The spiritual abode of millions of Lord Krishna’s devotees, Guruvayur temple in Kerala, is in the news, but for all for the wrong reason, this time. The alleged altercation between the temple manager and its governing board member turned murky and has left a bad taste in the minds of devout devotees across the globe.
The alleged verbal duel took off on Wednesday at around ten in the morning between the board member Raju and the Devaswom assistant manager Sunil Kumar on an insignificant issue. According to eye-witnesses accounts, the hot-headed temple officials initially got into a verbal altercation and ended into a fist fight inside the precincts of the sacred shrine.
What led to this unfortunate incident escalating into violent reactions and desecration of this holy site is, some family members of a prominent VVIP, who commands power in God’s Own Country, while the Utsavabalipooja was in progress insisted on entering into the Devaswom precints. When one of the escorts accompanying the VVIP forcibly entered into the shrine despite being advised by the Devaswom authorities manning the entrance that it’s a practice to temporarily prevent devotees from entering into the temple at the pooja time.
The Utsavabalipooja is for the boothagangal or boothas and while the pooja is in progress, the temple gopuram is shut for devotees at certain locations in the precincts of the temple till the pooja concludes.But, when the VVIP insisted on throwing to the winds the age-old traditional customs and decorum followed by the Devasom, hell broke loose.
When Mediaeye sought a clarification about the unsavoury incident at the temple from Chandra Mohan, Chairman Guruvayur Devasom, he said, “there was a verbal fight between a committee member and a temple staffer, over an issue of crowd management and finally the two warring temple officials ended up into a fist fight.’
When prodded to clarify on the issue of the VVIP’s arrogant behaviour triggering off the flare-up at the shrine, he diplomatically replied, “All people coming to the temple are VVIPS according to us. I cannot pinpoint a particular VVIP who was responsible for the unfortunate altercation that took place today.”
Meanwhile it is believed that Sunil Kumar has been suspended and a probe has been ordered by the Devaswom authorities. The duo- Raju and Sunil Kumar were sent for a medical checkup by the police and a case has yet to be registered since political powers have pulled strings to prevent the police from acting further. Raju squarely blames Chandra Mohan for allegedly instigating the violence. “The Chairman of the Guruvayur Devasom hatched the conspiracy and thus resulting in this violent incident taking place in the sacred shrine.”
Our sources confirmed that no police complaint has been registered yet. It is learnt that pressure from all corners.The devotees across the world are perturbed and expressed their anguish over the unpleasant developments at the Guruvayur temple. The spiritual sanctum of the Guruvayur Temple of Lord Vishnu is revered by million devout devotees across the world, according to temple officials who were shocked by the incident and preferred maintain g anonymity while offering their comments to Mediaeye.
This unsavoury incident has sent shock waves across the globe and each one has expressed their anguish in one voice, terming it as utter shame on part of the Guruvayur Devasom management to prevent this unfortunate incident taking place in the sacred shrine. A devout follower of Lord Krishna and devotee at Guruvayur temple, 89-year old Krishnan Namboothiri opined, “This ugly incident could have been avoided. The sanctity of the temple was trampled upon by petty-minded temple officials.”
