Ritualistic Defence!A reply to the original article by Sri KPC Anujan Bhattathiripad in Malayalam VarikaSri Anujan Bhattathirippad has used rituals to support the rituals! The rituals and the so-called traditions have adversely affected the Namboothiri Community very much. Instead of shedding the rituals, Sri Bhattathiripad has faithfully clinged on to them to substantiate his arguments. Here we have one. Bhattathiripad openly admits the problem arose because of the religion of the mother . Here are his words "A ----ü --- -ì- ---Į --- -------." But neither thantri nor the temple authorities have openly said this (at least in the initial days).Thantri even washed his hands off by saying that he had been informed by someone about the 'asudhi' and he just did the punyaha, why and how was not his head-ache (fair enough). The problem comes when the same thantri goes much further by openly asking Ravi to prove that his son is a Hindu! Not only the thantri contradicts his own previous statement (that he has just done what has been expected of him to do), but also he exposes his prejudice and ignornace on who is a hindu and who is not! Accountability was missing! Sri Bhattathiripad is trying to diagnose the religion of Ravi Jr: "- --- -----î. -------- . -- -- ---á A ---- A-- --Ģ- --- -ī -- --, --- ------ (-Ģ- --- ----ٮ --) -Ф----. ," There goes all the wisdom! Bhattathiripad seems to be taking a holy matrimony between two souls as light as a lucrative and worldly affair like "Sambandham". Well, Sri Bhattathiripad should be able to give the judgment without any doubt now, isn't it? If the rules are so clear why don't you say that Ravi Jr is not a Hindu at all! why there is still the doubt? Sri Bhattathirippad has also defended the monoploy enjoyed by the Namboothiris in becoming thanthris in Guruvayoor. "--- 32 -----Ģ ------С ------С ž- -إ-Ģ--- Aբ --- -ĩ ---- --ɢ-- A----! A-ġ-Į إ-Ģ- -Ф-ž-- 80~ --- -ĩ A-------ϫ! " This doesn't mean much except that it proves that Namboothiris are still engulfed in outdated customs and rituals, which are plainly detrimental to the Namboothiri Community itslef. Here is an interesting writeup where Namboothiris opted for change breaking away from the old traditions and customs. "Other communities, especially Nayars and Kshathriyas encouraged Namboothiris to have "Sambandham" with girls in their communities. The objective behind this encouragement was to "purify" their future generation with Namboothiri bloods and also to elevate their families to higher level in the society due to a Namboothiri relationship. It was a fact that Namboothiris could not just resist such attractions in terms of money, sex and leisurely life.Namboothiris thus married Kshathriya (Varma or family of Kings), Nayar, Warrier, and Pisharoti girls and the children from such marriage alliances belonged to the matrilineal ("Marumakkathaayam") lineage of their mothers. This, interestingly, led to situations like a Nayar son of a Namboothiri could not eat or bathe with his father or a Namboothiri could not eat food prepared by his Nayar wife. Spinsters remained abandoned in Namboothiri community. Namboothiri Yogakshema Sabha, a revolutionary group of Namboothiris founded in 1908, took decision, in 1919, and agitated for marriage of all Namboothiris within the community. Namboothiri Yogakshema Sabha declared, the marriages of younger brothers from within the community, official, irrespective of the fact that elder brothers were married or not. This revolutionary meeting was held in "Bharat Bhushanam" at Trissur on 25th Medam 1094 (1919 A.D.). The aim was embodied in the Madras Namboothiri Act of 1933. In the same year, the Madras Marumakkathaayam act was passed, by which Sambandham alliances were considered regular marriages, conferring on the children the same rights of inheritance and property as held by children whose parents were both Namboothiris. The declaration and these acts led to a sudden decline in the rate of "Sambandham" marriages, only to end this unethical marriage, shortly (within around ten years). Following these acts, Namboothiri land was increasingly partitioned and Namboothiri property dispersed." [Quotation from Namboothiri Website http://www.namboothiri.com] Note that the "sambandham" which had been a glorious custom till then, has been classified by the Namboothiri site itself as 'unethical'! Bhattathirippad has also tried to ridicule SNDP and Yogam's lapses. Some of them might be right. SNDP Yogam is by no means an air-tight organization, and it should correct those mistakes, if they are indeed mistakes. Bhattathiripad also questions whether the temples established by Guru forbid entry to harijans? ------ ---Ģ- - --, ---- --- -------? Neither Guru nor Yogam had any such prohibitions at all. In isolated cases certain locals must have shown prejudice against harijans. This happened even to Asan and K Ayyapan for having dined with Pulayas. But the time was 1910s and 20s not AD 2000! Those Ezhavas had only 8% literacy those days and many of them did indeed have problems in understanding the magnitude of Guru's reformation. But again none of these old aberrations justifiy today's thanthri (who claims to be well versed in Vedas and Hinduism) stand ! Also the issue does not belong to SNDP or Vayalar Ravi. This is a common issue now. One way, it serves as an eye-opener to everyone on the hollowness of our religious leaders! No wonder hindus are on decline economically, socially and politically! Guruforum does not wish for the decline of Namboothiri Community in any way at all. Instead we wish they are prosperous and come out of the rituals and superstitious traditions and learn to look at the past in a historical perspective. With their old heritage and knoweldge of Sanskrit and old myths, their contribution to the society is important just as anyone else's! People like V.T.Bhattathiripad understood the cause of the debacle and was able to absorb the message of Guru. But in recent times, in all communities, the polarization seems to have gone in the wrong direction. |
How do you prove one is a Hindu?Gurforum issues a challenge to the Temple Authorities and anyone who requests the proof that one is a Hindu! What do you mean by Hindu? Can you show the word 'Hindu' mentioned in 1. Vedas2. Puranas3. Upanishads4. Ramayana5. Mahabharata'Hindu' word comes from the river 'Sindhu'. Greeks, Persians, Turks and Arabs called the region and the people of Indus as Hindus (linguistic variation from Sindhu). Several book names in Arabic end with 'al-Hind' means only India. Even today Turkish refers to us as Hindus (not in a religious way), many in the middle east simply refer Indians as 'hindi' (nothing to do with language, it means only Indian!) If the Hindu word itself is a 'foreign returned' Indian word, then what was the religion called those days? |