It is a generally accepted fact that the belief in God, and thereby the religions, evolved from the two basic feelings humans had vis-à-vis nature and its forces. The first men living in the midst of wild nature were not protected as today against the calamities like tempest, flood, wildfire, etc. There was no system to foresee these dangers and hence they were at a loss before the natural catastrophes. Their natural reaction towards the natural forces was that of dependence. Similarly, men at the origins also developed admiration towards the natural phenomena. The sky, the sun, the moon, the stars, the mountains, the rain, the trees, the rivers, the sea and all that they found great,fascinated them and instilled in them a feeling of adoration.

The famous British anthropologist, Edward B. Tylor, has opined that the present forms of structured religions have evolved from these two basic feelings of fear and wonder. People thought that each natural force has its own soul and they can have protection from their anger by way of making offerings to them. This strategy of pleasing the super powers through rituals laid the foundation for structured practices of religious beliefs. In course of centuries, people could not explain everything in terms of the intervention of natural forces. Subsequently there happened a transition in the belief system. People began to see some other extra mundane living beings that control the souls of the natural powers and this gave birth to the belief in polytheism. When centuries passed by, people felt further the need of a supreme God who brings discipline among the gods. This is how monotheism, the belief in one God, emerged as the ideal type of religious belief in the world.

The studies made by the psychologist Karl Gustav Jung is another landmark in understanding the religious phenomena. To him God is a psychological necessity. Man cannot but create gods because all humans by birth have a divine archetype. This inherent disposition of mind to depend on something superior never ceases to exist in human life. To meet with the challenges of life man has no other way but to depend upon a supernatural power. The name and form of the supernatural power may change according to the culture of the place and time. Thus there are a lot of gods in the different parts of world known as Shiva, Kali, Buddha, Christ, Krishna and so on. Lately, with the advent of modernity, this key position of supreme power was partly taken up by nation-states and ideologies like secularism, humanism, socialism, Marxism, capitalism, etc. Since such grand narratives also have proved to be a failure, man’s belief systems are very much diversified and proliferated. The postmodern man has begun to cook his own religion, which is syncretic in nature. S/he borrows elements from different religions and esoteric beliefs. The postmodern religion is flexible and pragmatic.

Whoever be the form of the absolute and whatever be the form of dependence, most of the humans cannot live without depending on a supernatural power. That is why Friedrich Schleiermacher, the German philosopher and theologian said, ‘religion is basically a feeling of absolute dependence on the Transcendent’. At present, to many the Corona has captured the place of that Transcendent. In the North India, a temple is opened to honour the Coronavirus. Yes, from the perspective of religious anthropology, Corona has become today’s god who creates awe and fear for a considerable part of mankind.

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