Malayan family reinstated for ritual at Shiva temple in Kerala's Kunnummakkara

KOZHIKODE: The administration committee of the Elambangottu Kavu Shiva temple in Kunnummakkara, Vadakara, has reversed its controversial decision to bar members of the backward Malayan community from performing a decades-old percussion ritual. The move comes in the backdrop of legal pressure and public backlash over caste-based discrimination. The controversy stemmed from the committees decision last year to exclude a Malayan family comprising brothers Sudheesh M, Vinodhan M, and Ratheesh M, and their uncle Kunjiraman from the traditional vadhyam (percussion) performance, breaking a practice that had spanned nearly 60 years at the temples Mandala Vilakku and Shivaratri festivals. According to the familys complaint, temple committee president Sudheeran K M told Sudheesh in 2024 that the kuthuvilakku ritual would be taken over by the Nambeesan caste, a decision that would also end the Malayan familys participation in vadhyam. Earlier this month, Sudheesh was allegedly asked to sign a document under duress and offered Rs 10,000 as dakshina to step aside, the complaint said. We are local residents and live within a 500-metre perimeter of the temple. The temple authorities arranged percussionists from the Marar community, who are living in Villiappally, around 5 km away from our village, Sudheesh said. Though one of the brothers was later allowed to perform after discussions, the family claimed they were barred from performing before the sanctum sanctorum and made to stand outside the nalambalam and were refused permission to join the ritual procession (pradakshinam), causing public humiliation based on caste. The issue took a new turn when the State SC/ST Commission intervened on November 14, directing Edacherry police to register a case and submit a report within 20 days.