Poorakkali artist in Kerala banned from temple ritual over daughter-in-law’s religion
India Today
A Poorakkali artist has been banned from temple rituals over daughter-in-law’s religion. The temple authorities maintained that they cannot break the temple rituals.
A temple administration in Kerala’s North Malabar banned a Poorakkali artist from performing in temples allegedly over his son marrying a Muslim woman. The Kuniyan Bhagavathy Temple Committee took punitive action against Poorakkali dancer Vinod Panicker, a resident of Kannur, saying that a non-Hindu stayed in his house.
Poorakkali is a traditional dance ritual that is performed during the Pooram temple festival in Kerala. Vinod Panicker was removed from a scheduled event and was replaced with another artist.
Panicker said that even if he was banned, he would not reject his daughter-in-law. His son has now been married for over four years, he said. Panicker has been performing in various temples during this period.
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Panicker said this was the first time, temples in Kannur's Karivellur denied him the opportunity to perform.
He said, “The temple committee members told me that I cannot perform the ritualistic dance while my daughter-in-law is at my house. They told to me either shift her to another house or move my daughter-in-law to a different place during the ritual. However, I cannot accept these proposals.”
The temple authorities maintained that they cannot break the temple rituals. “Rituals cannot be performed from a house where non-Hindus reside. No ban has been imposed on him. He refused to accept the proposal we put forward,” said a temple committee member.
