Hindu devotees have made serious allegations about how Thrissur Pooram was conducted this year. Meat products were served near the south tower of the famous Vadakkumnathan Shiva Temple during the festival on 1 May. It is said that food waste and disposable plates were found abandoned near the tower. Complainants say containers used to distribute food in hotels and empty water bottles were located near the temple tower.
Thrissur native K Narayanankutty has filed a complaint along with the images with the Cochin Devaswom Board Secretary and Ombudsman. It is also alleged that many ritual violations took place on the day of Pooram, including the use of footwear inside the temple by the temple advisory committee officials. Hindu devotees are livid and have produced pictures as proof.
Most Devaswom Board and temple committee officials are atheist Marxists. Their only aim is to sell temple festivals and milk the proceedings. High Court orders banning politicians from temple affairs are yet to be implemented in Kerala Hindu temples.
Vadakkumnathan Temple is an ancient Hindu temple dedicated to Bhagwan Shiva in Thrissur. The temple has four monumental Gopurams (towers) on each side, a Kuthambalam, the Sanctum Sanctorum, and mural paintings depicting various scenes from the Mahabharata. Of these, the gopurams on the south and north are not open to the public.
Bharat has declared the temple and the mural paintings a National Monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act (AMASR Act). Our Parliament provides for preserving this ancient and historical Hindu temple monument of national importance.
According to popular local lore, this is the first temple built by Bhagwan Parasurama, the sixth avatar of Bhagwan Vishnu. Parasurama went on to build 108 such Shiva temples. Thekkinkadu Maidan, encircling the Vadakkumnathan Temple, is the main venue of the renowned Thrissur Pooram festival.
The gopurams of Vadakkumnatha temple are dilapidated, and entry is prohibited. But on Pooram day, over 50 people climbed the south tower violating the ban. The Thrissur Devaswom Assistant Commissioner and the Law Commissioner were present inside the temple that day but allegedly remained mute spectators. Finally, the intruders were brought down by the Disaster Management Force officials led by the District Collector.
Who were these vandals? We know that Abrahamics and communists take pleasure in desecrating Hindu temples. Was this forced entry and consumption of meat inside a Hindu temple part of a bigger plan to provoke local Hindus? Lakhs of Hindu believers participated in this year’s Thrissur Pooram.
Vadakumnatha Temple is a heritage site under the control of the Central Archeology Department, so there are many restrictions. The archeology department has banned the use of plastic in the temple premises. But the city corporation and Kudumbashree officials (in charge of waste management) piled up the plastic waste left after the Pooram and burned it on the temple grounds.
The Kerala High Court came out with a meek order imposing restrictions on the use of Thekkinkadu Maidan. The order states that the grounds should not be used for any other events except for the temple purposes of the Devaswom. The court also clarified that the applications received by the Devaswom Board for conducting other programs should be presented to the court, and prior approval should be taken. These restrictions came on a petition filed by K B Sumod, a native of Thrissur.
The HC ordered not to organize public events or meetings of political parties inside the Maidan. Encroachment by hawkers should not be allowed. According to the High Court order, concerned authorities must answer if such encroachments on the footpaths by violating the instructions and causing inconvenience to the public are detected.
Incidentally, there were no comments on the desecration of the temple during the Thrissur Pooram. Will the forced entry of non-believers into Hindu temples continue? There was no mention of an earlier Kerala High Court Division Bench order that banned political party representatives from becoming temple management committee members.
Until Hindu temples are free from government control, it is feared their decay will continue.
