Lord Guruvayurappan and the Controversy

The controversy sparked off by the performance of punyaham (purification rites) on the orders of the temple Tanthri at the Sree Krishna Temple in Guruvayur after the visit by Ravikrishna, son of Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi, intensified on Monday with more leaders coming out against the act.

A punyaham was performed in the temple last Friday on Tanthri Chennas Namboothiri's orders on the ground that the visit by Ravikrishna was against temple rules as he was a not a Hindu.
The Minister had visited the temple with his son Ravikrishna for his grandson's choroonu (first meal) ceremony. Ravikrishna was held to be a non-Hindu because his mother Mercy Ravi was a Christian.

Writer-critic Sukumar Azheecode had reacted to the development saying that punyaham had to be performed not in the temple but in the souls of those who performed it.

On Monday, Cooperation and Devaswom Minister, G Sudhakaran, who is in charge of the department that oversees matters related to temples, said that punyaham should be performed not in the temple but in the minds of Tanthris and in the hearts of Brahmins.

The Minister had last month written to the Guruvayur Devaswom committee requesting to find a way to let Christian playback singer KJ Yesudas worship in the temple where only Hindus were allowed.

"Where was Vayalar Ravi when I demanded entry for Yesudas in Guruvayur temple?," Sudhakaran asked. He said Ravi and his family could have avoided going to the temple as an incident of punyaham performance had taken place earlier in connection with his son's visit, he said.

Punyaham had been performed in September 2000 in the temple after Ravi's son worshipped there after his marriage in Guruvayur. The same reason was cited by the temple authorities then also.

State Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala said in Thiruvananthapuram that the punyaham performance at the Guruvayur temple in the name of the visit by Vayalar Ravi's son was extremely unfortunate.

He said several devotees of Lord Guruvayurappa would have been pained in the context of the punyaham even after Ravi and his family had repeatedly assured that they were devotees of the deity, he said.

Chennithala called for efforts to modify temple rites and rituals as per the changing times in discussion with all concerned.

Nationalist Congress Party leader and an ardent devotee of Lord Guruvayurappa, K Karunakaran said in New Delhi that punyaham was performed in accordance with the rules of the temple. Each temple in Kerala had its own specific set of norms for entry and worship and the rules in Guruvayur temple did not allow the entry of non-Hindus like Christians and Muslims etc, he pointed out. The ultimate power to decide in such matters rests with the Tanthri, he pointed out.