Only upper caste people allowed: Allegations of discrimination against percussionists in Kerala temple

A section has come with an allegation that only members of the upper castes are allowed to play various instruments inside the famed Guruvayur Sri Krishna Temple

A section has come out with an allegation that only members of the upper caste community are allowed to play various instruments inside the famed Guruvayur Sri Krishna Temple in Kerala.

Anaadhija, a forum fighting against discrimination, is now planning to seek legal remedy to this. However, the Guruvayur Devaswom that manages the temple situated in Thrissur district maintains that it had not come across any such activities.

Krishnan V A, president of Anaadhija which has initiated the campaign, said that it was said to be an unwritten norm over the decades at the temple not to allow people from other castes like Nair, Ezhava and Dalits to perform inside the temple.

He said that a query under the Right to Information Act was given to Guruvuyur Devaswom in this regard and based on their reply further action would be taken.

Guruvayur Devaswom chairman K B Mohandas said that he was not aware of any such specific bias as he had not come across any such complaints so far. "If there was any specific complaints in this reagrd, I could have enquired if there was any such discrimination. Those raising the allegations in public forum also did not give any complaint to the temple administration," he told DH

Krishnan said that they came across this discrimination now only form known percussionist Chandran Peringod. Peringod even said that many percussionists from lower castes were facing similar discrimination at some other temples also and even individual complaints were also raised. However, there were no corrective actions. Hence the forum was planning to seek legal remedy, said Krishnan.