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STATES,
KERALA
Temple
Tattle
Was it
religion or caste that led to a purification rite after a wedding?
By
M.G. Radhakrishnan
 |
| The
temple authorities would be taken to court |
It's
a wedding that has generated much heat. Shortly after Ravikrishnan, son
of Congress MP Vayalar Ravi, was married in a ceremony at the Guruvayoor
Temple last fortnight, the thantri (temple head priest) ordered
a puniaham (purification rite) and directed a relative of the bride
to pay Rs 1,500 towards the cost. Ravi, a former Kerala Pradesh Congress
Committee president and an Ezhava (OBC) by caste, has now decided
to move court against what he thinks is the temple authorities' attempt
to bring back untouchability in the temple.
Other organisations
have joined the clamour. The Kerala Dalit Panthers described the purification
rites as an attempt to bring back "Brahmin hegemony". Even the
Vishwa Hindu Parishad has questioned the thantri's decision, with
Organising Secretary Kummanam Rajasekharan calling for a probe. "The
purification rites were unwarranted," he says.
But the thantri,
71-year-old Chennas Divakaran Namboodiri, says he ordered the purification
because he was not sure if Ravi's son was a Hindu. Ravi's wife Mercy is
a Christian. Temple rules forbid non-Hindus from entering its precincts,
and even singer Yesudas was denied entry some years ago. Namboodiri justified
his action saying, "If the son of Ravi and Mercy is a Hindu there
is no restriction on his entering the temple. But the onus of proving
that his son is a Hindu lies with Ravi."
This statement
has further angered Ravi. "All his records show my son is a Hindu.
The thantri has asked for the puniaham not because my son
is a non-Hindu but because he is a backward-caste Hindu," says Ravi.
The Sree Narayana Dharma Pariapala Yogam, the powerful organisation of
the Ezhavas, has lambasted the Left Democratic Front (LDF) Government
in the state for having allowed such a "regressive custom" to
continue in the temple. The temple's board has nominees from all parties
in the ldf.
The incident has also brought considerable embarrassment to the Janata
Dal which claims to be the votary of backward castes. Temple Administrative
Committee Chairman M. Venugopala Kurup, a Janata Dal nominee, expressed
helplessness saying that by law the thantri has the final say in
all matters related to rituals and customs to be followed in the temple.
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