Temple secretary A Balagopal said, “Although the hall and the temple are in different compounds, dead bodies are not normally brought near temples. That is the prevailing practice (File)
A temple in Kerala has objected to placing of a Dalit artist’s body for homage in a nearby art gallery hall, saying that bodies should not be brought near temples. After police intervened, authorities of Shiva Temple in Kochi allowed the Kerala Lalithakala Academy to place the body in a corner of the hall.
Ashanthan alias Mahesh V K, 50, died on Wednesday morning. Kerala Lalithakala Academy and his well-wishers wanted to place his body at the academy’s durbar hall art gallery in the afternoon for homage. As the organisers were making arrangements, authorities of the nearby Shiva Temple objected to the move.
Temple secretary A Balagopal said, “Although the hall and the temple are in different compounds, dead bodies are not normally brought near temples. That is the prevailing practice. After police intervened, we allowed the organisers to place the body a little away from the temple. We did not allow to place the body in the front portion of the hall, instead it was allowed to be placed in a corner.”
Balagopal said the temple took that approach as part of temple custom and not because the dead was a Dalit. “Our festival is just over. However, some rituals are still going on for next couple of days. The Dalit angle is brought into the picture only for giving twist,” he said.
Academy secretary Ponniam Chandran said the objection is part of a larger Hindutva agenda. “Recently, when we conducted a camp for transgender artistes, the temple was against serving non-vegetarian food to them. We told them not to interfere in matters outside temple and served non-veg food,” said Chandran.
The attitude of the temple, which comes under government-controlled Kochi Devaswom (temple) Board, has triggered wide-spread protest. Cultural Affairs Minister A K Balan said Hindutva forces have insulted the body of the late artist. All progressive elements in Kerala should stand united against this retrogressive approach, he said.