Mahabharata lessons for British soldiers going to Iraq

Mahabharata lessons for British soldiers going to Iraq

PTI | April 06, 2008 | 16:39 IST

Krishan Attri, the British army's first Hindu chaplain, uses extracts from the Mahabharata to counsel British soldiers going to war in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Attri was among the first four faith chaplains appointed by the army in November 2005. The other three were Mandeep Kaur,a Sikh chaplain, Sunil Kariyakarawana (Buddhist), and Imam Asim Hafiz (Islam).

Britain's armed forces have 300 regular commissioned Christian chaplains serving 183,000 Christian personnel, but the four new chaplains were the first such appointments in the history of the forces.

Attri, who hails from Kasauli in Himachal Pradesh, says that he uses the Bhagwad Gita to explain the necessity of going to war to British Hindu soldiers deputed in Iraq or Afghanistan. There are 470 Hindus in Britain's armed forces.

"I tell them, 'God has given you an opportunity to protect your country and maintain peace in the world'. They need to know they are not killing anybody but just performing a duty," Attri says.

When Attri was interviewed at the Ministry of Defence for the job, he was asked what he would say if a soldier did not want to go to war.

Hindu teachings, he responded, offered good guidance, "Duty is our priority. It's our karma, and we have to face it". Hindu teachings have armed most of the soldiers, he told The Times.

"They know they've undertaken a contract to look after the boundary walls of the country," he told the newspaper.

Among the tasks Attri performs in his role is conducting weddings, supporting soldiers and their families, and acting as a liaison between Hindu troops and their commanding officers.

He explains small but symbolically important issues such as Hindu soldiers wearing 'rakhi', or why strict vegetarians do not want to use spoons that have touched meat at meals.

The army keeps Attri busy. He has gone to Nepal to select chaplains for the Gurkhas, and this spring will visit troops in Afghanistan. "I want to see what the soldiers go through, to help me advise them and support the families left behind," he says.

Attri came to Britain in 1986 as a 22-year-old priest to serve at the Hindu temple in Newcastle upon Tyne. He spent nearly two decades at the temple, teaching Hindu texts, music and Indian languages.


On Britain's Hindu community, Attri says, "We are part of this British community and we want to be recognised. We're a hard-working society, and we want to prove it".