A group of devotees led by the SNDP Joint Committee had a darshan at the Kakkat Koikkal Sree Dharmashasta temple at Perunad in the Pathanamthitta district wearing shirts. They defied the custom of the shrine in protest of the Irinjalakuda Koodalmanikyam temple incident. The Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam is an organisation representing the numerically strong Ezhava community.
On March 23 at around 9 am, a group under the SNDP joint committee visited the temple under the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB). After lining up in a queue, each devotee wearing a shirt offered prayers before the deity. The joint committee members said the act was a protest against the incident at Koodalmanikyam in Irinjalakkuda, where the temple priest had decided to stay away from rituals following the appointment of a man belonging to a ‘lower’ caste as kazhakam — a temple staffer assigned to make floral garments for the deity and to oversee preparations for rituals.
The protest occurred months after a prominent monk called for the practice to be abolished in all temples across the state. Swami Satchidananda, head of the renowned Sivagiri Mutt founded by social reformer Sree Narayana Guru, had described the practice as a social evil and urged its abolition, last year. He claimed that the tradition of removing upper garments was originally introduced to verify whether men wore the “poonool” (the sacred thread worn by Brahmins).
He said the devotees are taking a massive movement against such discrimination. The protest was in support of the Sivagiri Mutt president Swami Sachidananda’s recent opinion. The seer had asked the temples under the control of the Mutt and SNDP Yogam to give up rituals that prohibit male devotees who visit temples from wearing upper garments.
Koikkal Sree Dharmashasta temple in Pathanamthitta district is an integral part of rituals related to sacred jewels of the deity in Sabarimala, a major hill shrine in the country.
