Thiruvananthapuram: Hardening its stand against the entry of women of child-bearing age into the Sabarimala shrine, the erstwhile Pandalam royal family on Wednesday said it was not prepared for any compromise as regards the ancient rituals and traditions of the Ayyappa temple.
Speaking to reporters at Pandalam, royal family representative Sasikumar Varma rejected the Kerala government's contention that the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) was the custodian of the temple and said it was "wrong".
"The temple is of the devotees," he said, adding, "If there is any violation of the customs and traditions, they have the right to question the same."
"We have never asked to close down the temple. We are not prepared for any compromise on customs and traditions. The family is not eyeing the wealth of the Ayyappa temple," Varma said.
On the issue of entry of women into the shrine, he said there was an attempt to "divide" the Hindu faithful on the basis of "avarnas" (lower) and "savarnas" (upper) castes.
But the Ayyappa devotees saw through it and did not fall into the trap, Varma added.
What had happened at Sabarimala over the past six days, when the temple was opened for the monthly pooja from October 17-22, was "painful", he said.
At a time when the government had failed to ensure basic facilities like accommodation, toilets and drinking water to the devotees, six young women trekked the hills with police protection, Varma alleged.
No real woman devotee in the 10-50 age group attempted to offer prayers at the shrine on the strength of the Supreme Court verdict, he claimed.
The six women, who attempted to offer prayers at the temple and were given police protection and escorted, were part of a script and a hidden agenda, Varma alleged.
Taking a dig at the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) government in Kerala, he said the attachment of the royal family to the temple did not change every five years.
However, they had time and again sought a hike in the allowances for the people who escorted the "Thiruvabharanam" (sacred ornaments of Lord Ayyappa) from Pandalam to Sabarimala during the Mandala Makaravillaku festival.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had criticised the Pandalam royal family and the "tantri" (head priest of the temple) on Tuesday, saying the board was the legal custodian of the hill temple.
The famous Sabarimala temple, which opened for the monthly pooja on October 17 after the Supreme court order, had witnessed a stand-off over the issue with angry devotees preventing at least a dozen women in the "barred" age group from entering the shrine.
On September 28, a five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court, headed by then Chief Justice Dipak Misra, had lifted the centuries-old ban on the entry of women of menstrual age into the shrine.
Congress flays CM
The Congress-led opposition UDF on Wednesday hit out at Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for criticising the head priest of the Lord Ayyappa temple, saying it was an "onslaught" on devotees across the world.
The 'tantri' (the head priest) is the final authority in deciding the rituals and traditions of the temple and any remarks against him is "unbecoming" of the position of a chief minister, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Ramesh Chennithala told reporters here.
He also alleged the chief minister was threatening the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), which manages the shrine, because it was not acting as per his orders.
The anger over the non-implementation of his order to bring women to the hill shrine anyhow, was reflected in his words against the head priest and the TDB, Chennithala said.
"Police had tried to bring activist women to Sabarimala by giving them their uniform but failed. The chief minister is showing that anger towards the tantri," he said.
His attack against the head priest was an onslaught on devotees of Lord Ayyappa across the world," he added.
Pinarayi is trying to create fear and anxiety among devotees through his statements, the Congress leader alleged.
Referring to several judgements of the Supreme Court regarding the custody of temples, Chennithala said "in Sabarimala, tantri holds a paternal position in relation to the principal deity Lord Ayyappa."
Showing the hereditary tantri family in bad light was unbecoming of a chief minister, he alleged.
At a public meeting held at Pathanamthitta district on Tuesday, Pinarayi had criticised Sabarimala head priest, Kandararu Rajeevaru, for his stand that he would close the temple and go if young women were allowed inside the temple complex.
He had also said that it was improper for the tantri and the 'parikarmies', temple employees assisting priests in pujas, to oppose the government decision to implement the Supreme Court verdict permitting women of all age groups into the hill shrine.
The Sabarimala tantri had extended support to the series of agitation staged by Ayyappa devotees across the state against the government's decision to implement the top court order.
Besides Rajeevaru, other members of the tantri family had also participated in some of the prayer meetings, organised in protest against the implementation of the verdict.
