs are based on real-life experiences, Paramisa (tale stories) and yet more, as well I will provide you with the beliefs of the Church (Catholic in particular, as I am from a country with Catholic majority - if you don't count "Somethingists", Believers without organisation and hard-die Atheists).

Jesus Christ & Christian Teachings + logic behind my claim

In one group on the Social Platform - Facebook I stated that "Jesus died 2000 years ago", which is true, if we follow Christian Christologist theological doctrine;

• Hypostatic Union (which is about the dual nature of Jesus Christ), i.e. Jesus Christ being both fully human and fully divine.

In Christian theology, Jesus Christ (the person) is both fully human and fully divine. While Jesus' human nature (his body and soul) did die on the cross, his divine nature (as the Son of God, or Christ) did not die.

I just yet further divided the dual nature of Jesus Christ, where Jesus is Fully-Human and Christ is Fully-Divine, where I fully separated the natures and made clear boundaries between them, using the names of Jesus (Body) & Christ (Divine incarnation). (This deduction may be controversial and my statement was made for the goal to make my statement more based and further point our Romani viewpoints)

Jesus Christ - Romani syncretic belief & (Hindu) Dharma

If you remember, in an article about Roma Old Beliefs I wrote about o Devloro (i.e. the Little God).

I write there that there is some correlation with Hindu deity Shiva, but I will yet further write here something more.

Jesus Christ for the Roma is indeed representation of God on the Earth, often seen as a mean to way to get to Heaven (which is indeed not against any Christian teachings, but lots resembles of Moksha, i.e. Liberation and re-unification with God in Dharma).

Jesus Christ is also seen as Saviour who will come in the Last Days and will destroy the evil, this World and bring true Believers to Heaven. This indeed resembles of Shiva, in Shaivite Dharmic traditions and of Kalki (Vishnu's avatar) in Vaishnava Dharmic traditions. (About this I will write little bit more later in this article)

To the Roma was not resurrection of Jesus very important, in fact it was quite scary to them, as dead stood from dead, which resembles of the Múľo (i.e. Bhoot in Indian traditions) and it is not seen as something good. To the Roma was always more important that Jesus Christ had a divine side -> Christ.

Also, you have not to forget that the Roma were not reading Bible, and they knew only some basics from priests and locals, so they made very own deduction in what to believe.

In Hinduism, avatars often retain a clearer separation between their divine essence and human form. According to Christianity, the union of Jesus Christ’s humanity and divinity is complete and indivisible. The strong boundaries between divine and human in Jesus Christ was and in some cases to quite big extend still is seen among the Romani beliefs of Jesus Christ, as I stated earlier divine side is more important to the Roma. (Of course, among the Roma it may be change more to religious ways of understanding of Christian doctrines due to the work of Christian missionaries, who are trying to destroy original Romani traditional viewpoints on faith).

Jesus Christ - As "incarnation" (manifestation or avatar) of God

(This will be quite controversial & probably partly against Christian teachings)

In Hinduism, the concept of an avatar refers to a divine being incarnating into the material world in a human form (like Lord Krishna or Lord Rama, of course more avatars were/are there).

Something similar we can read in Bible, John 1:14, where it states;

• "The Word became a Flesh (i.e. Human) and made his home (i.e. lived) among us."

About the "Word" I will speak later in this article.

Note: In Hinduism (Hindu Dharma) all deities are manifestations of the Param Brahman (i.e. The Ultimate Reality = God). Within Hindu traditions we have various denominations & sects which follow various deities (often only one) as their Ishvar (Supreme Being, i.e. Personal God/Goddes), the Ishvar might have the Avatar (own manifestations of self), which is also worshipped, and use his/her (Supreme Being's or its Avatar) statues, icons or natural objects as their Murti (i.e. Idol connecting the believers with Param Brahman). -> This is traditional Dharmic teaching, which seem to be followed by the Roma too (at least till 200 years ago, and yep, till today Christian icons are used that way by the Roma).

Saviour, destroyer, builder

In Christianity this is Jesus Christ.

In Hindu Dharma's Shaivite tradition we see Shiva, who will destroy the evil and bring the better world. (More info is below, about the Epochs, as they apply in Shaivite tradition too).

In Hindu Dharma's Vaishnavite traditions we see Kalki, and Avatar of Vishnu, who will destroy the evil, destroy this world (Universe) and destroy this Yuga (i.e Epoch), this Yuga is called Kali Yuga (i.e. the Black Epoch, where evil is everywhere more present than good) and bring the Satya Yuga (i.e. the Epoch of Truth, where evil will not exist). (Yugas are Epochs which are cyclic, as Dharmic Faiths believe in cyclic time, and we're not first Creation).

The Logos (The Word) & Divine Aum Pranava

Everyone who have read the Bible knows about the mysterious "Logos", i.e. "Word" about which we can read in John 1:1-3;

• "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made."

We again can see it in Hindu teachings, where the Word is not called the Word, but instead the Aum which is considered the "Pranava," or the primordial sound, from which all existence originates. It is the vibrational essence of the universe and originates from the Brahman (Ultimate Reality - God).

• It is a sacred syllable representing the ultimate reality (Brahman) in Hinduism.
• Aum is both a symbol and a mantra, often used in meditation and rituals to align oneself with the divine and the cosmos.
• It encapsulates the essence of the universe, including creation, preservation, and dissolution (associated with Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva in Hindu theology).

We can read in Hindu scriptures these things;

• "I am the syllable Om in all the Vedas, the sound in space, and the virility in men." (Bhagavad Geeta Chapter 7.8)
• "Om is this imperishable word. Om is the universe, and this is the exposition of the eternal word." (Atharvaveda 10.8.44)
• "Om, the word, is all this. A clear explanation of it is: all that is past, present, and future is indeed Om. And whatever else there is, beyond the threefold division of time—that also is truly Om." (Mandukya Upanishad 1.1)

Romane Paramisa (Romani Tales)

I must mention the Romani folkloric tales, the Paramisa, where in some Paramisi we can hear of various beings, including Devloro (who in this case is not Jesus Christ, but just sort of other avatar of God, often acting indifferently or giving soft leads to hero/heroes of the story), Beng (Devil) or even more devils, even little devils, who are putting problems in the way to the hero/heroes of the story, we can also hear of Múľo (Revenant) or even more of them, as well Ňecuchos (Evil Ghost, probably Pisacha from Indian traditions) or even Vampiris (Vampire, who sometimes acts as Vitala from Indian traditions). In the Paramisi are often also some other helpers than just Devloro, sometimes even Múľo can help and Beng is sometimes swindled to be helpful.

Beng is sometimes just evil ghost, something like Ňecuchos, it is not the Devil from Christianity. Beng apparently can shapeshift (or take looks from dead person), which makes him comparable to Pisacha or even Vitala)

Word for Devil comes from Sanskrit's word for the Frogs, as I stated in an article about the Old Roma Beliefs or from Vrtra (read Vritrá) who was demonic enemy of Vedic god Indra.

Note: I will some day translate some Paramisi from Slovakia or Hungary to English.