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Journalism of Courage
The lush green landscape of Kerala is dotted with innumerable temples. They proliferate at every nook and corner. Nothing surprising about it though. Quite naturally, God’s Own Country should have many temples, shrines, churches and mosques.
But what is surprising is that all these temples do not house gods. Some do, yes. But the others do not have any deities of known religious faiths or hues. They seem to be temples of a different kind.
Temples have always been part of Kerala’s landscape. Even in the deep recesses of the countryside, it is soothing for eyes to see churches perched on hill tops, with crosses reaching out to the heavens. In the dark hinterland bordering Kerala and Karnataka, in the vicinity of Virajpettah, one can spot countless Theyyam shrines sprouting like mushrooms. They house local deities who are, believe it or not, fond of dried fish and arrack.
You move down towards the southern parts and you have temples of the elitist gods — Guruvayoor, Chottanikkara, and so on. The deities of these shrines cannot bring themselves to accept as offerings anything less than milk, fruit and honey. In Kozhikode and Malapurram districts, it is the mosques in myriad colours that catch your eyes. They could be seen along the dusty roads, against the horizon of unfolding paddy fields.
These are one kind of places of worship in God’s Own Country.
Coming to the other genre of temples, they do not house gods at all. They are temples of ideology. Over the years, ever since the CPM took on the form of a religion for the masses, countless party offices came up all over the state. Instead of idols being washed in milk and adorned with flowers, you can feel just a permeating ideology and on top of the edifices and, like crosses stretching out their hands towards the skies, there are fluttering red flags. These are the offices of the Communist Party (Marxist), the most creative and intense political party in Kerala. For the eight lakh card-holders of the party, the local party office is nothing short of a place of worship.
Arguably, gods do not get involved in controversies. But God’s Own Country thrives on the heat and fury generated by controversies. During my short stint in Kerala early this month, the subject of the debate was the Guruvayur Temple. The story has it that Congress leader Vyalar Ravi’s son had got married in this temple. The bridegroom’s mother is a Christian, Mercy Ravi. The bridegroom’s blood was tested in the spiritual laboratory at the sacred Guruvayur, and the blood picture that emerged showed contamination by the Christian faith, forcing the head priest to order a purifying ceremony in the temple.
This is happening in a state known for the highest level of literacy in our country, a state that is in the forefront in education and culture.
Sadly, God’s temples are going back to the dark era of religious and caste bigotry. On the contrary, the temples of ideology are, by all appearances, opening up with the CPM now tending to discard its Stalinist intolerance.This is the impression I gathered while I was in the state’s capital recently.
The new TV channel launched by the CPM, the Kairali Channel, shows more visuals of BJP stalwarts like L.K. Advani than its own chief minister E.K. Nayanar. Some of the prominent writers in Kerala, who were until now kept out by the CPM due to ideological compulsions, are now being wooed back. More importantly, the writers are heeding the call to return home.
Thus while the temple of gods is keeping away the devout for flimsy reasons, the temple of Marxism is opening its doors to all, irrespective of their political, religious and caste background.
If ever I am compelled to pray, I would not go to a shrine that closes its doors to a Hindu young man just because his mother is a Christian. I would rather go to a secular Red temple.
