KOZHIKODE: Sivagiri Mutt has strongly objected to an article that claims that Sree Narayana Guru was a disciple of Chattambi Swamikal saying that it is insulting Gurudeva. Swami Satchidananda, the president of Sivagiri Mutt, has written a response to the article ‘Vaikom Satyagraha: A re-reading by historian C I Isaac' that was published in the Janmabhumi daily on Monday.
In his response article published on Tuesday, Swami strongly objected to certain remarks made by Isaac about Sree Narayana Guru. Swami Satchidananda disagreed with the reference to Guru as Chattambi Swamikal’s disciple. The names of the important disciples of Swamikal were Neelakanda Theerthapada Swamikal and Theerthapada Parama Hamsa Swamikal.
He goes on to add that had the Guru been Swamikal’s disciple, his name would have been Sree Narayana Guru Theerthapada. He also contested the claim in Isaac’s article that Guru installed the Siva idol at the rock where Chattambi Swamikal sat and that the inspiration for the installation was given by the Swamikal. “This has nothing to do with history,” he said.
“Gurudeva did not need anyone’s advice to do the Siva idol installation. Moreover, as per the biography of Chattambi Swamikal written by his disciple Paravoor Gopala Pillai, Swamikal was against Guru’s temple installation, ” Swami Satchidananda writes in the article.
Swami Satchidananda emphasized that Vaikom Satyagraha was led by T K Madhavan and that the majority of the Satyagrahis were the disciples of the Guru who stayed at his ashram. The SNDP Yogam Kozhikode union also expressed strong objections to the Janmabhumi article.