Kerala ritual artist faces “ban” to perform as son marries Muslim woman

Thiruvananthapuram: A Kerala artist is facing a ”ban” to perform a ritual artform in local temple festivals here as his son married a Muslim woman at Karivelloor, a known Left bastion, in this north Kerala district.

Vinod Panicker, a known ‘Poorakali-Marathukali’ artist for the last 37 years, alleged that the management of some local temples informed him that he could not perform the traditional artform as he lives in the same house where his non-Hindu daughter-in-law lives which is against rituals and customs.

The management committee of a temple, a shrine of Thiyya community here, even told him that if he shifts to some other place from his own house, where the non-Hindu woman resides, then he would be allowed to perform the rituals.

As he rejected their demand, they conducted the ritual with another artist recently, he said. ”I have clearly told them that I don’t want to abandon my son and daughter-in-law or shift to any other house. I had been performing the ritual art for nearly four decades and it is such a pain to suffer this humiliation,” Panicker said. Claiming that the incident revealed the religious and communal mindset of the society, the artist said he is a follower of the teachings of Sree Narayana Guru, the saint-reformer who professed ‘one caste, one religion and one God’ for mankind.

However, the temple committee justified the action saying that rituals were not permitting to invite an artist for performance from a house where a non-Hindu person lives.

The also said they did not impose any ban but only informed Panicker that rituals could not be violated.

A temple management official said he was a Marxist party sympathiser but that does not mean that temple rituals need not be followed. The incident raised many eyebrows as Karivelloor is a place where the ruling CPI(M) has deep roots. As the issue triggered a controversy, senior Marxist Party leader and former minister E P Jayarajan came out criticising the temple management saying it was a ‘grave lapse’ from their side and the party was against that.

He also alleged that they had kept the development as a secret but now it has come to the public domain.

”Poorakkali” is a traditional dance ritual performed by men during the nine-day Pooram festival in Bhagavathy temples and sacred groves across Malabar (north Kerala).

Performed during the nine day Pooram festival especially during the Malayalam month of ”Meenam”, the ritual art form focuses mainly on rhythmic foot steps resembling the movements of martial artform. ”Marathukali” is a variant of Poorakkali.