The Kerala government on Thursday told a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court that it did not propose to order an inquiry to find whether the Makara Jyothi was manmade or not.
The government pleader made the submission before the Bench of Justice Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan and Justice P.S. Gopinathan when two writ petitions, one against the government's role in the Makara Jyothi and another for continuance of the practice of lighting of lamps at Ponnambalamedu, came before it.
The Bench ordered the court Registry to look into the petitions and list them before the appropriate Bench.
The petitions filed by the general secretary of the Bharatiya Yukthivadi Sanghom, Sreeni Pattathanam, and another person wanted the participation of government departments in the lighting of lamps at Ponnambalamudu declared unconstitutional.
They wanted a directive to the government not to prevent the Sanghom from undertaking an inquiry into what was happening at Ponnambalamedu.
The petitioners said the government was perpetrating a fraud on gullible devotees by participating in the lighting of the Makara Jyothi at Ponnambalamedu.
The government had announced that it would not conduct any inquiry as it was a sensitive issue.
The petitioners pointed out that provisions of the Constitution prohibited the government from spending money on promoting a particular religion.
Though the government collected crores of rupees from the devotees, the money was not being spent for the welfare of the common man.
The action of the government offended the secular credentials of the Constitution, they said.
Meanwhile, a petition filed by the former Melsanthi of the Sabarimala temple, Peringamam Sankarnarayanan Namboodhiri, and another person wanted the Makaravilakku to be declared as a part of a ritual and said it should not be stopped.
The petition pleaded for a directive to the government and the Travancore Devaswom Board to put proper crowd management system in place at Sabarimala.
“To cover up lapses”
It said the recent controversy was kicked up to cover the lapses of the government and the Board in the Pulmedu stampede, which claimed 102 lives.
The Makaravilakku had been there from time immemorial. It was not a fraud committed on devotees. It was really a matter of religious faith, it added.
Keywords: Makara Jyothi, Sabarimala stampede
Religious beliefs should keep a safe distance from the verifiable physical realities.
Man does not live by bread alone. Religion does have an important role for the masses. The Temples in Kerala and other places in India are not built for large crowds. To enable such a large collection of human beings have darshan, a new type of temple architecture is called for. The temple can also remain open throughout the year. The security at the temple needs enhancement.
The actual issue is crowd control and effective ways to handle it. This is the issue that has to be addressed by the court, the government and the steps to be taken to prevent such tragedies have to be studied and implemented. This is a serious issue being covered up by distracting issues being brought up. Failure of the law and order machinery has resulted in similar tragedies elsewhere.
'Miracles' are part of every religious faith without exception all over the world. If people are willing to believe in that, it is their personal business and the government should at least ensure that the places of such visits where pilgrims assemble are well provided for and properly organised in terms of roads, shelters, accomodation, etc.As for money collection, so long as the money is properly accounted for and spent in socially useful ways, it is okay.
With all respects to the Bharatiya Yukthivadi Sanghom why is it not asking the government to stop collecting the funds from the devotees in the first place?
Why not shut down the Dewasom board?
Wouldn't that be more in line with the Constitution of India?
And if they collect money from devotees that should be logically used for the welfare of devotees.
My belief is that Makara Jyothi is man made and it is nothing wrong to disclose this information to devotees. It could save so many lives being killed in crowd. Kerala government is afraid of taking any initiative believing that they will loose the income and may be in election.
"No one is competent to evaluate god and things which are linked to god."
Of all things related to god the linking factor is truth. Telling the truth of what we know about god is not forbidden.
Communists are capitalizing on the Makarajyothy myth. A nice way to earn revenue from the superstition of the opium that tranquilizes ignorant masses. Very similar to DMK slogan " ezhaiyin sirrupil eravanai kaanbom"[in poor man's smile we see god] which made them keep most Tamils in poverty so that could have a darshan of their god! DMK cadres as good rationalists as Communists are Marxists..
No one is competent to evaluate god and things which are linked to god. There are things which are not proved yet by science? so let the belif continue in its own way. Kerala Government's stand is correct.
It will be highly commendable if court or politics does not get involved in following rituals rather they should regulate it, since everyone has their own beliefs in following certain rituals, unless until that belief doesn’t affect others anyway.
court should not have anything to say about religious matters,because most of the religion believes in some or the other form of divine or god blessed miracles.
We go to temples knowing that the evening prayer is conducted by humans, where we ourselves take part in lighting the lamps. There is some aspect of ritual attached to it, some of abstract symbolism which trigger some pleasant feelings in the visitor's minds, some more because of gathering at a place with same mind and some more feelings associated to it from childhood. These cannot be taken away just because a well known fact of Makara Vilakk being lit by people as part of the worship get accepted by temple owning authority.
Regarding government running religious institutions in Kerala under Dewaswom Board, it is unconstitutional and hypocritical of the government to do so. They are running the temple as a tourism attraction from where to earn best for itself and not as a religious institution with its own followers who need to look after their spiritual and socio-economic welfare.
Truth must prevail, even if it is do with Gods! It is surprising to see a Communist Government is so protective of God's secrets!? It is, if nothing else, a scientific curiosity and any intelligent human would want to explore the phenomenon. The position taken by the Kerala Government only casts more doubt on the veracity of the phenomenon and only add to the argument that they are a part of a scam. Remember the shroud of Turin!!
Makara Jyothi is a star and nothing may need to be probed about it. But Makara Vilakkku is a fire that is apparently lit by the tribals when they see the Makara Jyothi. This of course can be probed, but I don't see why state funds should be spent on that !
The Government needs to be silent in this issue as it might hurt the spiritual and religious feelings of many.Whether "Makara Jyothi" is man-made or divine light, it is a holy view for all the devotees.
Kerala Government has done the right thing by refusing to order a probe into Makara Jyothi lighting and this response reflects sentiments of Hindu devotees. Will some one resourceful enough probe into the credentials of the petitioners, who is behind their misadventure, who is funding them and expose their nefarious activities before the Court. The petitioners are nurturing wrong notion that the Government is spending public money on promoting a particular religion. Bullshit! Man, it is the other way: Government is spending Hindu devotees' and Hindu Temples' money for promoting other religions with an ulterior motive to collect their votes and perpetuate power.
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