Sabarimala still an elusive dream for Kerala’s OBC and Dalit priests

Since December 2022, the Kerala High Court had been hearing petitions challenging TDB notifications seeking only Malayala Brahmin applicants for the post of chief priests at Sabarimala. The final hearing before the Devaswom Division Bench of Justices Anil K Narendran and P G Ajithkumar concluded on Saturday (April 1).

Stating that the Malayala Brahmin criterion was fixed based on tradition at Sabarimala, TDB president K Ananthagopan explains, “There are some temples in Kerala where only Viswakarmajars (an OBC community) do pujas. There are some other temples where only Nairs do pujas. The head priest is a temporary post — only for a year — at Sabarimala. At the moment, the board wants the custom to have only Malayala Brahmins as head priests to continue. I cannot comment on whether it is a violation of fundamental rights or not. We will accept whatever the court decides.”

As Sabarimala is the only temple under the TDB to insist on Malayala Brahmins as chief priests for Sannidhanam (the temple for the main deity, Lord Ayyappa) and Malikappuram (the goddess enshrined in a small temple nearby), the petitioners have argued that TDB’s caste criterion violates the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

“This is clearly discrimination based on caste. This practice has to end,” says Vishnu Narayanan, a priest from the Ezhava community (an OBC community), who is one of the petitioners in the HC case.

“Written on the façade of Sabarimala is a message welcoming devotees — ‘Thathwamasi’, which means ‘God is You’. It is a place where everyone is considered equal but then to deny non-Brahmins the post of chief priest is against the very essence of Sabarimala,” adds Vishnu, whose applications for the post have been rejected multiple times because he is not Brahmin. Minus the caste requirement, Vishnu says he meets the experience criterion as he has worked for over 10 years at a temple with three daily pujas.

Kerala’s five Devaswom Boards together run more than 3,000 temples — TDB manages 1,248 temples, Cochin 400 temples, Malabar 1,600 temples, Guruvayur 10 temples and Koodalmanikyam one temple. After the Kerala Devaswom Recruitment Board Bill was passed in 2015, the TDB in 2017 appointed 62 priests, including 36 from OBC and Scheduled Castes categories. Though reservation norms were applied for the first time, 16 of 36 non-Brahmin appointees were from the open (merit) category, which was seen as a shot in the arm for the idea of non-Brahmin priests.

Dr Amal C Rajan, a lecturer at Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kaladi, who has studied the temple priesthood issue extensively, explains, “When Dalit priests were appointed in 2017, the government, the board and the media celebrated it as a milestone in Kerala renaissance. However, the notifications the board has been issuing for the posts of priests at Sabarimala show that our renaissance is half-baked.”

Temple culture in the state

Temple culture in Kerala is heavily based on the tantric mode of worship — priests utter mantras quietly, and perform pujas with symbols and gestures. The main focus is on rituals associated with the deity enshrined in the sanctum, rather than processions or bhajans.

In Kerala temples, thantris (Vedic head priests) set the rules, priests conduct daily pujas, while kazhakakkars (temple workers) are responsible for tasks such as making garlands and playing musical instruments. Since Vedic knowledge was the fiefdom of Brahmins, they traditionally held the posts of thantris and priests. In fact, some families still possess a hereditary right over priesthood in temples like Guruvayur. However, hereditary rights over priesthood do not exist at Sabarimala.

Rajan says the lower castes in Kerala started fighting for the right to worship as early as the latter half of the 19th century. “It was started by Arattupuzha Velayudha Panicker. The Aruvippuram Prathishta by Sree Narayana Guru in 1888 was a milestone (The social reformer belonging to the Ezhava caste had consecrated a Shiva idol at Aruvippuram, near Thiruvananthapuram, in a break from tradition). Omal, a Dalit ascetic, also installed an idol and worshipped it (at Kuriannoor, in present-day Pathanamthitta district, in 1875),” he says.

Another milestone for non-Brahmin priests was the Adithyan vs TDB case. The petitioner had challenged the appointment of a priest from the Ezhava community at Kongorpilly Neerikode Siva Temple in Ernakulam’s Alangad in 1992. Striking down the petition in 2002, the Supreme Court had held that social imbalance concentrated canonical powers in the Brahmin community and that sacred texts had not barred non-Brahmins from becoming temple priests.

Income for priests

Various factors, such as low salaries, hectic working hours and lack of social life, are driving Brahmin youth away from priesthood. Newly recruited priests are usually appointed part-time. A part-time priest with the TDB gets a basic salary of around Rs 18,000. With daily and house rent allowances, the monthly salary is nearly Rs 22,000. The basic monthly salary of a full-time priest is Rs 25,000, which comes to around Rs 30,000 with various allowances. Salary hikes for priests are often as low as Rs 500 per annum. Priests under the Malabar Devaswom Board receive lower salaries than their TDB counterparts. According to reports in the local media, Malabar Devaswom Board priests have allegedly gone without salaries for months in the past.

Thus for priests working at major temples, offerings by devotees for various pujas are a major source of income, besides their salaries. This is a huge incentive when it comes to seeking a posting at a rich temple like Sabarimala, which also subsidises the day-to-day upkeep of those with very little revenue.

Akkeraman Kalidasan Bhattathirippad, the state president of Yogakshema Sabha, an organisation of Namboothiri Brahmins in Kerala that impleaded as a party in the Sabarimala case in the HC, says, “We are not against non-Brahmin priests. They have been conducting pujas at various temples for a long time. It is just that we want to preserve a custom at Sabarimala (of having only Brahmin priests) that has been there from time immemorial. We think we have a legitimate right to argue that the status quo should be maintained.”

Stating that the need of the hour was a proper academic system for priests, Bhattathirippad says, “It is the shodasha samskara (the 16 rites marking the passage of life according to Vedic traditions) that makes a person Brahmin — whether they are born Brahmin or not — and it takes a lot of sacrifice. Vegetarianism, teetotalism and a simple lifestyle are all needed to achieve that purity of body and mind required to serve God. Wearing a poonool (sacred thread) or learning pujas is just a part of the process.”

Acknowledging the lack of enthusiasm among Brahmin youth towards priesthood, he says, “Not many Brahmin youths are choosing to become temple priests because they feel undervalued. Brahmin women are unwilling to marry temple priests because it is neither a lucrative profession now nor a respected one ….”

Pressures and discrimination

When he was appointed keezh shanthi (assistant priest) at Chettikulangara Devi Temple in Alappuzha district in 2017, Sudhikumar, who belongs to the Ezhava community, already had 18 years of experience. However, the TDB cancelled his appointment initially, allegedly due to pressure from Hindu Matha Convention, a Hindu organisation.

“The thantri only wanted Brahmin priests at the temple. The Hindu Matha Convention also opposed my appointment. I had to go to court to secure it. I served at Chettikulangara for four years. Only a few people were against my appointment. They simply want to harass you knowing that you can’t go to court every time. The public, however, accepted me wholeheartedly. I think a priest should be a good devotee first,” Sudhikumar says.

Unlike his experience, priests from lower castes usually face more subtle forms of discrimination.

Rajan claims, “There have been plenty of instances of powerful temple committees thwarting the appointment of OBC or Dalit priests without the issue getting publicised.”

Syambhavi Nath Syam, a non-Brahmin priest at Thirumanimangalam Mahadevar Temple at Pandalam in Pathanamthitta district, alleges that in order to block appointments, temple committees often make astrologers say that deities would lose their divinity if a person from lower caste touches them.

“It is not just about caste but about colour too. I have felt it. If you are dark-skinned, you are more likely to get discriminated against in our temples,” alleges Syambhavi.

Yadukrishanan in 2017 became the first Dalit prest to be appointed by the TDB. (Express archive)

P R Yadukrishna, who was among the first Dalit priests to take charge of government-owned temples in Kerala, is currently posted as assistant priest at Sree Krishna Swami Temple in Aluva. Incidentally, the 27-year-old was in Sabarimala last year on special duty — non-priestly activities that included manning prasadam counters — for the 41-day mandala kalam, the annual pilgrimage season when lakhs of devotees visit the temple. Yadukrishna says while the public has been largely accepting of him as a priest at all the temples he has worked in so far, he is aware that there are people who are eagerly waiting for him to make a mistake so that they can pounce on him.

Sumesh, who is from the Pulaya community and is currently posted at Chittumala Sree Durga Devi Temple in Kollam district, recalls his time at Achankovil.

He says, “Some people were initially apprehensive about my appointment because of my caste but they warmed up to me because I did my job with utmost sincerity. In fact, the devotees wanted me to stay on when they heard that I was getting transferred.”

From the same batch as Yadukrishna, Sumesh has served Lord Ayyappa in the grihastha ashrama (household stage of the four periods of life as per Hinduism) at Achankovil. Now he hopes to serve the Lord in the vanaprastha (retired life) at Sabarimala one day.

“It is unlikely in the immediate future but change is the only constant …. I hope that one day Dalits are allowed to perform pujas at the hill shrine,” he says, his voice full of hope.

Given the repercussions of attempts to allow the entry of women of all ages into Sabarimala after the 2018 Supreme Court verdict, it remains to be seen how the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government and the TDB will play their cards if the High Court orders them to accept non-Brahmin applicants for the post of chief priest at the hill shrine.