Day 65: The Beauty of the Belly

Let me start this post by telling you that I know pretty much nothing about my Indian/Pakistani heritage.  When my father came to the United States, he left his past in Karachi and started a new life.  Although I have been able to glean some tidbits of information from him over the years, for the most part, I am 100 percent American.  I know pretty much nothing about Indian food and culture, little about Indian geography, and what I do know about Indian and Pakistani politics and religious history, I know from reading newspapers and books.

When I was in college, I decided to take up Asian Studies as a major because I wanted to learn more about my heritage.  Naturally, the University I went to focused on China, and there was only one class on Indian history and religion.  As a result, I learned Chinese and (at one point) could tell you every dynasty in China starting about 5,000 years ago to the present.  I learned about Chinese culture, spent a summer in China, and even enjoyed Chinese movies and music.  I also learned just about nothing about India, which, originally, was the whole point of the Asian Studies major.

Anyway, I tell you all this because a few days ago I remembered something from my one class on Indian history and religion that has been the basis of my body image since I learned it.  According to my professor (I have never been able to verify this from any other source, and some of my Indian and Pakistani friends will probably let me know none of this is really true, which is fine, because I will still believe my professor), in Indian culture, the naval is the center of one's soul.  Much like the heart is important to western culture, the belly is important to Indian culture.  This is the case both for Hindus and Buddhists.  As a result, in Indian art and life, there is nothing particularly bad about the belly. 

For example, this is Ganesha, Remover of Obstacles, Patron of the Arts and Sciences, and God of Intellect and Wisdom.  He is generally a god of prosperity, given that he removes obstacles from one's path. 

Notice the belly there.  That belly is important.  That belly represents a lot of things, including prosperity.  More importantly, in Hindu mythology, the entire universe is apparently contained therein. 

The belly is an important attribute of Ganesha (okay, it may not be as noticeable as his elephant head, but it does protrude quite a bit), and in Indian culture, it isn't exactly bad to have a belly (though given Westernization, it may not be as attractive anymore).  Nevertheless, as someone who has longed to reconnect with his heritage, losing the belly may become a sticking point.  It is the one thing that has connected me to so many generations before.  The Indian and Pakistani forebearers worked hard, over many generations, to give me my belly through genetics.  We have evolved to have bellies.  It is the one thing I haven't had to work on getting it at all (well, I did have to eat a lot).  Anyway, doesn't seem a little bit like slapping my ancestors in the face to try to lose it?