The issue of denial of permission to Mansiya V P to perform Bharatanatyam at Koodalmanikyam temple, Irinjalakuda in Thrissur district has become a matter of debate in the state.
The annual Thrissur Pooram, billed as the mother of all temple festivals in Kerala, will not be held this year in the wake of the nationwide lockdown, the Kerala government said on Wednesday. The iconic festival, known for the parade of richly caparisoned jumbos, performance of traditional music ensembles and a sea of cheering people, was to be held at the sprawling Thekkinkadu Maidan in Thrissur city on May 2 this year.
The Left government in Kerala on Thursday withdrew a handbook for police personnel on duty at the Lord Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala after the Bharatiya Janata Party raised a hue and cry over a mention in the book that all pilgrims can enter the temple.
A recommendation had been made for the appointment of a total of 62 priests, including 26 from forward caste, it said
Karthik Manikandan, a Bharatanatyam dancer took to Facebook and said he was backing out from his performance scheduled on April 17.
While Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan questioned 'the haste shown' in reopening the temples, state Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran said the decision was only in line with the Centre's guidelines in allowing places of worship to permit entry of devotees.
'The appointment of 60 priests from the Dalit community is a historic moment.' 'Imagine this is happening in Kerala when Dalits are not even allowed to enter temples in some states even today.'
The temple board, in earlier round of litigation, had opposed the public interest litigation by Indian Young Lawyers Association seeking to throw open the shrine for all women.
The temple, which opened for the monthly puja on Friday evening, will allow pilgrims to offer prayers till October 21.
'The government and the court have to interfere and stop both fireworks and elephants at festivals.'
It is the first annual pilgrimage season at the hill temple after the coronavirus outbreak and authorities have decided to restrict the number of devotees to 1,000 per day and to 2,000 on weekends.
'Fireworks are dangerous in Kerala where there is very little open space.'
The Travancore Devaswom Board, which manages the Lord Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala, on Thursday told the Kerala high court that the jaggery received by it had 'halal' mentioned on the packaging as they are also exported to Arab countries by the company supplying to them.
The famous Lord Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala, opened for the annual Mandala-Makaravilakku pilgrimage season, is all set to receive more pilgrims now with the Kerala government deciding to allow more devotees for darshan by adhering to Covid-19 protocols.
'Considering menstruating women impure is a Dravidian custom and is associated with the worship of nature by the tribal people'
'Hindu unity is possible without any external forces playing any role if their faith is questioned.'
'What we see is the vested interest of political parties. Just to get a few votes, political parties played with fire, they gambled with the safety of the people.'
The five-judge Constitution bench said that it is the devotion which makes a woman to visit a temple.
Prayar Goapalakrishnan, president of TDB, said the board was against banning the pyrotechnics during temple festivals as they are part of rituals.
As the situation went out of control, police first used water cannon and then burst tear gas shells to disperse the unruly crowd.
The Bharatiya Janata Party lined up several promises, including a legislation to protect traditions of the Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala and a law against "love jihad", while assuring employment for at least one person from each family and free laptops to high school students, in its manifesto for the assembly polls unveiled in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday.
The Kerala government has made it clear that it would not provide security to any woman of menstruating age visiting the shrine, as per Devaswom Board Minister K Surendran.
Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran said on Monday and maintained that there was no lapse on the part of police.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-National Democratic Alliance, which fought the April 2 assembly polls with the fancy claim of winning at least 35 seats in Kerala, on Sunday came a cropper as it failed to retain even its lone segment Nemom, even as all its major contestants, including 'Metroman' E Sreedharan and party state chief K Surendran, fell by the wayside.
Attacking the PM Modi over alleged ignorance of local leaders, Tharoor said, "It seems that under the BJP even God must serve a political purpose and members of other parties must not be allowed to worship in the prime ministerial presence."
'The first time a ban on women aged between 10 and 50 entering Sabarimala came was in 1991 and was by a high court judgment.' 'So, it is only a 27-year-old ban.' 'The high court can fix customs and the Supreme Court can overturn it.' 'I don't see this as an attack on religious freedom or the practice of a religion.'
The age of the girl, with 'irrumudikettu' (offerings to Lord Ayyappa) had been shown as 10 in the virtual queue booking.
A 12-hour hartal is being observed against the preventive detention of a Hindu Aikya Vedi leader.
Wearing a traditional Kerala dhoti and white shawl, Modi was received at the temple gate by the authorities with a traditional poornakumbh.
Accepting the report of the Food Safety Commissioner, that appam at Sabarimala was unfit for human consumption, the Kerala high court on Tuesday observed there was lack of proper management in the affairs of the Lord Ayyappa shrine.
The Sabarimala hill shrine has received a record revenue of Rs 178.53 crore in 2012-13, Kerala Devaswom (temple affairs) Minister V S Sivakumar told the Assembly today. Though the exact number of pilgrims who visited the Lord Ayyappa temple this year are not available, it is generally estimated that about three crore devotees offer worship at the shrine in a year, the minister said in a written reply.
The Supreme Court asked on Friday as it said it would examine the issue of entry ban on women of menstrual age in the historic Sabarimala temple on the basis of constitutional parameters.
The saffron party will use Lord Ayyappa the same way it made use of Lord Ram in the north to take away the Nair vote and make electoral inroads in the state.
The Kerala government dubbed Desai's attempt to visit Sabarimala as a 'conspiracy'.
'When I applied for the job of santhi, I applied as a person who was eligible.' 'When I joined the temple at the age of 21, it was because I got the 4th rank in the list.' 'Now, everybody is talking only about my caste. I am above all that; it doesn't matter to me and to the people with whom I am associated with.'
A high voter turnout was recorded in West Bengal, Assam Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry assembly elections on Tuesday. The massive polling exercise following COVID-19 health protocol and involving lakhs of personnel began at 7 am and the last hour from 6 pm to 7 pm was set aside for COVID-19 patients and those under isolation. The counting of votes in the states will be held on May 2.
Sivadasan's family has demanded a probe into his death.
In the backdrop of the Pulmedu tragedy, which claimed lives of 102 Sabarimala pilgrims, the Kerala high court on Thursday asked the Tranvacore Devaswom Board that manages the hill shrine of Lord Ayyappa, if 'Makara Jyoti' (celestial light) was man-made.
The Kerala forest department is of the view that unrestricted entry of vehicles for ferrying pilgrims into the Pullumedu trekking path was one of the factors that paved the way for the January 14 stampede that claimed the lives of 102 Sabarimala pilgrims.
Division bench comprising Justice Thottathil Radhakrishnan and P S Gopinathan directed the Police, Forest and Travancore Devaswom board to file reports regarding the reasons for the accident.
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