“The annual Champa Shasti
festival held over November and December at the Kukke Subramanya
temple in Dakshina Kannada district in Karnataka has an unusual
tradition. On all three days, the Shivalli Brahmins are served a
multi-course meal in seclusion in the temple precincts. And
after they are through, instead of clearing the spread plantain
leaves on which the food’s served, Dalits, backwards and local
tribespeople are allowed to roll on the leftovers.
“The belief is this ritual will cure the ‘devotee’ of ailments,
especially skin-related ones, and will gift a child to those
praying for a baby. It’s also considered an ideal form of
thanksgiving to the local deity after ‘wish fulfillment’. The
ritual, called ‘maade snana’ in Tulu and Kannada, is said to be
over four hundred years old but there are no written records to
prove such a claim.
“As the tradition reinforces
and ‘enacts’ caste hierarchies, where even a Brahmin’s ‘jhoota’
[food ritually contaminated by contact with another’s mouth] is
bestowed with powers to cure people from subaltern communities,
it had been catching a lot of flak since last year from
progressive groups in the state. Especially as this was being
allowed in a temple that belongs to the muzrai department, a
state-run body which administers Hindu temples.
“Last week, though, saw
protests heating up more because after the huge outcry last
year, the local administration had promised to end this ritual
which violates basic human dignity. Apparently, under ‘pressure
from devotees’, the administration allowed the practice from
November 28 onwards. Nearly 4,000 people joined up to roll over
the leftovers.
“What took the row beyond the
usual temple affairs level was muzrai and higher education
minister Dr V.S. Acharya’s statement that it was a ‘faith-based
ritual and banning it was tantamount to hurting the sentiments
of the people’. People immediately started questioning not only
his credentials as a trained medical doctor, but also his RSS
roots. They began asking if he would similarly allow dowry,
child marriage and other social evils as they are also
faith-based?
“The complexity of the issue
unravels itself when we take into consideration the largely
illiterate Malekudiya tribe’s support for the ritual. When the
local administration hinted at a ban, members of the ST
community went on a rampage, even declaring that they would stay
away from building the deity’s chariot, a traditional activity
they have performed for years during the festival season. (If
the chariot is not built, the festival will remain incomplete
without the final procession of the deity.)
