Nature of the religious crime

 

‘Thookkam’ is the much abhorred barbarous, criminal but ‘acclaimed devotional ritual’, perpetrated in some Devi Shrines of the land.   

As part of this ritual the back of a 'hired person’ is pierced with two sharp metal hooks and the bleeding victim is drawn up to a height of 32 ft in a scaffold. The victim’s agony and distress gets submerged in the ‘exulting chorus shouting, howling and crying’ of the frenzied crowd around. In blinding mad rush the scaffold is taken in lightning speed around the Temple thrice, before the bleeding victim is brought down and his hooks pulled back. 

The cash nexus of the episode comes to light, when the sober elderly villagers tell us that an alluring sum of Rs.10,000 goes to buy the person religiously for the unpardonable torture. 

While inflicting the hired victim’s body, the ruthless ritual agonizes and inflames countless hearts and minds of God-lovers and Devotees the world over! 


Motives alleged behind the notoriety

The heartless, unruly organizers, whose wont is to market the ill-famed ritual for monetary gains, hoodwink guileless devotees with the unfounded claim of religious sanction and hoary tradition, who are led to look at the cruelty with awesome infatuation. 

Thookkam legend swallowed by proponents

The legend adduced for Thookkam: It is believed that the good old King, in his anxiety to arrest some widespread misfortune in his kingdom, opted to offer Thookkam ('Hanging') for the Goddess. But criminals awarded with capital punishment alone were made its victims.  The scaffold with the victim 'hanging' from it was left shut within the Temple for 7 consecutive days. The belief was to let the hung shed his body in Goddess’s proximity. 

The king also hoped that the event would give the punished scope to repent, transforming the whole episode to one of excruciating austerity.  He could thus derive some satisfaction of having atoned for his wrong. After 7 days, the remnants of the hanging body would be religiously removed and Punyaaha (purificatory ceremony) performed for the temple.

Click here for pictures of Thookkam 

NEXT / THOOKKAM INDEX