A group of 40 Hindu men and women on April 15, Good Friday enacted the Passion of Christ in the northern Indian city of Varanasi, the heartland of Hinduism. “Varanasi presented a soothing picture of religious harmony, peace and love amid a gloomy scenario of communal polarization,” says Father Anand Mathew, the brain behind the program who directs Vishwa Jyoti Communications in Varanasi.
An estimated 12,000 people watched the play staged at Matri Dham Ashram, the renowned spirituality center where thousands of people from various faith communities gather in large number.
“The most unique aspect of this passion play was that it was performed as part of the Good Friday liturgy, substituting the traditional passion reading,” Father Mathew, a member of the Indian Missionary Society, told on April 16.