A good article, though it would have been better to have included some biographical details of the saint.
Rajeev says that a mass movement 'forced' Maharaja of Travancore towards Temple Entry Procalamation. The facts are otherwise. The enlightened Chitra Thirunal Maharaja Bala Rama Verma declared the Temple Entry proclamation on his own and not due to any pressure. This was the greatness about the King for which he is still remembered. He genuinely felt that God is for all and declared all temples in his kingdom open, including the famous Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple at Thiruvananthapuram. Of course, Sri Narayana Guru's role in creating a conducive atmosphere can never be belittled. More details about the Temple entry proclamation are found in the Princess of Travancore -Aswathy Thirunal Gowri Lakshmi Bayi's book 'Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple'.
RE:Temple Procalamation at Travancore
by Anil Pillai on Sep 05, 2004 07:25 PM
Yes, HRH Sree Chitria Thirunal was not pressurised. Travancore was then still quite strong (it had crushed the Punnapur Vayalar struggle later). Quite contarary to many other parts, we in Kerala had very benovalent rulers. Even though Sree Narayana Guru had worked to remove the caste inequality, it took the works of saints like Chattampi Swamigal and great people like Shri. Mannathu Padmanabhan to really educate the "upper castes" to the truth. Those who refute this might be reminded of the savarna jathas that was organised by the Nairs in support of the "lower castes".
Very interesting the change of stance of nateshan.. he was so pro BJP just before the LS elections. Now he seems to be the very pro cong.
RE:Temple Procalamation at Travancore
by rajesh gopi on Sep 07, 2004 01:33 AM
the travancore maharajas were actually great rulers, this is true. but they gave all the state jobs to imported tamil brahmins. people started a 'malayali memorial' petition against this. then most of the jobs went to nairs. so the ezhavas circulated an 'ezhava memorial' petition asking for fairer treatment for them, too. but nothing came of it, nor the vaikom satyagraha in 1924. no temple entry.
(btw, dearest poo should know that the dk calls his/her/its god evr 'vaikom veerar' for no good reason. evr had no impact at all in kerala.)
so ezhavas thought to convert to christianity. this got the attention of the maharaja. travancore including kanyakumari dist was then 33% christian. (ref. the travancore manual). with ezhavas, another 20+%, travancore would have become christian, as RS pointed out. this was enough pressure for the maharaja to announce temple entry in 1936. it was definitely a great step and the maharaja deserves full credit for it (actually sir c p ramaswamy aiyer, a great man, deserves full credit, ref. sreedhara menon's recent biography of cp).
sorry, anil pillai, you have to read some real history books, not fiction, to understand.
RE:Temple Procalamation at Travancore
by Kaunteya Deshpande on Aug 30, 2004 06:59 PM
Dear Rajeev & Kumar ... can anybody throw light on how Dr BR Ambedkar looked upon this temple entry episode? In fact this was for all the country men to learn a lesson. Had he not been unsuccessful in 'Kala Ram Mandir Satyagraha' in Nashik, Maharashtra, the history might have been written much differently. Thanks a lot Rajeev. Great inputs. Now where are all those pinkos who always bash Rajeev after each of his article for spreading hatred?
Marvellous! Really we know very little about south india.It is a shame for us living in this part of India that we don't know anything about such a Great divine incarnation.
