By
Aditya Aamir
‘Yuvatis’
Kanaka Durga and Bindu sneaked into Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple in the wee hours
of January 2, 2019. Victory! Temple Chief Tantri Kandraru Rajeevaru closed shut
the temple doors and “purified” the temple precincts. Humiliation! Only then
was the temple reopened for male Ayyappa devotees. A team of 70 cops in mufti
assisted Kanaka and Bindu gain “backdoor” entry. They did not climb the “18
sacred steps”. Kerala society stands divided, polarized.
Chief
Minister Pinarayi Vijayan confirmed the “breach.” His statement comes within 24
hours of the LDF-sponsored ‘Women’s Wall.’ The “50 lakh-strong Women’s Wall”
saw hundreds of burqa-clad women, carrying placards reading ‘Brahmanical
Patriarchy Down Down’, giving rise to chatter that “reformation of the Hindu
way of life” has throughout history been “outsourced to other faiths.”
The
“yuvati-entry” followed by “purification” is seen as a return of
“untouchability” and “violation” of the September 28 Supreme Court verdict. The
breach is expected to influence the Supreme Court when it hears review
petitions on January 22. Calls to arrest the Chief Tantri and his assistants
under the SC/ST Atrocities Act for carrying out a series of “ordained cleansing
pujas” after the “yuvati-entry” are gaining ground. But various Hindu
organizations lauded his boldness.
Kanaka
Durga and Bindu tried to make history 10 days ago but had failed. Wednesday,
they tasted partial success. It is an inflexion point in Kerala history. “Faith
vs. law’ transformed into “Hinduism vs. traitors to Hindu way of life.” Ayyappa
devotees are taking the breach as a “traitorous challenge” to Hinduism from the
atheist communists. Kanaka and Bindu came to Sabarimala in an ambulance, the 70
policemen in “Ayyappan black.” The two women “entered”. They “saw”. They
“returned.” They “made history.” They sent a “signal to the Supreme Court.”
Four
months short of Lok Sabha elections, Kerala stands polarized. The “breach of
tradition” came within hours of Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that
Sabarimala was different from triple talaq, that the two cannot be equated. The
BJP in Kerala is fired up. It is looking beyond January 22. To an ordinance! To
Ayyappa devotees, mostly, January 22 doesn’t hold meaning anymore. Both BJP and
the Congress want Pinarayi Vijayan to step down. Kerala Devasom Minister
Kadamkampally Surendran, however, says that there’s “no test” to determine
“temple-entry age”, especially after the September 28 Supreme Court verdict.
The
BJP terms the “entry of age-barred women a well-planned despicable conspiracy.”
BJP-led protests broke out across the state by noon with demonstrations outside
the Chief Minister’s residence and the Secretariat. The residences of Bindu and
Kanaka Durga are under police protection. Grainy CCTV footage of the two
entering and leaving the temple will be archive-protected. But the two will
henceforth live in fear. The police cannot give them protection for life. The
same as the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple cannot be forever fortified against
‘yuvati entry.’
Amidst
all this, the Congress is as if rudderless, with no clear instructions from the
high command. Pinarayi Vijayan seems to have succeeded in making the LDF’s main
opposition irrelevant to a degree. Vijayan appropriated the title of ‘Navothana
Nayakan’ with the ‘Women’s Wall’ and the successful “Women’s Entry.” But the
LDF claim of “50 lakh-strong Women’s Wall” is suspect. A ‘50 lakh-long Women’s
Wall’ will stretch from Kasargode to Triveni Sangam in Kanyakumari, and from
there to Sri Lanka to lose itself in the waters of the Indian Ocean!
Impossible. Unbelievable.
Kanaka
Durga and Bindu were at the Sabarimala shrine for exactly four minutes. They
did not wait to pray. That was not the purpose. They restored to life
“she-devil Mahishi” who “Ayyappa killed”. And what’s the use if every time a
“yuvati entry” is followed by “purification”, a cleansing? Can the Supreme
Court order a cleansing of age-old traditions, evict the tantri-clan and the
erstwhile Pandalam royals from running Ayyappa Temple, handover Swami Ayyappa
to the Malaryar Adivasis, original claimants?
My
god, your god; his god, her god! What a godless situation. January 2, 2019
marks the beginning of a long-drawn struggle to claim god, use god as
instrument, the effects of which will be felt for decades, if not centuries.
Two women in their 40s have robbed Swami Ayyappa of his eternal celibacy.
Imagine the state of mind of Malika Purathamma, her eternal wait to wed him,
all in vain? (IPA Service)
The post Swami Ayyappan Loses His Celibacy For 4 Minutes appeared first on Newspack by India Press Agency.
