Kerala, the state with the highest literacy rate in India, is said to be vigilant about its religious freedom. However, the leftist government of Kerala is once again accused of interfering with Hindu traditions. The latest dispute concerns the temple dress code, which requires men to enter without a shirt. The leader of the Shivgiri Mutt, Sachchidananda Swami, has urged that this tradition be abolished, referring to it as a kind of casteism. The controversy around his demand has escalated, with the leftist government of Kerala now attempting to target Hindu practices.
Reports say that Sachchidananda Swami, the head of the Sivagiri Math, put forward a proposal in the presence of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan during the annual event of Sivagiri Peetha. He demanded to end the tradition of men going to temples without shirts. During this, Chief Minister Vijayan supported Sachchidananda Swami’s point, calling it positive, but said that it is necessary to build a consensus among all the concerned parties to implement it. He made this statement very cautiously because earlier his government had tried to implement the Supreme Court’s order on the entry of women of all age groups into the Sabarimala temple, which turned into a big controversy.
In fact, Sachchidanand Swami says that the dress code is a symbol of Brahminical thinking and its purpose is to keep non-Brahmins away from temples. He alleged that this tradition is part of the rules imposed by priests and religious gurus. The Chief Minister has talked about building a consensus to end this tradition.
It is notable that in the year 1982, a similar controversy erupted against the practice of ‘Brahmin food’ in the Guruvayur temple. At that time, Anand Tirthan, a disciple of social reformer Narayan Guru, had challenged this practice, after which the then Chief Minister Karunakaran had abolished it. Today the same history is being repeated again. Hindu organizations allege that this issue is deeper than the dress code. This is a well-planned attempt to separate the Hindu society from its traditions and culture.
Meanwhile, the Nair Service Society (NSS) has strongly opposed Sachchidananda Swami’s demand and the government’s stance. The NSS said that the traditions of temples cannot be changed at the behest of any government or outsider. The NSS General Secretary G. Sukumaran Nair raised the question as to what right Sachchidananda Swami has to challenge the traditions of the temple. He says that every temple has its own traditions, and the dress code is also one of them.
At the same time, self-proclaimed ‘reformist’ organisations like SNDP Yogam are supporting this stance of the leftist government. SNDP Yogam General Secretary Vellappally Natesan, while criticizing this stance of the Nair Service Society, said that such issues should not be made a means to divide the Hindu society. He also said that changes in traditions may be necessary, but this process should be done thoughtfully and after consulting everyone.
Historian M.G. Sasibhushan said that this dress code was probably made so that people maintain discipline in temples and do not consider them tourist places. However, this practice is limited only to Kerala and some selected temples, especially Sri Mookambika Temple in Karnataka. Most Indian temples do not have such dress codes.
Historians state that this dress code was introduced to maintain discipline, but the leftist government is trying to undermine Hindu beliefs by giving it the colour of Brahmanism and casteism. Diversity and traditions have deep roots in Hinduism, but the leftist government has repeatedly targeted them in the name of modernity.
This, however, is not the first time that the Left government of Kerala is interfering with Hindu traditions. Earlier, the issue of women’s entry into Sabarimala temple, the attempt to end the practices of Guruvayur temple and now the proposal of Sivagiri Math – all the incidents show a pattern. This government is repeatedly accused of involvement in targeting Hindu traditions and beliefs.
By the way, to understand the root of this entire controversy, you also need to know about Sivagiri Math and Sachchidananda Swami. Sivagiri Math was founded by Narayana Guru in the year 1904. He was against the appointment of Brahmins as priests in temples. However, the Ezhava community he himself belonged to is also an upper caste and is dominant in the Malabar region.
Narayana Guru, who called himself a reformist, always had an anti-Brahmin stance and later it also became a tradition of the Sivagiri Math. It is another matter that many temples run by this Math, which associates the tradition of going shirtless to ‘Brahminism’, also require the upper part of the body to be kept bare for entry. Similarly, the leftists have always opposed Hindu traditions by calling them conservative and backward. Therefore, it is not surprising that this time too Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan immediately stood up in support of Sachchidananda Swami’s proposal.
