Kerala’s influential Sivagiri Madhom said on Thursday that “equal social justice” was yet to be achieved in the State and that Brahminical dominance was still prevalent in relation to the priesthood in major temples there.
Only those who belonged to the Brahmin community can apply for the post of priests in well-known shrines like the Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa temple, Guruvayur Sreekrishna Temple, Chottanikkara Bhagavathi Temple, Vaikom Mahadeva Temple, and so on, it said.
The Sivagiri Madhom is a major spiritual centre of the State’s numerically strong Ezhava community.
The governments of the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front and the Congress-headed United Democratic Front issued circulars seeking Brahmins as priests in these temples during their respective tenures, said Sachchidananda Swamy, president, Sree Narayana Dharma Sangham Trust, which manages the monastery.
He was speaking at a programme organised at the Sivagiri Madhom here in connection with the 169th birth anniversary celebrations of social reformer and saint Sree Narayana Guru, the founder of the madhom.
What Sree Narayana Guru wanted was not just the right to offer prayers at temples but the right for everyone to conduct pujas and rituals there and manage those shrines, cutting across any difference, he said.
Sachchidananda Swamy asked how far the State could go forward in the area of social reformation after the samadhi of Guru. The State should be able to attain “equal social justice” by imbibing the thoughts of the Guru and carrying forward the lamp of revolution and reformation he tried to implement. “Has Kerala achieved equal social justice,” the swamy asked.
Alleging that the Secretariat, the administrative hub in the State capital, is a ‘thamburan kotta’, a fortress of privileged people, he urged to bring a change in such matters.
Despite several announcements and the formation of many political parties and movements in these years, the State could not achieve much more in terms of social renaissance than what was created by the Guru.
He urged the State government to make Daiva Dasakam, penned by Sree Narayana Guru, as the official prayer song of Kerala. Though several requests had been submitted in this regard before in these years, no action has been taken so far, the swamy said.
Kerala Tourism Minister P.A. Mohamed Riyas along with many ruling and Opposition MLAs were among the dignitaries present on the stage when the swamy made the critical remarks.
