Prakruthi Mysore Gururaj creates a historical moment of spiritual integration of two ancient Nations Australia and India
It was a historical moment created when Prakruthi Mysore Gururaj, being the first Indian to be welcomed and accepted into Gunggari Nation by one of the keepers of Indigenous Australian tradition and culture Aunty Peggy and Aunty Cathy whose traditional totem is the Emu (Nurinj). The ceremony was witnessed by many multicultural groups present at the Harmony Day event organised by Fiji Senior
Citizens Association Of Queensland.
It is indeed an utmost pride and a remarkable moment of connecting and integrating two ancient Nations Australia and India at a spiritual level that holds lots of similarities in their culture and traditions. Before this, Djandi Lee Merenda Granddaughter of Aunty Peggy Tidyman was welcomed and accepted into Women’s Ceremonial Circle in 2015 which was the first Gunggari women's ceremony held on country in over 70+years giving a young woman a traditional naming (Mirilani -thili) Shining Star. Only Traditional Elders can give a person a traditional name and only Women Elders can invite other women into the Women’s Ceremonial Circle.
Now after 6 years since Djandi Lee Merenda, Granddaughter of Aunty Peggy Tidyman was welcomed by descent, Prakruthi Mysore Gururaj was the second person to be welcomed after 76 + years based on spiritual connection. This is a very rare aspect that has happened in the history of Emu (Nurinj) traditional elders.
This sacred ceremony conducted by the Aboriginal elders Aunty Peggy and Aunty Cathy whose traditional totem is the Emu (Nurinj), welcomed Prakruthi as their traditional family member that marked as an acceptance of Prakruthi into Gunggari women's circle. Prakruthi was given a traditional name 'Bua Bua' which means butterfly and hence will be called the 'Butterfly lady' in
the Gunggari culture. Aunty Cathy's granddaughter Shontara Rainbow was also present in the ceremony who performed the traditional dance with Aunty Peggy, Aunty Cathy and Prakruthi and assisted Aunty Peggy by bringing the 'ochre' to perform the ceremony.
This amazing spiritual journey started almost a year back when the Gunggari elders felt the spiritual connection with Prakruthi who resembled one of their family members. Once this was expressed in Dec 2020 and the ceremony day was decided to be on 20th March 2021 during Harmony Day celebration, it took Prakruthi weeks to prepare from familiarising the Gunggari values, hand painting the ceremony
clothes and to learn the traditional dance. Prakruthi shares her experience being unexplainable and has thoroughly enjoyed every moment as they got to explore many more commonalities between Indian and Indigenous Australian culture and traditions.
On the day of the ceremony Prakruthi read an excerpt from an article 'Aboriginal Spirituality and Hindu Faith' written by Mr Surendra Prasad 's friend Mr Vijay Singhal as follows:
"Australian aborigines claim to have lived here for over 50,000 years and as per a study in 2013 at the Max Planck Institute by researchers, led by Irina Pugach suggested that Aboriginal genomes consist of up to 11% Indian DNA which is uniformly spread through Northern Australia indicating a substantial gene flow between Indian population and Northern Australians occurring around 4,230 years
ago. Some changes in tool technology and food processing also appear in archaeological records around this time, suggesting some migration from India. Hindu faith is also one of the oldest living religions in the world. Hindus call it Sanatana Dharma – the Eternal Religion, ever existing. It predates recorded history. Both these cultures are very ancient and there are some basic similarities in their spiritual thinking.
Some of the below similarities were explained on day
1. Smoking ceremony similar to Indian Havan/Yagna
2. Worshipping Mother Nature
3. Spirituality is cosmogony"
Prakruthi feels blessed to get an opportunity to extend the spiritual connection between 2 nations along with Aunty Peggy, Aunty Cathy and all the people from various Multicultural background on this special occasion of harmony day.
