The recent news about separate toilets, one ‘only for Brahmins’, by Kuttumukku Mahadeva temple in Thrissur surfaced in social media. Thankfully, the temple authorities withdrew the decision after pressure mounted on them. It is high time the temple authorities annihilated such discriminatory practices that vilify the religion of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’

Discrimination at places of worship is not new to India. Irrespective of any belief systems, social prejudices, inequity and favouritism exist, though the forms and degree vary from religion to religion. However, it surprises us that such practices still exist and often gets patronised in the State of Kerala, which tops in almost all kinds of social parameters, including the Human Development Index (HDI). The issue becomes more serious, especially when practices of discrimination are observed in temples owned by the Devaswom Board, rather than by any individual or family or community.

The recent news about separate toilets being made available only for Brahmins by Kuttumukku Mahadeva temple managed by Devaswom Board at Thrissur in Kerala, surfaced in social media and was criticised by all. The temple authority had to withdraw its decision under pressure. True, we see the practice of separate toilets in most educational institutions for staff and non-staff (students or other visitors). But they are two forms of arrangements not based on any superiority of one type of people over others. The basis has never been caste, religion and race for such common facilities. Had the temple authority earmarked separate toilet for the priest or temple staff, the move could have been justifiable.

It is worth mentioning here that Devaswom Boards in Kerala were established with a noble purpose to undertake the management of the temples of Princely States of Travancore, Cochin and Malabar, to regulate their finances, maintenance and removal of pre-existing discriminatory practices (if any).

They were created by the Travancore-Cochin Religious Institutions Act (1950), regulated, empowered and expanded by subsequent laws passed in the State Legislative Assembly of Kerala. Though the establishment of Devaswom Board was considered to be an important reformative step, in reality, the temples owned by the Board have become one of the most discriminatory places for worship, persisting even in the 21st century. Several forms of social and economic differentiation such as separate queues based on payment, ban on the entry of non-Hindu devotees or visitors, priority to Brahmin for the post of priests, ban on entry on the basis of gender, removal of shirt, etc, continue to be practised in these religious institutions.

The price discrimination for Darshan (auspicious sight of a deity/idol) is found in Kerala only among the temples managed by Devaswom Board. The most visited Devaswom temples have provisioned separate queues based on payment, which simply means higher fee for entry into shorter and easier queues to save time, while ordinary people, who cannot afford to pay or do not want to pay at all, face longer queues to take the Darshan of the deities. Moreover, all the devotees do not get similar kind of Darshan in the temple, some form of product differentiation is also applied to justify differential price, where devotees can get Darshan of deities at a close range if they pay higher.

This practice is found in the Sree Krishna Swamy temple in Guruvayoor, one of the most popular religious centres in Kerala, where a VIP queue system exists with a payment of Rs 1,000 for “Special Darshan”.

In another surreal practice, most of Devaswom Board temples do not allow non-Hindus to enter temple. A controversy had erupted in the State in 2007 when purification rituals were performed by the temple authority after some religious ceremony of former Union Minister Vayalar Ravi’s grandson took place at the previously mentioned Guruvayur temple, since the Minister’s wife was a Christian. Similarly, legendary singer KJ Yesudas, a recipient of prestigious national awards such as Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan and the Padma Vibhushan, who had sung some of the most popular devotional songs in praise of various Hindu deities, was not allowed to enter the Guruvayur and Kadampuzha Devi temple in Malappuram for being a non-Hindu. Later, he was allowed to enter the famous Sri Padmanabhaswami Temple in Thiruvananthapuram, which is not under any board, after years of waiting (Outlook Web Bureau 2017).

Similarly, Sabarimala Temple, another Devaswom Board owned institution, do not allow the entry of women aged between 10 and 50. One may call it diversity, but it could have been better if the restrictions were made wholly on a voluntary basis, by making people aware of the old beliefs and practices of this ancient temple, and allowing the devotees themselves to decide whether to visit the temple or not.

It can also be found that Devaswom temples have not been considering people belonging to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes for the post of temple priest. Their first Scheduled Caste (SC) priest was appointed only in 2017, by the Travancore Devaswom Board (Balan 2017). It is noteworthy that Kerala had unique culture prior to the formation of Devaswom Board, where most of the temples were owned by a caste or community itself, who uses to appoint their own caste people as temple priest. This practice can still be noticed in many parts of the State where rituals related to marriage and birth are performed by own caste people, expert in mantra vidya (chanting hymns) rather than by Brahmins.

Hovever, there exists scores of private/trust run temples in Kerala which have been appointing persons from Scheduled Caste & Scheduled Tribal communities as their priests for many decades. Popular temples in Thiruvananthapuram such as Kollampuzha Devi temple in Attingal, Elambrakode Devi temple in Pallikkal, Mullanalloor Devi temple in Navayikulam have priests belonging to Paravar and Kuravar caste of SCs while priests of Venkamala Devi temple belong to Kaani community of Tribals.

Similarly, the medieval practice of verifying “janau” (sacred thread) of people by removing the upper wear (shirt) is still practised in the temples owned by Devaswom Board, especially in Travancore region. For example, Sharkkara Devi temple, Sreekandeswaram temple, Pallippuram Devi temple, all in Thiruvananthapuram follow this custom. Interestingly, this practice is abandoned or discontinued by non-Devaswom Board temples.

The pertinent question is whether Hindu temples are getting more rigid or more liberal over the time. The answer is both yes and no. We can notice wave of liberalism in temples all over the country, and the temples in Kerala are no exception of it. But we can still notice such discriminatory practices in most of the temples owned by Devaswom Board i.e. Pattambi Guruvayur temple and Mulayankavu Bagavathy temple (both in Palakkad), Vadakumnatha temple and Kadampuzha temple (both in Thrissur), Kalari Bagavathi temple (Maruthur, Pattambi, also in Palakkad), Angadippuram temple, Thirumittakodu temple, Thirunavaya temple, Thiruvilwamala temple, and Sabarimala temple. Such discriminatory practices are not only bringing bad name to the religion but to the State as well.

It is very surprising that despite the fact that Communist Party of India (Marxist) and their allies, which claim to be religion-neutral and frequently proclaim themselves as a perennial supporter of social progress, did not initiate any reforms in the temples owned by State. It raises doubt on the intention of political dispensation if they want to continue these practices to vilify Hindu religion especially when these practices have been opposed by most of Hindus.

(Anish Gupta is an Assistant Professor of economics, Delhi University. The co-writer is a student of politics)