The Sabarimala season is coming to an end and going by the reports so far, it has been a successful year in terms of pilgrim arrival (30 % increase), net revenue (30 + % increase). There have been no incident of stampede (which happens occasionally) and no incident of terrorism (which is feared increasingly). So on the whole a good year.
Sabarimala has fascinated me for a very long time, so much so that I went to Sabarimala in 1983 even though I was probably at the peak of my atheist beliefs just to see what is that which attracts people to go their in spite of the difficulties and contradictions.
First about the difficulties. Sabarimala temple is in the middle of a forest and in the past people had to walk through the forest. Occasionally pilgrims were attacked by leopards and killed. In fact such attacks were common enough to become part of a proverb in Kerala
“ividunnu aarum malakku povanjittano ?, Avinde engan puli illanjittano ?
Literal translation don’t give the essence so I will give the context. A guy went to Sabarimala and was eaten by a leopard. His family did the final rites and arranged for a feast. One of the neighbors was not invited for the feast so she is complaining that why is that no leopard eats her husband when he go to Sabarimala (so that she could also arrange for a feast !).
Anyway, the time when pilgrims were eaten by leopards is long over. In over three decades of me following the pilgrimage, there was not even one report of such attacks. However the pilgrimage has not become less risky though. The thousands of people who crowd to the temple especially during the few auspicious timings create chaos inspite of the best efforts of the temple administration and local police leading to stampede and deaths. (eg. In 1993, 53 people died ). Add to this the numerous traffic accidents resulting in death and injuries. In the recent periods, increasingly there is suspicion and fear of terrorist attacks (like in Akshardham or Banaras) at the temple. So statistically speaking it is still a dangerous venture probably more dangerous than what it used to be.
Difficulty is yet another thing. In the past people had to walk initially from wherever they are to Sabarimala (100s of kilometers) then from Erumeli (about 50 kilometer) and now about 5 kilometer (from Pampa). However, the size of the crowd has increased so much that it could take upto 24 hours to complete the 5 kilometer journey. Add to this the lack of proper sanitation facilities, sometime difficulties in climate (rain, cold etc), the difficulties have mounted too, just that the nature has changed.
Anyway, enough about dangers and difficulties. Now something about the nature of the contradictions. The Ayyapan (the deity of Sabarimala) story is a mixture of facts and fiction, myths and legends. The story also straddles two time periods. The story begins in the cosmic period where the Gods and Demons (Asuras) are churning the cosmic ocean (palazhy) for the elixir (amruthu) and then cuts straight into AD 1000 or so where a king in Kerala goes for hunting into the forest. The story still cuts back into the cosmic period where Lord Ayyapa saves the entire “Devalokam” (world of Gods) by killing a demon who had acquired supernatural powers. The story will still cut back to the historic periods.
It is not my intention to reproduce the Sabarimala legend. Excellent compilation is available at the website http://www.sabarimala.org. I will just reiterate one more part of the legend. The Lord Ayyappa was actually born by the union of two male Gods (Lord Vishnu and Lord Siva). At the point of the union, Lord Vishnu was in the female form (Mohini) but at the time of birth the Lord had reverted to the male form. The birth therefore was not through normal channels (for obvious reasons) but through an incision on the thigh. When two Gods are involved in the process anything was possible.
In my childhood days, the sighting of “Makaravilakku” was a big event. Apparently on the 1st day of a certain Malayalam Calender month, when the prayers are offered at the temple, divine lights will appear in the sky. This was taken as the conclusive evidence of the divinity of the temple and truth of the legend. I recall listening to running commentary of the divine lights (no television channels then). However, somewhere in 1970s it became evident that the lights were not divine but very much human and lighted from the other side of the hill under instructions.
As mentioned, it is not my intention to recite or challenge the elements of the legend. What fascinate me is that in spite of the discovery of the fraudulent nature of the “divine light”, the obvious contradictions in the legend and the daunting difficulties, the number of people who go to the pilgrimage just keep growing at 30 %. And what is interesting is that it is not only the conventionally religious people who go to Sabarimala. It is a place where people who are on the fringe lines of faith as well as people from other religions (Christian and Muslims, though not frequently) go. Not only that they go, but they go again and again, year after year. This is very interesting to me.
As mentioned, I went to Sabarimala in 1983 and that too when I was in the prime of my atheist beliefs. I used to go to Guruvayoor (yet another popular temple in Kerala) and stand outside as others went into the temple to pray. However my trip to Sabarimala was more like doing things which others don’t do in my house (the last time anybody from my house went to Sabarimala was before my birth in 1964). So I wanted to break that mould and surely it did. Since then, almost every year there has been a visit and these days there is more than one person visiting the temple every year.
My memories of Sabarimala trip is reasonably pleasant. First of all those days there was no threat of terrorism, traffic was smooth and there was no queue. One could walk the 5 kilometer distance from the parking lot till the temple in an hour and a half or two, offer the prayers and return. My only unpleasant memory is about the toilets in Pampa (which was non existent more or less, there were raws of pits adjacent to the river and one had to simply answer the calls of nature in public). Moreover, the toilets were so close to the river that the entire river was polluted and it is in this river that one had to bath before and after. In the end I did not take the holy bath. (Incidentally I also could not take bath in Prayag where the three holy rivers of India (Gaga, Yamuna and Saraswathy) meets. Sometime your technical knowledge works against your spiritual urges.
I have some funny memories too. When one go to Sabarimala, one is supposed to observe certain things. This include not eating meat for 41 days prior to the trip. All along the pilgrimage route restaurants compete with each other to attract pilgrims. All of them then put up banners such as “vegetarian only” and all the staff in the hotel will be wearing all the signs indicative of their own allegiance to the pilgrimage (black clothes, garland, beard etc). I was in one of them when one of the waiters (in fully religious attire) asked me if I would like to have some special (meat or fish !) and if I did, they have made arrangements in a separate room !!. So much for the façade. I also noticed that local made liquor was liberally available and consumed all along the pilgrimage route including the 5 kilometer trekking.
I have just one more memory of my trip. This is about the extremely friendly nature of the security men who were posted there. The policemen posted there were all very helpful and I knew that they were putting in upto 16 hours shifts to help people. Gave a different face to the police.
As the Sabarimala season come to an end, all these thoughts come to my mind. Coming as it does this year around the same time as Haj, I also think of many lessons which we can learn from the way Haj pilgrimage is handled so as to improve the security and comfort of the pilgrims. Here are my suggestions.
1. Working within the carrying capacity of the system: Sabarimala as tourist destination is growing at 30 % an year, however the facilities are not matching with this growth. There are institutional bottlenecks (such as the duration of opening of the temple) which one cannot change. However there are other bottlenecks which one can (such as parking space, traffic control etc). However, what is needed foremost is to improve predictability of the pilgrim flow in advance. This needs to be done on a daily level (day to day crowd management) as well as seasonal level (design of overall facilities). I think it will be useful to take a lesson from the Haj here and initially identify the carrying capacity of the system both on a daily and seasonal basis and then allot quota for the key states (Kerala, Tamilnaadu, Karnataka and Andhra). The economist in me would actually suggest charging for the quota so that the highest bidder can take more, but I don’t want to be supporting the commercialization of the pilgrimage though personally I am not against such an idea to generate revenue which could be used to support the pilgrimage itself.
2. Improving Comforts along the route: There is substantial scope for improving the comforts of the pilgrims, right from the point they leave their home (or enter Kerala) till they return. This include for example providing a 0800 telephone number with volunteers speaking Tamil, Kannada and Telugu will be at hand to answer questions or assist pilgrims taking the pilgrimage. Assistance required may include assistance with police (eg. Traffic accident), medical (eg. Medevacs) and so on. There are need for proper sanitation facilities all along the pilgrim route (currently not many and certainly not enough). In order that restaurants do not cheat pilgrims by breaking religious practices (as I described above), there should be a system of accreditation for restaurant all along the route whereby restaurant which are interested in benefiting from the pilgrim season should submit themselves to an inspection regarding the food handling practices. Accredited restaurants will have the right to put up a signage and certificate to that effect.
3. Improved Sanitation and Waste Management at the pilgrimage site itself. Though there has been effort to improve sanitation facilities it remains inadequate. Coliform counts were about 10000 towards the end of the pilgrimage. Technical options for handling these are many and well known, What one needs is proper planning and investment.
4. Healthcare Management: Healthcare management is not just about providing medical facilities to the ill and injured. It is also about ensuring that only people of adequate health initiate the pilgrimage and also people do not carry contagious disease to the pilgrimage. Again example from the Haj where pilgrims from countries where Polio has resurfaced to carry certificates of polio vaccination is a good case in point.
If we put our brains to it, there are quite a lot of things one can do to improve the convenience of the pilgrims coming to Kerala and make the pilgrimage a great experience. Sabarimala should not just be seen as a religious expedition but as an opportunity for Keralaites to demonstrate our hospitality and culture to millions of people from our neighbouring states who come over here.
