The Hindu : Kerala News : Elavoor `thookkam' move foiled

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 24, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Elavoor `thookkam' move foiled

By Abdul Latheef Naha

KOCHI, APRIL 23. The move by some devotees to carry out the religious ritual of `thookkam' at the Sree Puthankavu Bhagavathi Temple at Elavoor, near Angamaly, today fizzled out with the police and the district administration deftly thwarting all efforts of the temple officials to revive a practice that had been stopped 16 years ago.

Even though the authorities permitted the devotees to conduct a symbolic `velpradakshinam' to substitute the `thookkam' ritual, nothing took place till the temple closed at 4.20 p.m. Most devotees who thronged the temple premises with the hope of witnessing `thookkam', in which a man with his back pierced with two sharp metal hooks is be lifted to a height of 32 feet in a scaffold, went home disappointed. Officials heaved a sigh of relief as the threat blew over.

There seemed to be some confusion since the main temple officials had been rounded up and there was no single leader among the devotees who favoured the ritual. The police had already rounded up the temple officials and the man designated to be hung on the scaffold, after the Collector, Gyanesh Kumar, imposed a ban on the ritual. A couple of young men who tried to whip up a religious frenzy among the crowds did not make any impact.

A large posse of policemen and police women, led by V.G. Sasidharan, AC, Ernakulam; Alex M. Varkey, Dy.SP, Perumbavoor; K. Omanakuttan, Dy.SP, Muvattupuzha; and S.D. Gopalakrishnan, Dy.SP, Special Branch, Aluva, were stationed outside the temple gate. Tension mounted when the police foiled the attempts of some men to close the gate at 1.30 p.m. The Superintendent of Police, B. Shamsuddin, arrived at the venue as the deadline for the proposed ritual approached. Each time someone claiming to be a devotee leader came outside and said they would do something symbolic, the police officers huddled together and discussed the next move of action. The SP and Dy.SPs were seen getting in touch with the higher-ups at regular intervals.

Newsmen and photographers were initially not allowed inside the temple compound. At 3 p.m., the scheduled time of the ritual, two State leaders of the Shiv Sena, M.S. Bhuvanachandran and Pallikkal Sunil, appeared from inside the temple and addressed the devotees. They told the crowd that `thookkam' could not be held as the authorities had arrested the man who had gone on fast for 41 days and had taken away the equipment for the ritual.

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