Click to play videoNew Delhi: Union Minister Vyalar Ravi on Tuesday lashed out at the Guruvayur temple management for carrying out purification rituals after his son Ravi Krishna's visited the Sri Krishna Temple.
Ravi said his family is contemplating taking legal action against the temple authorities over the shocking incident.
The temple priests performed the purification ritual as Ravi Krishna's mother Mercy comes from a Christian family. Ravi Krishna had gone to the temple for his son's first-feeding ceremony. This was, in fact, the second time that a face-off has erupted between the Ravi family and the temple authorities.
The big question that was discussed on the CNN-IBN show Face The Nation was: Is the sanctity of Hindu temples defiled by the visit of the non-Hindus?
On the panel to discuss the issue were Vyalar Ravi’s son Ravi Krishna, Sabarimala temple Thantri’s grandson, Rahul Easwar and Delhi University sociologist, Radhika Chopra.
Were priests just following rules?
Radhika Chopra was of the opinion that there are two aspects to the question and two aspects to the event. The fact that the minister and his son were actually allowed and permitted into the temple and they performed the ceremony for the baby only proved that they were a part of the temple.
The temple actually permitted them to do something that many temples prohibit a host of other people only on the basis of whether they are ‘faith followers’ or not.
“We know that Ravi Krishna's mother is a Christian so in that counting we have to recognise that every religion is exclusionary,” she said.
Ravi Krishna on the other hand completely disagreed with the very act of the priests purifying the temple because his mother, who is a Christian, was not even present in the temple. The people who were present were all born Hindus and fully subscribed to the customs of being Hindus, according to him.
But then the question arises: why let Ravi Krishna perform the ceremony in the first place if the temple had to be purified later?
“Understanding the basis of the purification ceremony, the Thantri’s justification was that they had conducted a purification when I entered the temple for the first time. But what he had overlooked was that the previous Thantri had recognised that the purifications conducted then was on the basis of erroneous information that I am a Christian. So to conduct the same precedent, it only shows that they are blind to recognising their own mistakes,” said Ravi Krishna.
However, Rahul Easwar, though saying that the incident was sad, tried to justify the purification ritual saying, “There is a law right now according to temple traditions that if a non-Hindu enters the temple it should be purified. The Thantri was only following the rule. I believe that if a law is outdated, that should not be broken but be changed. And we have already started the deliberations and discussions regarding it and which will hopefully culminate in broad minded decisions.”
The talks may be on about the changing of the law and to bring it up to date with times, but Ravi Krishna and others who were present were all Hindus and there was no need of the Thantri to perform the purification ritual.
Traditions that hurt and harm
However, the point that many are making now is that the priest should have checked whether Ravi was a Hindu or a non-Hindu before performing the purification rituals.
Easwar said that thousands of devotees come to the Guruvayur temple everyday. With the people informing the priest that a non-Hindu had come to the temple, it was only natural on his part to perform a purification ceremony.
Easwar said that he respected the law of the land and believed that Hinduism is a way of life, and it was the communication gap that lead to all this for which he apologised on behalf of his whole family.
Ravi Krisnha on his part chose to specify that apart from being a Hindu he came from community that was patrilineal which advocated that the children take up the father’s faith. So there was no question that for having a Hindu father he was not a Hindu.
So with Kerala being a matrilineal society and, Ravi Krishna coming from a patrilineal community, it was not correct for the priests to say that he was a non-Hindu.
Meanwhile, Radhika Chopra raised another point saying that many menstruating women are not allowed to enter a temple even if they are born Hindus. “Does this mean a woman stops being a Hindu for that time of the month?” she asked.
“I think we need to distinguish between traditions that hurt and traditions that harm. And I think that this is a tradition that hurts. But I think that there are also far more severe and harmful traditions that we need to address,” Chopra said.
Ravi Krishna has now written a letter appealing to the chairman of Devaswam board that managed the Guruvayur temple. However, though he says that the court is a secular forum, he is still contemplating legal action.
Easwar however, said that before the court or the government intervened, the Thantri samaj (community) and the Hindu community to do something about the laws that would need to be change with the changing times.
Final results of the SMS poll: Is the sanctity of Hindu temples defiled by the visit of the non-Hindus?
70 per cent – Yes
30 per cent – No
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