Back to Article List
Ayyappa Swami under siege in God’s own country
by Panikkath Krishnanunni on 23 Oct 2018 6 Comments

Kerala has been burning for the past few days on account of to the Supreme Court verdict on Sabarimala, allowing ladies of all age groups to enter the premises of the Lord Ayyappa temple. Kerala has not yet fully recovered from the consequences of mismanagement of the recent floods of August 2018. The Sabarimala verdict shows that the judiciary seems to have succumbed to the “break India forces” and thrown caution to the winds. Recall the statement of one of the judges, “society has to undergo a perpetual shift from being the propagater of hegemonic and patriarchal notions of demanding more exacting standards of purity and chastity solely from women”.

 

The question arises, why do we go to temples in the first place. Answers vary from individual to individual. Most devotees visit temples with a spirit of devotion to God and reverence to the rules laid down in worship of that particular form of God. When we speak of devotion and austerity, it automatically implies within its concept, a certain set of rules to follow for the upkeep of one’s purity of body and mind. Devoid of purity and devotion, visiting any temple is useless and meaningless. The Supreme Court verdict has resulted in violations of a unique tradition and violations of the minimum required qualifications a devotee must possess.

 

By allowing entry of two lady activists, escorted by the Kerala police, the Supreme Court verdict has enabled the police to desecrate one of the holiest Hindu temples. Is their assertion of “rights” more important than the concepts of devotion, humility, cleanliness and moral decency?

 

Taking advantage of the Supreme Court verdict, many will feel entitled to go to Sabarimala, irrespective of age, without the requirement of devotion. Feminists will go not to pray but to arrogantly exercise their right by quoting the Supreme Court verdict. The apex Court has thus given freedom to diabolic characters to enter and spoil the pristine purity and holy atmosphere at Sabarimala.  In the event of violence, will the Supreme Court judges who delivered this verdict feel responsible for the mess?

 

The media and secularists scream “we want equality”. The court succumbs and blindly agrees without examining the biological differences between males and females. It is not a lady’s menstruation impurity that is the problem; the media has distorted the real facts and reasons for their exclusion and have incorrectly interpreted as gender discrimination, misogyny, patriarchal domination and so on.

 

Hindu culture, the most ancient surviving culture in the world, has always welcomed diversity of traditions. Different traditions are in vogue for centuries. Hindu rituals of marriage, death, birth and temple rituals vary from village to village, and state to state. The temples of Tamil Nadu give more importance to the Vedic system, but Kerala temples give more importance to tantric systems. The Sabarimala temple follows the tantric system and demands stricter observance of rules from devotees visiting this shrine.

 

Tantric texts have as much validity as the Vedas; they are believed to have been propounded Shiva Mahadeo, father of Ayyappa Swami. The Supreme Court cannot assert authority over how a tanthri does his rituals and the rules laid down by him for upkeep of the purity and sanctity of the temple. Questioning his authority is tantamount to questioning the tenets of the tantric texts and Vedas, founded by thousands of ancient Rishis. Their prescriptions and proscriptions spring from meditative intuition, which is beyond logic, and hence some rules of worship may not be available as an authority from the Vedas or any other dharma shastras. It may also be noted that logic is not necessarily the only authentic source of knowledge.

 

The Times of India (October 18, 2018) reported “At Pamba, cops took custody of Devika Antharjanam (80), Kandaru Maheshwaru’s wife, Thazhamon tanthri family’s chief priest. Janam TV has showed police brutalities on harmless Ayyappa protesters; police shamelessly arrested a harmless 80-year old woman from a highly respectable lineage; backed by the Pinarayi Vijayan regime, the police insulted not only the caretakers of the deity, but insulted Lord Ayyappa Himself. They insulted not only womanhood but the entire Hindu society and traditions.

 

The media played victim card when young ladies devoid of devotion were prevented from ascending the steps to the sanctum sanctorum; but the media never showed the arrest of the 80-year old lady, wife of the chief tanthri.

 

Those who question the rationality of religious traditions should consider some issues concerning our political or democratic traditions. Is the system for electing representatives logical and rational? Persons with no basic education become MPs and rule the country. If the political tradition has no logical basis, why should logic be applied to faith?

 

Recently, the tradition of kumbasaram (confession) in Christianity was misused by Bishop Franco Mullakal and the Kerala High Court granted him bail. Has this served the cause of rationality, logic, equality, justice? How many have risen to the defence of the vulnerable ladies crying for justice in the parishes?

 

The Sabarimala controversy is clearly a contrived conspiracy against Hindu dharma and Hindu society. This is how the matter is being perceived by society at large and that is why the defence of tradition is uniting adherent Hindus across the country.
User Comments Post a Comment
Sandhya Jain published an article on Sabarimala on October 16. I provided a comment 4 days later. I repeat that here. We need to look ahead, not just bemoan the current situation.

We witnessed a staged farce between October 17 and 21 which undermined the sanctity of the shrine. The center should issue an ordinance delinking Sabarimala from the TDB, create a Private Trust with practicing Hindus of all castes (Dalits included), one that comprises both genders in equal measure. Let that Trust decide how to proceed on the issue of age restrictions.

I’m profoundly disturbed by self-styled secular women activists with zero Hinduism trying to usurp the voice of female devotees. We need the observant Hindu women’s voice here. Should the Trust decide to open the doors of the Temple to all irrespective of age, so be it. Should the Trust decide to retain tradition, let’s respect that.

What is clear is that this should be outside the purview of the Supreme Court, the state government and self-hating ‘Hindu’ journalists.

In the interim, let’s keep the temple closed until November 18. There’s no need to open the shrine on November 5 only to commemorate the memory of a long dead Maharajah. Too much is at stake and we barely escaped outright desecration. Sabarimala is the foremost place of religious worship in Kerala (in terms of sheer numbers) and let’s keep it that way.
Avanti
October 23, 2018
Report Abuse
The judges who had authored the verdict had failed in their duty, on oath, to uphold the Constitution. They have violated Article 26(b) of the Constitution which provides the right to every religious denomination to manage its own affairs in matters of religion. And let us not look up to these judges to give any new meaning to denomination. (They have already messed up the definition of 'consultation' used in Article 124(2) to usurp the power of the Executive to appoint judges.)

Incidentally, it is seen that it is Article 25(2)(b) which is discriminatory in nature in that it mandates only Hindu religious institutions of a public character to throw themselves open to all classes and sections of Hindus (only). (By the way, Sabarimala is unique in that religion is not a bar to entry into the temple!)

Anyhow, the verdict has been like a stone thrown at a hornet’s nest in a crowded place by a person who has covered himself with hornet repellents.

I would also like to ask why is it that one has to employ an advocate on record to file a petition in the apex court? They may say that individuals can file personally too. But will they give an assurance that the matter will be taken up and concluded within a given period of time? Otherwise how can any reasonable citizen go there and waste their life running after tariq pe tariq?

And more importantly, why is contempt of court still on our statutes? Why has the equation between the public servants and the public overturned through a barbaric law?
P M Ravindran
October 23, 2018
Report Abuse
In June 1950, the Sabarimalai Devasthanam was broken into, the Murthy was fractured and mutilated, the Garba Graham wrecked, and the whole set on fire and ruined with the ghee kept for lighting lamps. An enquiry report submitted by the DIGP Special Branch CID Sri K Kesava Menon found the christian community who had illegally settled and occupying the lands at the base of the hill to be the offenders. Here is a link to the full report of 35 pages.

http://firstministry.kerala.gov.in/wp-content/uploads/pdf/bills/Reports/tmple_arsn.pdf

So what happened then? Nothing!

There are a billion "Hindus" with a billion voices. Each of us could have one or other opinion on the whats, hows and whys on all matters pertaining to us. So whose opinion should prevail? The only reasonable and practical answer is, " That of tradition and practice, as much as they are within the bounds of our Fundamental Rights". Any and all changes, if they need to happen, has to EVOLVE from within the community, and cannot be imposed by external forces.

The Fundamental Rights of an individual, family, community, town, nation, etc. can be and are different from each other. Then there are the Rights allowed in a private place and those allowed in a public space. There is not much dispute about public space. But a private space can be, for instance, an individual's bedroom or a tennis-playing community's club. (Sorry, no pehalwans with oiled bodies and langotis allowed!) Or a place of rituals and worship unique to any one denomination. Every person or community or denomintaion has the right to establish an institution where they can express their particular brand of idiosyncracy, whatever name it may go by - religion, sport, fashion, etc. They also have the right to exclude anyone who does not fall within their list of requirements. ( No men allowed in a girls' hostel. No visitors inside the operation theatre. No children in a bar. No dogs in a mosque or a temple . . .)

This is also necessary because every person, individually or as a member of a group, needs not just his/her own physical space, but also mental space. Often the mental space needs a well delineated physical space to function. It allows for the members to cast off, or contain themselves within, uncommon disciplines, mores, rites, protocols etc. and give expression to otherwise bridled speech and behaviour. This is essential for their psychological health.

Individuals make up society. No individuals? Then no society, but only a fossilized mass of homogeneity. Perfect recipe for a disastrous extinction. So any society to survive has got to accomodate individualities too. Of course Balance is vital. Balance hangs on the beam of Justice. And that is what the worms have burrowed into. In this instance Justice has been played for a fool. It is unjust, and dangerously foolish to destroy the established traditions and practices of one denomination to accomodate the wilfulness of another. BY THIS JUDGEMENT THE COURTS HAVE ABJURED THE FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT TO FREEDOM ENSHRINED BY OUR CONSTITUTION. It would have been just and wise to have told the women that they too have a right to establish their own Sabarimalai, or Shani Shingapura, etc. and keep all men out. ( An already established tradition, but no harm pointing it out to the reckless.) BY DOING THIS THE COURTS WOULD HAVE ABIDED BY AND UPHELD THE FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT TO EQUALITY ENSHRINED IN OUR CONSTITUTION.

With ref. to opinions expressed on an earlier post by Sandhya Jain on the same issue:

Karma Kanda, Gnyana Kanda etc. were mentioned. Every atom to a human without exception has to live through its Karma Kanda to reach its own Gnyana Kanda. Yes. Gnyana and then Moksha is the ultimate and desired destination. But what right do you or me have to deny the Path of Karma to other travellers just because of our delusion that we have now reached the Gnyana stage?

Regarding the continuous advice to avoid violence no matter what, do we not all know that Ahimsa is Paramodharma? Yet what is my Dharma? Is it to defend from attackers That whose protection is my Dharma? Or to save myself by not acting and then justifying the abandonment of my Dharma by quoting another Dharma? Who else could have explained the Veda better than Sri Krishna? And what did He enjoin on us to be and do in His Geetha? God forbid that I am so vain and arrogant as to place trust in my own half-baked understanding of our Shruthies rather than in the knowledge of Sri Krishna! And is it not because we did not pay attention to His directions on what constitutes Ahimsa that we are in this plight today? I do not consider the taking to arms of the women or men in course of their duty as wrong. It has got to be. On the other hand not doing so would be wrong.

Lastly, how can we be so blind to the full scale war launched on our Land and its Dharma aka Hindu Dharma by those who want to destroy us? A different kind of war but more deadly. We fought them on many battle-fronts and we have lost in most. We lost our right to educate ourselves in and by our own knowledge systems.. We lost our right to speak and communicate in our own language. We lost our right to know our own great past. We lost our right to our own sense of self-worth and confidence. We lost our right to look upon our ancestors as the wise and great people they were. We lost our right to call our hoary traditions as Shasthras not yet understood by science, but are forced to brand them as superstition. We lost our right to own our own places of worship. We lost our right to even our own holidays and days of rest. And most shameful of all, we lost our right to our children and are forced to love them, rear them, and then have them lured away into ways that will make them "consign us to Hell!". And now we are ready to weaken ourselves by our silly vanities, rivalries and discordance and to lose further battles, Sabarimalai being the latest. Let us be warned that there are not many battles left before we lose the war and our Sacred Land and our Dharma is enslaved and destroyed.
Chandra Ravikumar
October 23, 2018
Report Abuse
ahimsa paramo dharma
dharma himsa tathaiva cha
Bharati
October 23, 2018
Report Abuse
The Judgement based on white Christian mindset. In the Church Marriage and dead body ceremony done on the same stage. Judges forgot that cleanliness is Godliness.

The article 14 & 15 can be very well applied to discrimination based on religion and scrap the minority identification.

Motive hunting of a motiveless malign ( Macaulay mind set take minimum a century to erase) Like” You too Brutus” the number of “You too Judges” strength is increasing day by day. Filthy problems like homosexual, adultery etc., are taken as a case which are not worthy for any discussion. Even though as per law these acts are punishable, so far no one got punished for these unnatural act. It is just washing dirty linen in public. Similar in case of Sabarimala also.

In a movie Senthil by mistake enter into his friend house Goundamani while his wife was changing his cloths and seen her naked. Realizing his mistake Senthil got hurt and keep telling the incident to the entire villagers. But Goundamani scold him that nothing wrong in seeing my wife naked by mistake but it is totally wrong to tell the incident to the entire villagers. Court judges are also indulge in popularity gimmick by spreading negative judgment like news paper.
vedamgopal
October 24, 2018
Report Abuse
Shri.P.Krishnanunni has clearly presented the the onslaught and pugnacity on Hindu traditions as well as belligerence and hostility towards Hindu society by the Marxist party and government in Kerala. The feminists and activists have been launched by the left to wipe out and extinguish the Hindu conclave at Sabarimala .

The Indian left which does not dare to touch rapist bishops and churchmen as well as terrorist Islamic outfits turns the gun towards Hindu institutions. Its a warning.

Congratulations to Shri Krishnanunni for presenting the Sabarimala
issue in the context of its burning socio political undercurrents.
B.S.Harishankar
October 27, 2018
Report Abuse