| ELAVOOR THOOKKAM -
AN EVALUATION |
 |
by
SWAMI BHOOMANANDA TIRTHA
[Translation
of Poojya Swamiji’s article in Malayalam Publication
‘Sushikham’ a monthly magazine from Parur, Ernakulam Dt.
Issue dated June 2004.]
Kerala
is replete with mythologies and legends associated with
places and Temples. These play an important role in building
up faith as well as respect
for values that sustain the moral fabric of the Hindu
society. However, if attempts are made, in the name of these
tenets, to subvert the system of righteous living, then it
behoves all right thinking people to sense the potential
threat ingrained in the ventures and stem the rot
immediately. For, that forms the essence of viveka
or discretion and discrimination.
It is
in this background that the recent criminal episode of the
attempts to re-introduce Thookkam
in Elavoor Putthankavu
Bhagavati Temple should be viewed. The event sparked so much of tension
and high drama, display of naked aggression and terrorism
that it calls for serious concern and thought by all
peace-loving citizens everywhere. (The Putthankavu
Bhagavati temple was virtually under siege with threats
of dire consequences to those who ventured inside. The local
MLA was held captive and uncommunicative for hours on end
defying police patrols).
The
devotional frenzy has projected the highly literate populace
of Kerala as a barbaric primitive people in the eyes of the
world.
Yielding
to popular will and social pressures from upholders of
Dharmic values, the infamous Elavoor Thookkam
made its final run in 1987 and was stopped for ever
thereafter.
This
unholy ‘offering’ was substituted by a very holy and
sublime ritual called ‘poomootal’
which literally means ‘covering with flowers’. The
substitution of thookkam by poomootal was
the result of an ashtamangalya
prashnam, an astrological session. That the
poomootal is
acceptable to everyone is shown by the fact that the event
has been booked until the year 2017. This has been the
situation since 1987.
In
spite of the prevailing conditions, a group of
self-interested persons of Elavoor, under the pretext of
promoting welfare of the Temple, determined to re-introduce
the abandoned thookkam
in April this year. Towards this end they hired a
‘volunteer’ to begin the temple vows for undergoing the
barbaric and criminal act of hanging from a 32ft high
scaffold with metal hooks pierced on his back. The victim,
willing to suffer the pains of cruelly bleeding wounds on
his back, dumbfounded with beetel leaves and arecanut pieces
stuffed into his mouth, compounded by shouts to deafen his
ears, would receive a reward of money in return for the
‘service’.
This
criminal event is unpardonable on any account.
If the
mere effort of re-starting the thookkam
generated such violence and terror, one can well imagine the
grave dangers to social harmony and peace if indeed the thookkam
finds its way once again in the list of regular
‘offerings’ in the temple.
The
Thookkam
Legend
Elavoor
and its neighbourhood was afflicted, in days of yore, with
incurable diseases that claimed a large number of lives. The
helpless King of the region, unable to bear the suffering of
his subjects, undertook penance.
As a result he had a divine dispensation that he
should offer human sacrifice in the Elavoor Putthankavu temple, for which the person was chosen by lots from
among the Nair clan in his kingdom.
A
royal diktat could not of course be challenged. The
process began and the selected person would be sacrificed
before the deity by hanging him from a 32 ft high scaffold,
with metal hooks pierced on his back. The temple gates would
be closed for a week. The unfortunate victim would be
devoured by ghouls of the goddess, who would appear
disguised as vultures and other birds of prey to peck him to
death, says the legend.
When
the Temple reopened, the skeletal remains of the sacrificed
victim would be cleared up and the precincts sanctified by
sprinkling holy water before commencing the routine worship
for the Deity.
It
so happened that the lot once fell on the only son and
support of a widowed mother. Trembling with fear, the woman
stood before the Deity in the Putthankavu temple and prayed
fervently wailing her travails. The goddess, it is said,
responded, by redressing the plight with an oracle
revelation that from then onwards the sacrifice should be
substituted with thookkam (ritualistic hanging).
The
practice of suspending a live human being with metal hooks
pierced on his back from a scaffold thus had its beginning,
say the Elavoorians themselves.
Is
not an indisputable fact glaringly obvious here? That
neither the human sacrifice nor the thookkam was the result
of any astrological finding; neither was the Devi Herself
responsible for it!
Temple
practices such as the thookkam
will stun anyone with a heart. The thookkam, reminiscent
of Human Sacrifice cannot be permitted anywhere, much less
within the hallowed precincts of a temple. Thookkam and
similar acts are criminal in nature and punishable too. The
King’s rule is out of date in our country and even the
privy purses to the erstwhile rulers have been done away
with. Strange then, that under the pretext of continuing
some ancient Royal decree and barbaric custom, some
misguided souls are attempting to re-commence the thookkam.
To continue to
uphold and propagate old outdated practices, going against
the established laws and rules enacted by the elected
representatives of the country, amounts to subversion and
pretending darkness by closing the eyes.
Thookkam in any form is
strictly punishable under the law. Not only that, temple
premises are exclusively for conducting functions and
ceremonies which are totally based on non- violence and
purity (Ahimsa and
Pavitrata).
Piercing
anyone’s back and torturing the bleeding victim in any
manner anywhere in the country being a criminal offence, how
can it be regarded otherwise inside a temple? Temples too
are under the law of the land and all activities in it must
fall in line with the law.
The consequences of
trying to outwit the Law in trying to hold the
thookkam under pretext of
divine revelation and fear, of course, is what led to
the unleashing of terror and disorder in Elavoor Putthankavu
Bhagavati temple.
The protagonists of
thookkam laid siege to the temple premises preventing
devotees from far and near from entering it by locking the
gates from inside. They crowded a few hundreds of their
followers in the temple grounds and held captive the local
MLA for hours together. They threatened to physically
challenge anyone volunteering to enter the temple. a group
of peaceful ascetics who had arrived from Thrissur for darsn
of the deity was not allowed to enter the temple and the
protagonists kept up their loud chants decrying the anti
Thookkam Vivekodaya Yatra.
How can this be
ever justified? Is this not similar to what took place
in the Golden temple? The only difference perhaps is that
Elavoorian terrorists were unarmed, or so it seemed.
Misrule
by a Committee without
any authority or standing!
The Temple
Advisory Committee that authored the disquiet had become
defunct in February last, when its term of office ended. In
principle, the chief of the Temple Advisory Committee is the
Manager appointed by the Kerala Uranma Devasom Board (KUBD),
in which rests the supreme authority over the temple. The
KUDB had suspended its manager for indiscipline and
therefore he held no office. It is strange that a defunct
Committee and a manager without any authority together
decided to revive the thookkam in Elavoor Putthankavu
Bhagavati temple.
By continuing to administer the temple affairs flouting the
suspension orders, the protagonists have only revealed their
terrorist intentions, foreboding intense confrontation.
They conducted another asthamangalaya
prashnam to obtain divine sanction for their
perverted moves. By conducting a second asthamangalaya
prashnam – the first having been done in 1987 – on
the same subject, for which a remedy had already been found
and implemented in 1987, they have only torpedoed the very
foundation of prashnam
procedures.
We should remember that
it is the human eyes, human hands and human mouth that
operate to move and count the conch shells and read the
zodiacal chart in the prashnam procedures. To repeatedly conduct prashnam on the same cause is bound to yield conflicting results.
Such exercises aimed at fulfilling one’s self-interests
are obviously disastrous. But that is what took place in
Elavoor Putthankavu Bhagavati
temple. There was a series of asthamangalya
prashnams going off like a string of firecrackers!
Remember that the
entire episode took place under the directions of a defunct
Temple Advisory Committee and led by a manager without any
status or authority. The temple is totally under the control
of the KUDB. Without the written permission of the Board no
one, not even the Temple Advisory Committee, has right to
make any changes in the in the rates and charges for the
various offerings and ceremonies in the temple. Such being
the control exercised by the KUDB, what is the expected
response from its manager in the temple, trustworthy members
of the Temple Advisory Committee or anyone else for that
matter?
The KUDB council had
informed the Temple Advisory Committee that the thookkam should not be performed in any manner and that there should
be no new additions or deletions from the current list of
offerings and pooja. While the manager chose to ignore the
orders, the Temple Advisory Committee’s response
demonstrated that they did not value the KUDB or its rulings
even as a blade of grass!
Destroying
the property of a temple
Unthinkable in Hindu
culture! But the Temple Advisory Committee and its henchmen
did exactly that. They demolished without compunction the
inner sacrosanct wall of the temple.
Administering the affairs
of a temple does not confer ownership of the temple on the
administrator. One may add anything to the temple but one
has no right to take away anything from the temple or its
assets. This is a compulsory discipline in Hindu Dharma. But
these sane edicts did not mean anything to the Temple
Advisory Committee men and what was revealed on that day in
Elavoor Putthankavu Bhagavati
temple was their dark intentions and naked aggression on the
physique of the Goddess.
A
great heinous act, the destruction of the inner temple wall
To somehow get the
co-operation of the people in going ahead with their
subversive plans, the Temple Advisory Committee now renamed
themselves as the Temple Welfare Committee from their
erstwhile Advisory Status. They announced that a penance be
done to propitiate the Devi
in which
all should participate. Such penance is called ‘vilichchu
cholli prayaschittam’
or ‘penance of open declaration before the deity’. The
gullible villagers, already under threat of dire
consequences for not doing the thookkam
all these years, readily went to the temple. They did
not realise that they were being trapped into being used for
the most sinful and shameful act of desecrating the physique
of the goddess Bhagavati
in breaking and demolishing the inner wall of the temple
compound.
It is declared in the
temple Vastu Shastras that
the temple body extends to the outer compound wall with the
sanctum sanctorum being the heart of the temple. Thus
reckoned, the inner wall represents the delicate sensitive
parts of the Devi’s physique. It is this they defiled by
demolishing – unpardonable sin that cannot but bring great
miseries to everyone involved. (Editor’s note: After
hearing Swamiji at the Elavoor Vivekodaya Yatra, many came
forward to express regret for participating in the act and
wanted advise on ways of expiating their sins.)
Nevertheless the Temple
Welfare Committee not only demolished the wall but also
destroyed numerous trees and foliage vigorously thriving in
the compound.
The HNP (Hind
Navotthan Pratishthan Pratishthan of which the writer is the
All India President) had written to the district authorities
cautioning them against the possibility of
the move to demolish the temple wall. A police patrol
was deployed, but they were misguided by persons belonging
to non-Hindu faith and so prevented from reaching the place.
The active involvement of non Hindus in this despicable act
as well as in the affairs of Hindu temples is a matter of
great concern, foreboding serious erosion of the communal
harmony in the State.
We understand that
the Temple Welfare Committee members boasted that with the
general elections around the corner, anything could be done
and anything could be achieved. To bring in politics into
the affairs of the temple is grossly wrong and a let down on
the people, who have necessarily to depend on the government
for the protection of Hindu temples and Hindu Religious
places of worship.
Temple
– a noble concept
It is essential to
understand and appreciate the fundamental concepts in the
construct of a temple. The innermost resident is the Deity
and this signifies the heart of the temple. The physique of
the deity is conceived to extend to the outer wall
surrounding the temple. Obviously the entire compound inside
the temple represents an integral part of the deity’s
anatomy. The abdomen and private parts come to be demarcated
by the inner wall which thus assumes great sanctity and
sacredness, particularly for a Deity
installed as goddess. By demolishing the inner wall
and uprooting the trees, trampling upon the debris, and
gloating over their ‘achievement’, the perpetrators have
greatly sinned God and man. Let them not delude themselves
into believing that they can ever be absolved of their sins,
however much they may try to rub or wash it off from their
stained hands.
The acts that followed
were equally challenges to decency and public décor, apart
from being an affront to the law.
The enigmatic
question glaring before the eyes of the Elavoorians is what
should be expected of the government when faced with such
terrorists. The government has a direct responsibility
towards the unorganised Hindu religion and places of worship
and there is a separate minister in charge of such affairs.
But the authorities were mute witness to the criminal
incidences that took place in the temple!
The people can
rightfully ask the authorities either to stop such
activities or take over the temple.
It was in
consideration of these facts that the Ernakulam District
Collector ordered the ban on conducting the thookkam and
also confiscated the accessories for conducting the event.
The manner in which the entire operation of stemming the
Thookkam was carried out without any disruption to peace and
tranquillity of Elavoor speaks volumes for the efficient
State administration. It
stands as a great relief to the people at large.
Temple worship is
not a regional matter. The consequences of conducting
worship in any temple, wherever it is located, are spread
far and wide.
A
temple may be located in a particular place but the deity
installed represents a universal presence. Thus any worship
or prayer offered in a public place of worship immediately
reflects on the entire universe. Let this truth be known to
all.
By
closing the gates and locking themselves in the temple,
preventing ascetics, sannyasins and lay devotees from
entering the temple, the Elavoorians have committed a grave
mistake against Hindu Shastras
and the
Hindu Dharma.
But the
Elavoorians are very much a part of our society. We have
only love and sympathy for these misguided brethren. Our
intention is only to bring them back to the path of
righteousness and truth. It is time for the
Elavoorians to rethink their stand on this matter.
Before concluding,
here are the points raised by any thinking mind which
deserve deep consideration:
1.
The informed pundits, the tantris, who hold the
authority over temple traditions, have jointly held that
Thookkam and the like have no place in the temple rites
governed by tantra-mantra practices. The Temple Advisory
Committee/Temple Welfare Committee need not, therefore, lean
on the tantri of the temple to support their plans.
2.
The question remains, why did the defunct Temple
Advisory Committee now decide to re-introduce the Thookkam
which was stopped by public demand 17 years ago?
3.
Under
these circumstances, should the intelligentsia of Elavoor
and the upholders of Hindu dharma elsewhere be silent
spectators?
4.
The fact
that the Temple Advisory Committee went in appeal in Kerala
High Court against the orders of the KUDB shows that they
had cognized the KUDB’s orders to be inviolable. They
should have decently accepted the orders instead of
stubbornly violating and challenging it in the High Court.
The Hon’ble HC dismissed their petition as effectively
untenable and so upheld the KUDB’s authority in the
matters of the EPDK. At least then wisdom should have dawned
on the TAC to accept the verdict and meekly admit their
folly before the Deity and withdraw from the scene.
5.
Instead whatever they subsequently did was against
the law and only worsened their case. They even preferred to
challenge the Collector’s orders.
6.
By going against strong protests and sane advice from
upholders of Dharma, they displayed total revolt against all
civil behaviour showing their blatant terrorist intentions.
7.
Even when the District Collector issued orders
against conducting thookkam,
citing full reasons for his action, why did not the Temple
Advisory Committee/Temple Welfare Committee accept the
orders as law-abiding citizens?
8.
Did they delude themselves into believing that the
Collector’s Orders are on a par with the KUDB’s orders
that they could afford to ignore? What does this
unpardonable attitude show?
9.
Prohibitory orders were in force in Elavoor temple
area on 22nd and 23rd April. A large
police force was also seen deployed to ensure that the
Orders were implemented.
Yet the Temple Advisory Committee/Temple Welfare
Committee and their henchmen held captive for hours, the
local MLA who had gone to the temple for worship, declaring
a siege of the temple.
10.
The unleashing of terror, propagating lawlessness and
creating tension in Elavoor by the so-called advisory
committee transgressed all social norms of decency. The
Elavoor people should at least now open their eyes to the
dangerous elements they are nourishing in their own midst.
This may one day explode into situations, the likes of which
one sees and hears about in other parts of the country and
the neighbourhood places.
11.
Are Keralites and Nationals of Bharat fools to watch
in imbecility, the audacity of some people to question the
Orders of the District Authorities or hold in custody with
impunity anybody who walks into their midst?
12.
The thookkam,
which was stopped for good in 1987, was substituted with the
satvic ritual called poomootal.
The popularity of this ritual is shown by the fact that
it has been booked until year 2017. Simultaneously
tamasic rites
like ‘guruti’ were also
stopped along with the thookkam.
The KUDB invested about Rs 1,40,000 for making facilities
and permanent structures for conducting the
satvic rites including that of feeding babies with their first
morsel of food and also initiating little ones into the
world of letters (vidyaarambha)
in the Elavoor Putthankavu
Bhagavati temple.
13.
How should we describe the thookkam
crazed misguided people of Elavoor?
14.
Let the defunct Temple Advisory Committee and the
unauthorised Temple Welfare Committee realise the folly and
hollowness of their ambitions
and bow with humility before the Deity and seek Her pardon
for whatever they have done. Let them thus demonstrate their
devotion and love for the Goddess and keep off the temple
affairs.
15.
Recognising that
we have a duly elected government in the State as
well as at the Centre, every citizen must adhere and respect
the law and obey the orders of the State. The Collector’s
Orders are fully in keeping with these and are inviolable.
16.
It is understood that the protagonists of thookkam had planned to obstruct a group of men women and children
who were to conduct naama
japa on 22nd April, in the Putthakavu
Bhagavati temple. Let
them realise at least now that Elavoor is a part of this
great Free Nation, Bharat, and that we have only one Indian
citizenship, making us free to travel anywhere within the
country without let or hindrance. And this includes Elavoor
also. Not a single soul in Elavoor has any right to stop
anyone entering Elavoor. If at all, it is the privilege of
the law-enforcing authorities and with good reasons only.
17.
The protection of all including the Hindu Dharma is
with the government.
18.
It was after considering the aspects of law and order
that the District Magistrate Ordered the ban on thookkam
on 22nd April midnight. It is evident that
the Government alone can decide to allow the thookkam
in future.
19.
There is law, enacted in 1968, prohibiting sacrifices
of animals and birds in temples. This law prohibits killing
or maiming birds and animals in temples in the name of
worship. Since provisions exist under the Indian Penal Code,
the ill treatment or sacrifice of human beings in the name
of worship, did not call for any special legislation as in
the case of mute animals.
It is significant that the Collector had prohibited
the thookkam under
the provisions of the Cr. PC. Let the Elavoorians remember
this. Let those who read this also inform others.
20.
The protagonists of the thookkam
are also a part of our society.
We have only love for all and sympathy, especially
for the misguided few.
Just as parents advise their children not to steal,
we also are only educating the misguided ones to help them
come out of their wrong notions and not indulge in wrongful
acts. But, however, when these fail, it is natural that the
law enforcing authorities step in to correct the situation,
just as a wayward son is turned over to the police when he
attempts to kill his parent.
21.
The link with Dharma and upholders of Dharma and the
law, that has bonded with the Elavoorians will never be
severed, let me assure you all. We have no ill will or hate
towards anyone anywhere. Only the love for our Country and
devotion compounded with staunch allegiance to Dharma,
compel and persuade us to act. Let everyone know this truth.
22.
What was started as a human sacrifice by Royal
diktat, was stopped by the anguish and tears of a widowed
mother. The Thookkam that was started by the temple Oracle was also stopped 16
years ago by the will of the people. There is therefore no
question of re- introducing the thookkam
in Elavoor Putthankavu Bhagavati temple directly or
indirectly in any manner whatsoever.
Harih Om Tat Sat! Jai Guru!
THOOKKAM INDEX
