Priests at the Guruvayur Temple have just conducted a mahapunyham to “purify” the temple after the family of minister for overseas development Vayalar Ravi conducted a ceremony. Their “crime”: Although Ravi is a Hindu, his daughter-in-law is a Christian and the temple’s rules do not permit the entry of non-Hindus in the august presence of Guruvayurappan.
Just a couple of months ago, the Jagannath temple in Puri threw away food cooked for 7,000 people after the priests insisted that the temple had been “defiled” by the entry of an American tourist. The case of K.J. Yesudas being denied entry because of his religion is more than two decades old, and more recently there was the brouhaha over the entry of Jayamala to Sabarimala.
Questions: Do such rites really “purify” our temples? Are temples within their rights to conduct such “purification” rituals? Or, in barring people on the lines of caste, religion and gender, are they perpetuating a new form of untouchability? Should these rigid, regressive man-made rules be junked? Or is this, as usual, yet another secular, slash pseudo-secular assault on Hindu customs and traditions, while ignoring mosques and churches which reserve the right of entry in their own ways?
If the rules say there is no entry for Non Hindus, so be it. Why are you breaking rules in the first place and crying hoarse about the rules? and that too when it concerns Hindusim. So much of your secularistic ideals.
For that matter, are non muslims allowed to pray in Mecca? Saudi bans non muslims places of worship..what is your take on those?…
There are other important things concerning the lives of the common man, address them.
I think we are past this secularism posts, i thght this dead topic was meant for some trp driven org like our news channel. I wonder what the agenda of churmuri is
One has to understand this incident(and other related ones) in tantric terms. Is’nt the priest called a “thantri” in guruvayoor and shabarimalai . The rites and rituals performed are mostly by namboodhari brahmins who follow poorva mimamsa: Thantra vidhi, like only certain kind of flowers are used for worship, no iron or steel items used to perform puja, only gold,silver,earthen or bronze.
In shabarimalai the deity is installed in the stone statue by certain means, “chaithanya aavaahanaam”. The priests have to follow srtict rules in doing so. Menstruating women are considered “impure” by the texts governing the pooja, hence women of this age are restricted from visiting. Maybe all this sounds archaic to many.
Do you remember the incident in tirupati when the temple board was criticized for extending darshan hours to Venkatachallapathy’s sleeping time?
How far do you want to overthrow traditions? you will be left with a sterlile religion.
KP,
I think you derive perverse pleasure from posting such topics when you know what the majority of the responses are going to be.
KIRAN SAYS…..For that matter, are non muslims allowed to pray in Mecca? Saudi bans non muslims places of worship..what is your take on those?…
What an asinine & puerile comment? Are we trying to compare ourselves to the lowest denominator category of society??
And as far as the priests go…whip their asses, till it sizzles.
Hey Suraj, what do you mean by “whip their ass, till it sizzles”, the priest
are performing their job. The media expecially blows it up by making it
a big issue. Even Jesudas is keeping a low profile he does not want a
controversy to be created. The Minister who is a Keralite should know
the traditions of the temple. Let us respect atleast some traditions yaar.
Well as far as respecting traditions go should someone told Narayana Guru and Gandhi about not allowing untouchables into temples- perhaps they did too and its even possible that some of them might have been called the god of voctory or Vijaydev.
But whipping the asses of preists wont really help since the actual preisthood is a different cabal than the one we see in the temple precints.
Did’nt the head priest say if the kerala govt made it legal he was OK with it on ndtv? Now the ball is with the govt.
WHAT THE HELL???
I thought that GOD was the All-powerful..
How come GOD/His-Residence get polluted just because some “impure” (read: of different belief) soul entered the temple premises?? I God losing his powers/ is he becoming invincible???
Huh!!
Now even God stop me from taking over the world.
Unrelated? but funny!!
Advita: It’s all the same shit.
Anglicanism: More shit happens in Rome.
Bahai: It is all the same shit.
Catholic : If shit happens, you must have sinned.
Islam: If shit happens, bomb it.
Inca: Only holy shit happens.
Jainism: All shit is alive.
Hinduism: This shit happened before.
Maya: Shit happens in cycles.
Sikhism: Leave our shit alone.
Shintoism: Shit is everywhere.
Sufism: The wise man has other things on his mind when shit happens.
Shamanism: Holy shit!
Puritan: S*** can happen all day as long as you dont call it that.
Rumi : Love that shit.
Buddhism: shit happens.
Judaism: Why does this shit always happen to us?
Amish: Shit is good for the soil.
Zoroastrianism: Good shit happens, bad shit happens.
Zen: Shit happens when shit is not really happening.
Atheism: I don’t believe this shit.
Agnostic: What is this shit?
Theosophy: You dont know half of the shit that happens.
Apathism: Who gives a shit?
Astrology: Shit is written in the stars.
Capitalism: That is MY shit.
Communism: Lets share this shit.
Descrates: I shit therefore I am.
Epicurism : Shit happens after a good meal.
Existentialism: What is this shit anyway?
Stoicism: This shit doesnt bother me.
Nihilism: Everything is shit.
Narcissism: I love this shit.
Feminism: men are shit.
Stalinism: The state treats you like shit.
Anarchism: This shit is going to hit the fan.
summary of comparitive religion/philosophy.
old monk.
yaenee ananyaaya?
poorva mimamsa antha post maaDi konege intha generalization?
i tought you would write about atleast the 6 darshanas.
Pseudo-secular assault!! Wonderful!
What then do you have to say about the caste and religion based reservation quotas for which cause the government is even ready to fight down the judiciaries??
It’s human nature to always attack the weaks. No one dare questioning the powerful.
While talking about uniformity and universality on one subject, the same mind-set should be shown to all happendings around us. There we are active to the cause.
G.P.Muraleedharan
Sorry tarlesubb for the apparent U turn but u must admit it is a pretty good jist except for a few, and the word s*** could have been replaced by something better,
I can understand why guruvayoor feels the need to purify the temple when a non hindu enters it. The priests/thantris are following the prescribed rituals. They do not question it, otherwise they would not be following it. The priest says “maternity is reality” on ndtv interview. This raises an interesting question. Who is a Hindu(at least for guruvayoor temple)? Should both father and mother be hindu? Just the mother is ok? Can a person convert to hinduism, what is the process? Did’nt they bar Indira Gandhi from enterring long time back because she was married to a Parsee(Feroz Gandhi)? They seem to follow the rules strictly for everyone:Sri lankan PM, Yesudas,etc.
I think allowing those hindus who were banned earlier(Dalits,) entry into the temple just. This happened maybe only 50-100 years ago. But to become a hindu, though born to hindu parents, you must go through “upanayana”, enter the religion formally. In the past dalits and someother people could not go through this ceremony (as the priests would not do it?). They were essentially barred from formal religion.
Essentially the priests are following longtime customs/rituals. They can exclude non-hindus/women(sabarimalai) from thier temples. But do these costoms/traditions do justice to the hindus themselves in the larger context? Or is it the hegemony of the priests?
Clearly tarlesubba you must have noticed by now I have a cursory knowledge of shastras & vedas, but religion/god must be just orelse it could be a false religion/god. These conversations encourage me to learn more.
Martin Luther said “Does God belong to the Church or the followers/believers?”
launching Protestantism. Is it the same phase now for Hinduism?
Estu interest aagi school/collegeali odidri evathu OLLe kelsadali ertha ide:) Adhike veda sulu agabodu adare gade sulu aggala annodu. Are vedas the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? yeenu Ee brahmana?
Veda, shastra antha thale chit aggidi, kelu ole gadde idare post madre tarlesubbaaure!!
WHY GOVT OR THESE PPL ASK NON-MUSLIM SHOULD ALOWED IN MOSQUE ?
Saudi vare pokanda keralathil ethenkilum oru paliyil Non-Muslims ketumo ? alel venda sthreekale ? why dont dyfi ask muslim mullah to allow WOMEN to enter Mosque…. ?
As far as I know: Menstruation is accepted and possibly admired in ancient India among Hindus and tribals as a source of life. Many rituals, ( songs, new saris) use it to worship our creative force, to welcome young girls. This was common in Maharashtra as recently as 30 years ago.
However the distaste seems to have come from the orthodox Jews where women have to separate their beds from the men, undergo ritual purification every month, etc. The Muslims got this distaste from the Jews and it landed in India. Muslim women do not fast when menstruating, they have to fast additional days afterwards.
Recently the so called messihah Yesudas said in an interview Hinduism is not a religon a way of life, that is real foolish and stupidity, a way of life can never exist without a religion, and Hinduism is not culture alone, It is the greates religion ever exists even after millions of years, other semintic religions like may come and go, Sanatana Dharma is time tested! Yesudas can sing only and do music that is his job, he is not simply educated for commenting on religion and other activities. Let Hindu Temple issues be with the Hindus and we know how to manage that. Why Government is so particular to get Hindu temple money?? why this sickular guys like Yesudas and Kalam are not asking this?
Many pseudo-secular journalists are very fond of saying that ‘Secularism’ is a political ideology and those who take oath under the Constitution of India must make it a way of life. But, the problem in India is, the Constitution itself is ‘pseudo-secular’! The Constituent Assembly, which consisted of great thinkers and wise men between 1946 and 1950, had not anticipated that, the country would be plagued by the likes of present day pseudo-secular politicians playing vote-bank politics and pursuing minority appeasement policies.
Even worse is the fact that they would not have even imagined that one family would have a stranglehold on this country and that our country would be reeling under a foreigner at the helm of affairs without any accountability or responsibility. Had the Constitution been ‘truly secular’, the minorities would not have been sanctioned undue privileges, and they would have conducted themselves in a proper way adjusting with the majority community and respecting their feelings and aspirations.