3 min readThiruvananthapuramDec 21, 2023 07:43 AM IST
First published on: Dec 21, 2023 at 07:00 AM IST
For 39 years, Vithanassery Rajan lived as a Hindu in an orthodox Muslim family in Kerala’s Malappuram district. On Tuesday, when he died at the age of 62, Alimon Naranipuzha put his own faith aside to give a final farewell for Rajan, as per Hindu rituals.
The story of religious harmony from the state’s Muslim-dominated district doesn’t end here – having consigned Rajan’s body to flames at a public crematorium, Alimon is now waiting to collect the ashes of his beloved “brother”, which he will immerse in the Bharathapuzha river.
“I kept my faith aside for a moment to cremate Rajan as per his beliefs,” said Alimon (46).
Rajan, a native of Palakkad, lost his parents at an early age. Around four decades ago, when K V Muhammed, a social worker and local Congress politician from Malappuram, stopped for food at a roadside eatery in Puthanathani, he noticed a youth with an unkempt appearance. He was starving.
Muhammed offered him food and money to travel back to his village. But when Rajan started walking aimlessly along the road, Muhammed went after him and took the youth to his home in Nannamukku.
Rajan began a new life at the Kannamchathu Valappil house of Muhammed, who had six daughters and a son. The plan was to send Rajan back home after a few days, but since the youth had no place to go and no close relatives to look after him, Muhammed let him stay on. Slowly, Rajan became a member of the family.
Eight years later, Muhammed died at the age of 65.
“When my father died, people asked me to hand over Rajan to some asylum. But I was not ready to abandon him; I found there is virtue in taking care of a person who was brought home by my father,’’ Alimon said.
Rajan, who rarely went to his native village, grew up in the Muslim household, helping them with work at home and on their small agricultural land. Whenever he was hospitalised, Alimon’s family members stood beside him. As his health deteriorated, locals again advised the family to abandon him at a relief home or shelter, but they didn’t pay heed.
On Tuesday, before the cremation, Rajan’s body was kept at the house for people to pay homage, next to a flickering wick lamp. At the crematorium, the pyre was lit by Alimon and his nephew Muhammed Rishan. “We will do all rituals as per Hindu tradition for his soul,” he said.
“We lived as Muslims, and Rajan as a Hindu among us, in our family, under a single roof. When we went to the mosque, he prayed at the local temple,” said Alimon, a former member of the Perumbadappu block panchayat.
Alimon Naranipuzha (left) with Vithanassery Rajan 
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