Kerala temple board’s reverential invitation to Travancore royals triggers row

new DElhi, Nov 14
The Travancore Devas-wom Board, the state-government-run body that manages more than 1,200 temples in southern Kerala, triggered a controversy when in an invitation card to an event commemorating the 1936 Temple Entry Proclamation, it referred to the erstwhile royal family of Travancore in terms that were criticised as excessively complimentary and reverential. Under fire, the board met on Monday and removed its director of cultural and archaeological affairs, Madhusoodanan Nair, from his post. Nair, who had issued the invitation, was made a deputy commissioner.
Earlier, the board was forced to withdraw the invitation card, which referred to members of the former royal family as “queens who have won the love and respect of people due to their simple and sweet nature and welfare work”.
The royals were also addressed as “highness”, and the late king Balarama Varma was referred to as venerable and a blessed soul. The event to commemorate the abolishing of the ban on the entry of people from marginalised castes to temples in Travancore was held on Monday. Following the controversy surrounding the invitation, Aswathi Thirunal Gowri Lakshmi Bayi and Gouri Parvathi Bayi did not attend. They had been invited to light a lamp in front of a statue of Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma, the former ruler of the princely state of Travancore, who had issued the Temple Entry Proclamation in 1936.
CPI(M) central committee member and state Temple Affairs Minister K Radhakrishnan had said earlier in the day that the board would take action against the persons behind the invitation card.
“Casteism, which has accrued in the mind over the years, will not end in one day.
Our state had witnessed many agitations against the caste system. However, there are still remnants. We still require great efforts to get rid of such thoughts,” the minister said.