Kerala imposes Covid restrictions on rituals to pay homage to ancestors. Details here
Premium- The Kerala government has urged people to perform rituals where they pay obeisance to their ancestors, at their homes
The Kerala government has imposed certain restrictions on offering "Bali" to their ancestors on the occasion of Karkidaka Vavu Bali being observed today to contain the spread of coronavirus.
In view of the spread of Covid-19 in Kerala, the state government has urged people to perform rituals where they pay obeisance to their ancestors, at their homes.
Several places in Kerala including Aluva 'Sivarathri Manappuram' on the bank of River Periyar in Ernakulam district and Thiruvallam Parasurama temple where people used to throng to perform 'Bali tharpanam' ritual wore a deserted look on Sunday as the authorities had issued prior warnings against violation of coronavirus norms.
However, arrangements were done for the people to perform offerings for rituals like 'thilahomam' and 'pithruhomam' at many temples in the state today morning.
Earlier, temples under the Travancore Devaswom Board had decided not to perform the "Bali tharpanam" rituals, which was later supported by other temples.
A devotee told news agency ANI, "According to instruction from Kerala government, we have performed Karkidaka Vavu Bali ritual at our homes in order to curb the spread of COVID in the state."
According to Hindu belief, the souls of people's deceased ancestors attain 'moksha' (liberation) if the ritual is performed on 'Karkidaka Vavu' day, in the Malayam month of Karkidakam. People usually gather on riverbanks and beaches to offer "bail".
Riverbanks in the state including Periyar, Bharathapuzha, and Kalpathipuzha are popular places for performing the ritual. Last year too temples in Kerala had not conducted the ritual due to the coronavirus curbs.
The BJP in Kerala had urged the Left Front government in the state to give exemption for devotees from lockdown restrictions, imposed in view of the pandemic situation, to participate in the annual Hindu ritual.
The state government had recently eased lockdown curbs and allowed shops and other establishments to operate for six days a week but it was decided to continue restrictions on Sundays.
Meanwhile, Kerala on Saturday reported 20,367 fresh cases of COVID-19 and 139 deaths, pushing the total number infected to 35,33,918 and fatalities to 17,654 so far.
As many as 20,265 people have been cured of the infection since Friday, taking the total recoveries to 33,37,579 and the number of active cases to 1,78,166.
In a span of 24 hours, 1,52,521 samples were tested and the test positivity rate (TPR) was found to be 13.35%. So far, 2,83,79,940 samples have been tested, an official release said.
With agency inputs
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