Three Kerala temples organised festivals with large-scale gatherings on Friday, flouting the social-distancing norms necessary to fight the coronavirus pandemic, at a time several mosques and churches have halted their weekly congregations and the Guruvayur temple curtailed its rituals.
The temple festivals held at Thrichambaram in Kannur district, Kodungallur in Thrissur and Malayankeezhu in Thiruvananthapuram district have highlighted the potential conflict that often simmers under the surface between overt religiosity and scientific reasoning.
Reports said that police and health officials dared not interfere with the three temple festivals, although large gatherings were seen at each place with the devotees even shunning masks.
In Malayankeezhu, caparisoned elephants were paraded and the local MLA attended the celebrations.
However, after visuals showing several hundred devotees attending the Thrichambaram temple festival were widely circulated on social media, the police registered cases against the temple managing committee and 200 others.
As in other parts of India, religion and disease have always been intertwined in Kerala. For instance, the annual Attukal Pongala rituals were conducted during the first week of March in Thiruvananthapuram, with women gathering from across the state to make offerings at the Attukal Bhagavathy temple.
However, many places of worship such as the famous Guruvayur temple realised the gravity of the situation and turned its annual elephant race into a nominal affair, forgoing a mass gathering.
The temple itself has gone into a partial shutdown mode in response to the virus protocol, asking devotees to avoid visits and putting off the weddings scheduled on its premises. The devotees have also been denied the customary dip in the temple pond.
Although this is the festival season in Kerala, many temples, churches and mosques have announced they would not conduct even routine rituals till the situation improves.
The Pattalam Masjid, the biggest mosque in Kozhikode, has cancelled Friday prayers until further notice. Many churches have either suspended the Sunday Mass or asked the faithful not to attend them.
However, reports of irresponsible behaviour keep coming. It has emerged that a political worker from Kasargod who tested positive on Friday had refused to reveal his travel history after arriving at Calicut International Airport from Dubai on March 11.
The man, apparently a frequent traveller to the Gulf, is believed to have attended several public events after his return to India, including a wedding, football matches and club events.
Two MLAs have been advised to go into self-quarantine after it was learnt that the Kasargod man had come in contact with them at two public events.
Earlier, a family of three that had allegedly slipped past the coronavirus health desk at Kochi airport after arriving from Italy via Doha is believed to have infected at least eight people, possibly more, over the next six days.
