PATHANAMTHITTA: A group of devotees led by the SNDP joint committee had darshan wearing shirts at the Kakkattu Koikkal Sree Dharma Sastha temple in Perunad in Pathananthitta on Sunday, defying the custom of the shrine.
The joint committee members said the act was a protest against the incident at the Koodalmanikyam temple in Irinjalakuda, where the temple priest had decided to stay away from rituals in protest against the appointment of a man belonging to a ‘lower’ caste as a kazhakam, a staffer assigned to make floral garments for the deity and to oversee preparations for rituals.
The group visited the temple under the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) around 9am. After queuing up, each devotee wearing a shirt offered prayers before the deity. Challenging the traditional dress code norms, the protest was held in a peaceful atmosphere without the intervention of anyone.
“The devaswom board is discriminating against SNDP. They need money from SNDP, members of which comprise 65% of the state’s population. When PSC provides a post to someone, they are being targeted. We are protesting against this,” V K Vasudevan, an SNDP joint committee leader, said.
He said the devotees are creating a massive movement against such discrimination. The prayers at the Koikkal temple were in support of Sivagiri Mutt president Swami Sachidananda’s stand on the issue. The seer had recently asked the temples under the control of the mutt and SNDP Yogam to give up rituals that prohibit male devotees from wearing upper garments at temples.