Expert: Aupmanyav - 3/7/2011

Question
I would like to get some information (and read) about the philosophical and social aspects of hospitality in middle eastern culture. What is the significance of offering (free) lodging to foreign visitors?
Best regards,
Victor

Answer
Dear Victor,

There are three reasons why guests are treated with special care in India (and in middle-east also). One reason is to show off magnanimity and a person's wealth. So that, when the guest goes back, he/she carries this information farther and talks about it. Such favorable talk may result in future gains for the host family, for example, an equal or a richer family may want to have marital relations with the host family. This will increase the influence of the first family.

Then, there is a consideration of honor. If a fugitive has come to you and you save him from an attacker, then you would be considered more powerful. That is why kings in India never refused succor. This is known as 'sharanagati' (coming under his umbrella). Moghul Emperor Akbar's father, Humayun, sought succor from a hindu king of Marwar and was given that, even if it meant a war with the rival Emperor Sher Shah. Similarly Moghul Emperor Jahangir's son, Shah Jahan, who later built the Taj Mahal, when estranged from his father, sought succor from the Mewar king, he was given that, even when it meant a war with the Moghul Emperor. 'Sgharanagati' becomes a matter of honor. That is why the pathans of Frontier Provinces in Pakistan are hiding Osama bin Laden even at the cost of their lives.

The third reason is particular to India. Hindus accept that God can change form. So how does one know that the guest who has come is not really God? What if the God is testing your piety by coming to you in the form of a beggar? So the guests or anyone who came or begged were not refused in India and were treated well. A song says "Kya jane kis roop me mil jaye Bhagwan" (Who knows in what form the God may confront us).

This is characterized in our scriptures when 'Taittiriya Upanishad' says: "Atithi Devo Bhava" (The guest is God). Guests were termed as 'A-tithi', those who come without prior information on any day. 'Tithi' means date in Sanskrit. This view made the society milder. Gursts, mendicants, and beggars were never treated harshly in India. Unfortunately, the old traditions have been mauled by modern tourism where money rules, but you can still find the old traditions in villages.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pashtunwali#Main_principles http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atithi_Devo_Bhav. With best regards,

Yours sincerely,

Aupmanyav