Indian From South

Singer🎙️| Seeker 🕉 | Yoga Practitioner🧘🏽‍♂️| Follow me for my views on Indian culture & politics 🗣️with a Southern twist |

[indianfromsouth]

Pathanamthitta collector – A role model!

How many of you have heard the name Divya.S.Iyer? No, she's not a silver screen celebrity. Divya.S.Iyer is the collector of Pathanamthitta district, of Kerala where the Sabarimala temple is located.

A couple of days ago, she was honored with the “Excellence in Governance” award by the Home Minister Amit Shah. She was one among the 18 collectors who was presented with the award, chosen from 404 district collectors across 29 states of India.

So, isn’t this just another routine award? What’s different? Divya S Iyer was in the news recently when she got into the bad books of the Communists and intellectuals in Kerala. Let me tell you why! Being the Pathanamthitta collector, she was invited to an event in connection with the beginning of Sabarimala pilgrimage season in December 2022. Being a devotee of Swamy Ayyappan herself, Divya led the chanting of the holy names of Swami Ayyappan. Please see the video in a report by Manorama News at the below link!

'പതിനെട്ടാം പടിയേ'... തങ്ക അങ്കി പമ്പയിലെത്തിയപ്പോള്‍ ശരണം വിളിച്ച് ജില്ലാ കലക്ടര്‍| Divya S iyer

പതിനെട്ടാം പടിയേ..ശരണമെന്റയ്യപ്പാ.. പമ്പയില്‍ തങ്ക അങ്കിക്ക് സ്വീകരണം നല്‍കിയപ്പോള്‍ കുഞ്ഞിനെ ഒക്കത്തിരുത്തി ശരണം വിളിക്കുന്ന പത്തനംതിട്ട ജില്ലാ കലക്ടർ. തിരുവാഭരണം കമ്മിഷണർ ബൈജു സമീപം #Sabarimala #Pathanamthitta #DivyasIyer

Posted by Manorama News TV on Wednesday, December 28, 2022

Posted by Manorama News TV on Wednesday, December 28, 2022

This immediately became a controversy with a section of the Kerala government criticizing her for this saying that she was on official duty, and she was not supposed to be a part of the prayers and the rituals there. You must remember that this is the same communist state government that sent its Christian minister to Vatican on government expenditure to witness the canonization of Mother Teresa. Muslim comrades are also allowed to practice their faith and even talk about it publicly.

But when it comes to Hindus, the rules change. Recently the Devaswom Board (the board that manages state temples) minister K.Radhakrishnan was seen at Sabarimala Sannidhanam during the pilgrimage season. See this photo to know what I am talking about!

The man was staring straight ahead, as though he was confused about to do! He didn’t have the courage or the decency to bring his two palms together in front of the deity. Many Keralites would remember how the Kerala CM mockingly asked pointing towards the Guruvayur SriKrishna deity – “Is that where Krishnan is?” when he visited the temple.

In a state where mocking Hindu rituals and culture has become a daily affair, Divya.S.Iyer comes as a breath of fresh air. Thank you Divya.S.Iyer for being who you are, for upholding your culture and beliefs! Congratulations on a well-deserved award! You are a woman with a strong spine and would serve as an inspiration and a role model for many more men and women in the years to come!

[indianfromsouth]

Banned for being patriotic - Kerala!

Assume that you are a theater artist and a patriotic Indian. Your theater group performs a welcome song along with a skit on a theme surrounding Kashmir. The skit depicts the Indian army successfully tackling terrorism in Kashmir. The play also shows a terrorist wearing an Arabic scarf.

Do you find anything wrong with this image? I'm sure no Indian would have a problem with this. However, the left led Islamist supported Kerala state govt doesn't think so and decides to ban your group from the future editions of the festival citing that your skit hurt the religious sentiments of a certain community. Are you shocked?

Well, this is exactly what happened. The controversies surrounding the recently concluded Kerala State Schools Youth Festival 2023 don't seem to be dying down and this is just one more addition to that long list. This didn't become a controversy until a few days after the inauguration when the state PWD minister Mohammed Riyas who is also the son in law of the Kerala CM raked up the issue saying that this hurt the sentiments of Muslims and that there must be a probe into this.

He also said that the connections of the performers with Sangh Parivar must be probed. I mean seriously? This is a nation where the President, Prime Minister, the central cabinet of Ministers, majority of the MPs, state MLAs and state governors are Sangh Parivar members. Just swallow that fact Mr. Riyas. Please understand that essentially this nation is ruled by the Sangh Parivar.

At the drop of a hat, the left liberals jump in and say that terrorism has no religion. If that’s the case, why are you so offended by this play? Why are you offended with the attire of the terrorist in the play? How many times have you seen a saffron clad monk shouting Azadi in Kashmir? People like you are a shame to Islam Mr. Riyas. It is people like you with your covert support to terrorism, that is responsible for the divisions in the society.

Indicating that this was once again carefully orchestrated, the education minister V.Sivan Kutty said that the group Perambra Matha will be banned from future editions of the festival.

The director of Perambra Matha theatre group, Mr. Kanakadas said that Mohammed Riyas is squarely responsible for creating this controversy. He added that he has death threats from extremists ever since this happened.

If you are a patriotic Indian, you will find this to be downright outrageous. But this is Kerala, and this is #Keralamodel! Deal with it!

[indianfromsouth]

Prohibition on Hindu rituals? Quran recitation? Halal meals? - What to expect in the coming years?

The latest edition of Kerala Schools Youth Festival just concluded at Kozhikode, Kerala. This year's festival was in the limelight, albeit for the wrong reasons. While the most talked about controversy was with regard to the veg meals served, there were other controversies as well. One such controversy largely went unreported in the mainstream media.

This was with regard to the Yakshaganam contest. Yakshaganam is a traditional folk theatre form of South Karnataka and Northern Kerala. Yakshaganam literally means divine music. Stories of Yakshaganam are usually drawn from Mahabharata, Ramayana and Bhagavata. It is believed that Yakshagana evolved from the ancient Bhutha-worship prevalent in South Karnataka and Northern Kerala. Remember Kantara, Bhutakola, Theyyam? Does it ring a bell?

This is what happened! There is a traditional ritual carried out by Yakshagana performers before they perform. This is called Chowki pooja. Chowki is basically the green room. In this ritual, the "Bhagavata" (the narrator/main performer) and supporting vocalists assemble before an image of Ganesha, chant invocations, offer coconuts, plantains and perform aarti or puja.

The invocation begins as follows

"Gajamukhadavage Ganapage chelva Trijagavanditanigaaratiyettire"

Translation: O, Lord Ganesha, the beautiful one with elephant’s face For you, worshipped in all the three worlds, we light this sacred flame

After receiving the "prasaada", the 'bhagavata' asks for the deity's/god's permission following which everyone proceeds to the stage. How beautiful! Isn't it? It turns out, that not everyone feels that way!

On the day of the contest, when the performers were doing the chowki puja, one of the organizers barged into the room and disrupted the ritual. It is alleged that the person forcefully blew out the lamp lit for the ritual saying that such pujas cannot be allowed here. Organizers didn't allow media inside, so this was not properly recorded or covered in the media. The performers protested following which police arrived. The performers refused to perform after this, but eventually relented and performed.

Yakshagana Guru, Madhava Nettanige said, "This kind of experience is the first in my 22 years of Yakshagana art life". He also staged a protest asking for an apology from the organizers. He said that even if they forgive the organizers, God will not.

The irony is that this is a festival where there is a contest for "Quran recitation". And no, there is no competition for "Gita recitation" or for that matter, reciting any other holy scripture of Hindus. These are all indicators of things to expect in the coming years! We can soon expect a festival where nonveg halal meals are served (with the exception of pork, for obvious reasons) even if they have to make compromises on the health and safety of children! And don't be surprised if they decide to remove traditional Hindu art forms, while Quran recitation and other Arab cultural contests will continue being normal and perfectly secular.

Hinduism under attack? That's for you to decide!

[indianfromsouth]

Brahminical hegemony and patriarchy in Kerala?

Before I start, let me say that this post is meant for my friends outside Kerala. So if you are a Malayalee, and are familiar with the Pazhayidom issue, you need not read any further.

There's one name doing the rounds in Kerala social media circles during the last few days - Arun Kumar (the man in this image)

For the uninitiated, Arun Kumar is a popular news anchor and also a professor at Kerala university. During the last week, the Kerala State Schools Youth Festival which has the distinction of being the largest arts and fine arts festival in the whole of Asia was conducted in Kozhikkode, Kerala. The festival is organized by the state govt and it's normal for the organizers to serve meals for participating kids during the festival. Usually, the contract to serve meals is given to an external catering company through a tendering process.

Brahminical hegemony/patriarchy starts here. Two points to note here:

1) As in previous years, the food served during this year's festival was vegetarian.

2) The caterer was a popular chef Pazhayidom Mohanan Namboothiri Please note that Namboothiris are Kerala Brahmins.

Arun Kumar made a post on his Facebook page accusing Pazhayidom of imposing vegetarianism on others by serving only vegetarian meals (His post in Malayalam is attached here)

He commented that in a school festival like this where the majority of the kids eat nonveg food, serving only vegetarian food is a reflection of "vegetarian fundamentalism" adding that "casteism" usually functions like this, through the imposition of beliefs of purity and impurity. He added - "This is a school festival food pavilion and not a place to serve vegetarian prasad. There is a true renaissance in a place like this NOT WHEN A BRAHMIN REACHES THE KITCHEN but when a variety of food gets served, when there is no imposition of beliefs of purity". One thing to remember here is that the food menu was decided by the state govt and not by the caterer. This matter has been raging in Kerala SM circles ever since. As a fallout of all this, the state govt has promised that they will seriously consider introducing nonvegetarian food for the next year's event. The state education minister made an announcement in this regard.

While talking to the media, Pazhayidom mentioned that he was afraid to manage the kitchen and feared some kind of sabotage ever since this became a controversy. He, therefore, had to ensure that enough people were guarding the food preparation area, during the last 3 days. A bigger fallout was Pazhayidom announcing that he won't be participating in the tender process for the next year's event. He said that he won't be able to continue this activity in such an environment.

What exactly was the fault they found with Pazhayidom? It's not that the food prepared by Pazhayidom wasn't good or that he refused to cook nonveg. His fault is that he was born as an upper-class Brahmin. And what vile poisonous minds like Arun Kumar are clearly doing here is depriving him of his livelihood citing his caste!

Arun Kumar and others who are behind this unnecessary controversy got what they wanted. In Kerala, Brahminical hegemony is a euphemism that is used to sideline and isolate an entire community. And I am afraid, they are succeeding!!

Welcome to 21st-century religious/caste discrimination. Kerala has proven that as always, the state is "number 1" in this too. You know the biggest joke - Arun Kumar admitted in an interview that he's a vegetarian and that his son is also a vegetarian. Not that it is relevant in any way!

[indianfromsouth]

Carnatic Music and Spirituality

Did you know that Carnatic Music is essentially spiritual in nature? Did you know that Carnatic music has the potential to activate your Kundalini? This understanding has unfortunately been lost to a great extent, so this can come as a surprise to many of you.

Have you visited some of the great South Indian temples? If you have, you must have noticed gigantic pillars and carvings depicting characters from Puranas/Itihasas made of stone and metal in many of those temples, vibrating with musical notes.

Look at Hindu deities to see how our fine arts and culture are inextricably connected. While Lord Nataraja portrays the evolution of life through his cosmic dance, Lord Krishna captivates all creation with his flute whereas Goddess Saraswati carries a Veena in her arms.

Thanks to our great ancestors, Indian classical music was woven into the texture of Hindu culture, religion, and yoga sadhana. The great composers of Carnatic music were men and women of saintly character, mystics, Siddhas, and bhaktas.

The goal of every life is God realization/mukthi or moksha. Our ancestors knew this more than anyone else, and so all activities were dedicated to the service of God. In their search for efficient sadhana to achieve this objective, our ancestors discovered that music had great disciplinary value and power to sublimate passions and attune the mind.

They also found that music could kindle the various subtle forces in the human body like the Kundalini. Something as powerful as this, needed to be given an elevated status. Carnatic music, therefore, started being referred to as Upa Veda, Gandharva Nada Vidya, Nada Upasana and so on. The learned men in ancient India developed Carnatic music as a tool to assist a man in his quest for Moksha.