Lighting the traditional lamp, ‘Nilavilakku’,on any occasion is considered auspicious in Kerala. Today, the ritual has become an integral part of most formal and informal ceremonies, including the government functions.
But in God’s Own Country, which has a glorious history of religious amity, there has been a spate of heated controversies after the state’s Education Minister PK Abdu Rabb, a prominent Muslim community leader and representative of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), refused to light the lamp at a function held in Thiruvananthapuram.
The issue snowballed into a full-blown controversy in the state when famous film actor Mammootty criticised the minister saying that it’s time the IUML leadership put an end to such practices as it has no theistic implications and it is a part of the ancient culture.
Following this, the issue has taken an ugly turn, with prominent IUML leaders and other cultural leaders taking different stances. The IUML leadership, however, has promised that the matter would be discussed at a party meeting, and the leaders have also been asked not to comment on it.
But even as the controversy continues, a traditional ‘Nilavilakku’ installed near the pulpit of the historic Cheraman Juma Masjid in Kodungallur still continues to provide ‘light and succour’ to the lives of thousands of the faithful. This ancient mosque seems to be a perfect symbol of communal amity, religious tolerance and spiritual solace.
Inside the mosque, an oil lamp, which is believed to be more than thousand years old, had been burning all the time and people of all faiths and religion used to bring oil for it as an offering, underlining its secular mooring in the state.
Though a few years ago, the mosque authorities had stopped the practice of lighting the traditional lamp owing to various reasons, people still bring oil for the ‘Nilavilakku’, as part of the century-old custom. It is considered that if the faithful provide oil as an offering, their wishes will be fulfilled.
“Earlier, we used to auction the oil offered by the faithful as they would bring them at frequent intervals. But when we stopped the practice of burning the lamp, people offered the amount of money required for lighting the lamp and we have been accepting the money even now as the custom is an inalienable part of the mosque,” Mohammed Syed, president of the Cheraman Mosque Committee, says.
Built by Malik Bin Dinar, a contemporary of the erstwhile king of Kodungallur, Cheraman Perumal, in 629 AD, the mosque has striking similarities with the Hindu architecture. “The mosque has similarities with the ancient Hindu architecture which prevailed in the region,” says Faisal E B, an administrative officer of the mosque.
The mosque is a double-storied structure with a sloping tiled roof, similar to the old buildings in Kerala. And unlike other mosques, this one has no minarets or complex geometrical patterns outside the building.
Besides, the Hindu ritual of ‘Vidyarambham’ (initiation into the world of letters) ceremony is also held in the mosque in a traditional style. Faisal P, mosque servant (Mukri, in local parlance) who used to call the faithful for prayer at regular intervals, says: “I have been here for the past seven years and I had even recited the Holy Qur’an on behalf of the church committee when the late APJ Abdul Kalam paid a visit to the mosque in 2005. It was the secular credentials of the mosque which attracts thousands of globe-trotters to this ancient mosque every year.”
However, Syed Munawwar Ali Shihab, a prominent Muslim league leader, who is also the son of Panakkad Sayyid Muhammed Ali Shihab Thangal, a visionary who dedicated his life for the betterment of the community, says that the traditional lamp has very little significance in today’s time.
He believes that the lamp had greater significance in an era when electricity was not available.