Underwater Gods

Underwater Gods - Image courtesy of Didier Massard

Not all gods live in the heavens. 

Countless have their abodes on earth.

Some others are banished to underwater depths, where no living creature, whether with or devoid of faith, knows to pray.

The Earth Gods largely outnumber the Sky Gods. 

The latter are understandably the most sought after and people always looks up to the heavens when they remember God.

The former are so many in number and so commonplace now that people have had to pick favourites; which gods grant their wishes and which don’t, which ones are reputed for speedy answers to their prayers and which ones aren’t. 

But not many know about the Underwater Gods.

Sometimes a diver or two loses his way in the waters and wanders into the cathedral. Often he returns with a cast of hundreds, and the cathedral is photographed and marvelled upon. Replicas are built on land, stories of faith are woven around it, and tourists pause to be overwhelmed by the possibility of underwater worship.

Sometimes people go down in search of God. Usually they end up being distracted by the dazzling colours of underwater life and return to the surface believing they have found God. 

Whenever there are visitors, the gods freeze themselves into little statues adorning the arches of the cathedral. They make no sound, no movement, and hold their breath until the visitors have left. 

If you ask them, they’d tell you discomfort is the little price they pay to preserve their privacy. They know that if they remain hidden, people will soon stop looking for them.